Your answers
My church is planning a continuous reading of the Bible as part of its 260th anniversary in 2018, and I am looking for advice on dos and dont’s; pitfalls and best practice, please.
The Damascus Trust states that many churches have used its Bible Readathon pack available from Resources at www.damascustrust.org. “It gives you everything you need (time plan, sign-up sheets, master list, guidelines, ideas, even ideas for schools) to run a successful continuous reading of the Bible. Ongoing help and support is also available from the Damascus Trust office,” says the charity. Editor
Have there been any serious studies done of the relationship between Christian religious/spiritual experience and the UFO phenomenon? I am aware of Carl Jung’s work on the subject, and wondered whether there was more.
The Revd Jenny Gage, in Ely diocese, sends information received from her daughter, a researcher in minority religions and spirituality:
Christopher Partridge (2004), “Alien demonology: The Christian roots of the malevolent extraterrestrial in UFO religions and abduction spiritualities”, Religion, 34:3, 163-189, DOI: 10.1016/j.religion.2004.04.014.
Links between Christianity and UFOs: St Michael’s Union, founded in 1964 by Paul Kuhn in Switzerland.
Heaven’s Gate (committed suicide in the mid-1990s to join UFO in tail of Hale-Bopp comet), in California and other US states, founded by Marshall Applethwaite. Lots of sources on this one including Gordon Melton and George Eberhart, “The Flying Saucer Contactee Movement”, also http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/hgprofile.html [successor site is now wrldrels.org]
Kingdom of Yahweh or Yahweh’s New Kingdom, founded in 1930s by Joseph Jeffers
Raelian Movement, founded by Rael-Claude Vorilhon in 1973: a good book on this is Aliens Adored by Susan Palmer.
Fiat-Lux founded by Erika Bertschinger, aka “Uriella”, in 1980 in Germany.
King’s Fountain Church, founded by Arthur Eedle in 1986
Alien Resistance Ministry, founded by Joe Jordan, Guy Malone, and Pastor Chris Ward in 1999 in Roswell, NM
With One Accord Ministries founded by Bill Schnoebelen and Sharon Scnoebelen in 1986
Often the connection is that Jesus is regarded as an alien/ET, which comes from the Ascended Masters beliefs of Theosophy and similar movements, where Jesus and other religious leaders are Ascended Masters sent to earth to help out humanity in many ways.
Your questions
Can I find God at the gym? J. P.
As a retired NSM priest with permission to officiate, who has never personally received any fees, I was asked to conduct a funeral in a local United Reformed church which was in vacancy. Consultation with my diocesan board of finance gave no clear guidance on the fee situation — only that it was for me to resolve with the church. With the acquiescence of the church, I waived my fee. Was I out of order? H. W.
What may we deduce from the fact that the entire cricket team selected to play in Rome later this month for the Archbishop of Canterbury’s squad is composed entirely of Evangelical clergy/ordinands — just as it was in the games of 2014 and 2016 played at Canterbury? R. W. C.
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