British priest kicked out of church for criticising Starmer

[AlteredStater]

This has simply got to stop. Fr Phil Harris is a wonderful, decent, committed Christian and does not deserve the treatment he's received.

This Fr Phil Harris?

https://symonhill.org/2024/08/06/fascism-in-a-clerical-collar/

Yes.

Fr Phil isn't a fascist!

I couldn't possibly comment. He certainly seems to hold some far right leaning views from what I've discovered this evening. Ah well, the church that kicked him out must have felt he wasn't a good fit with them.

I couldn't actually watch much of the tousi video. He is making some whacky statements in the first few minutes. Christians being cancelled ... By the anglican church?

I don't think this is the thread for me.

Thank you @AlteredStater for drawing our attention to this. It was a very interesting interview. I watched it in full. Fr Phil Harris is handling his summary sacking with God's grace. Those trustees will have to answer to the Lord for their actions. I will listen to his accusations against Keir Starmer here: tomorrow.

A bit of a Google suggests he used to be in the Free Church of England which is not the Church of England. It is quite hard to sacked in the C of E but I’ve no idea of the governance structures of the Free Church of England. I worked in a town which had one of these churches years ago and the minister refused to have anything to do with the other churches in the town. He took his church away from the Frees in the end because it was too liberal. Most ministers and priests in the mainstream denominations in the UK are left leaning in private. It sounds really strange to hear far right leaning views from someone in a collar.

Fr Phil is with the Anglican Church of the US, not the English branch.

The CofE is becoming more and more woke and left-leaning, some of us feel it is drifting further and further away from its traditional values and Biblical teaching. I for one have had enough and left, am now partly with Fr Phil's online church and also an American house church (online). I do not want to be at a Church that is just a sing-a-long followed by a 'fluff' sermon with cake and tea to follow. Others I'm aware of who dislike the way the CoE is going have become Catholic or Orthodox.

I've now watched Fr Phil Harris's accusations against Keir Starmer and the 'establishment' and it was all done gently and is factual. Of course he will face the wrath of the enemy for speaking out on Biblical truths. The enemy loves a bit of hysteria and waah, waah screams of far right facist. Of course he is not - he is a man standing for Biblical truth and speaking out against lies and hypocrisy. A house divided against itself will not stand.

Matt 12:25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. ... "

" Others I'm aware of who dislike the way the CoE is going have become Catholic or Orthodox"

Yup that's me - Catholic now. 🙂

Some friends have moved over to Western Orthodox..

Yes, and I fully understand why, especially after this. The good news is that Fr Phil has attracted new people to the faith as a result of all this, and having to hold services elsewhere.

Fr Phil is getting a lot of coverage by various podcasters.

I understood that there are some very fundamental differences between the meaning of the crucifixion/cross between Catholics and Protestants? and also the role of the Pope...
e.g Jesus is the only way to God, not the Pope or the Virgin Mary.

However the CoE is a disgrace & has been for many years.

Yes there are a lot of fundamental differences, I think it's worthwhile to look into the history of the Churches and make up one's own mind about some of it. I'm certainly trying to do that at this point, having been brought up a Protestant and looking into what Catholics believe, and why.

You might find some of the ideas within Celtic Christianity interesting too.

For me, provided somebody believes in the Trinitarian nature of the Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Spirit are One; plus, provided that they believe that Christ Jesus is The (only) Way, the Truth and the Life; plus, provided that they believe is Christ's death and resurrection, the new Covenant, and that His was the final blood sacrifice for all humankind ... that is good enough for me as an initial statement of Christian Faith.

I am a member of the world-wide, inclusive, catholic, Christian church. I am, simply, a Christian. I am not a Catholic. Having spoken with many Catholic friends, I sort of get the 'communion of saints' throughout eternity, but as we have our Lord, we don't have any need, nor does the Bible instruct us, to 'pray to' anyone else but Him. It is not something I will 'argue' about as the Bible speaks for itself.

I don't believe that Kings(*) and Queens, nor Popes, etc, are any nearer to God than any other of us living stones. In Him we are all equal. It is not something I will 'argue' about as the Bible speaks for itself.

(*) Don't get me starting on King Charles and the 'I want to be leader of faiths', tosh - SO disrespectful to his mother and our Constitution. That needs a whole new thread! 😂

I 'get' the 'need' to confess our sins to a living person ... it is powerful to say things out loud - however, GOD knows even the deepest darkest secrets of who we are, even if we don't voice it. It is only when we confess to Him, that we can seek forgiveness from Him: Christ Jesus is the only 'intermediary' for confession and forgiveness. It is no something I will 'argue' about as the Bible speaks for itself.

Thank you to @AlteredStater for the latest update and the good news that Rev Phil is leading people to Faith.

I wish someone would clarify what all this "Far Right" nonsense is?

Fr Phil says what many people think because he's in tune with the mood of the people.

It's the Bible that Rev Phil seems to preach and teach. Rather than being 'in tune with the people', it's more in tune with God. I guess some folk perceive the Bible as being 'far right'? 🤔. It's a hard message to those who are more used to, or promote, 'gentle parenting'.

The trouble with Christianity these days is that it's progressed into Liberalism and thence into Secularism, particularly in the CoE but not exclusively. Christianity has become more self-centric rather than God-centric. More works-based salvation (which isn't Biblical at all, we are saved by Grace alone, good works can be an outworking of that grace, but they are not salvific in and of themselves).

Many churches don't do much in the way of good theological teaching at all, just 'fluff' sermons. The emphasis in many seems to be on getting people through the door, but once inside, people need to hear the proper Gospel, not a watered-down version. People don't bring other people to salvation, cookies and tea don't; God's word does.

Fr Phil isn't a people-pleaser but teaches the Gospel and holds to Biblical values. You can hear his sermons on YouTube as we go live on Sundays for the online service (although sometimes other preachers give the sermon, not always Fr Phil). I can post the link on Sunday if anyone's interested.

Agreed!

Yes, please post the link.

Will do! It's always at 6:30 p.m. 😊

I agree with this, too.

I would be interested in that link, thanks.

I really don't want to get into divisive conversations here because I would rather focus on things that unite us on these Christian threads, but I do want to say that the Bible is far from simplistic and people focus on different angles or interpret things in different ways. I'm more left leaning, as are a lot of my Christian friends. But I also have more right leaning Christian friends. I don't think God can be boxed in politically.

I certainly don't consider the Bible right wing but I do know Christians who interpret parts of it that way.

I'm interested to see a link to the speech this guy is talking about here when he says KS gave his "communist speech where he told the citizens of the UK that they are far right". That's pretty strong language.

It is very unusual in the UK to hear a minister describe themselves as far right. The teachings of Jesus and his care for those at the margins tend to mean that ministers here are left leaning or somewhere in the centre. What you do see are conservative churches in all the denominations which generally preach that their way of practising Christianity is the only way to be Christian. It is very strong in Protestantism but to be fair it cuts across all the denominations. In the UK conservatism in religion is usually expressed as no women and no gays. It is really rare to hear no immigrants which appears to be one of the themes of US Christian nationalism.

Conservatism in Christianity is all about defining the boundaries of who is in and who is out and using the Bible to defend those boundaries. When I was at theological college one of the best lectures we had in the first term was the challenge by one of the tutors to defend slavery using scripture. This really upset those from a more protestant/evangelical background who had been taught by their churches that the bible was inerrant. Christian’s used scripture to justify slavery and oppose the abolitionists in the UK until the 18th century. Scripture was used to justify apartheid on South Africa until the 20th century. I still run a version of this lecture in bible study in my own churches. Reading and reflecting on scripture is a perilous task. Those of us who preach need to be asking ourselves - what is the response of the people we preach to? Preaching isn’t an academic task. It is a call to action and to changed lives. Are the hungry fed? Are those at the margins welcomed? Is there generosity, loving kindness and justice for all? Is truth spoken to power? Are we seeing the fruits of the spirit in the lives of our congregations? If not why not? It is a hard task and I need to be getting on with it!

That's a very interesting post @mostlydrinkstea

Wait 🤔

@mostlydrinkstea says
“It is very unusual in the UK to hear a minister describe themselves as far right”.

But I thought I heard Canon Phil Harris say-

“so, by Sir Keir’s definition, as a far right priest in the Church of God, I feel that it is my duty to respond”.

That’s a very different statement.