
blogs


Euthanasia bills fall at first hurdle
Last November I reported on the overwhelming defeat in the Scottish Parliament of Margo Macdonald’s…

The ‘ultrasound’ Jesus reminds us of the meaning of the incarnation
The creators of the 2010 ‘Christmas Starts With Christ' campaign say that its purpose is to bring attention…

How common is abortion to save the life of the mother?
Ireland’s ban on abortion was upheld this week by the European Court of Human Rights in a case brought…

A new exhibition touring the United States is highlighting lessons to be learned from the Nazi doctors
Most when remembering the holocaust will think of six million Jews but apparently this was only the final…

Two letters to the Times regarding Lord Falconer’s Commission on Assisted Dying
I have had two letters regarding Lord Falconer's Commission on Assisted Dying published on the Times…

Former Lord Chancellor misrepresents law on assisted suicide in national newspaper
Yesterday the Care Not Killing Alliance wrote to Lord Falconer, the former Lord Chancellor (pictured),…

ICMDA HIV Initiative 2010 Dignity and Right to Health Awards
The joint winners of the 2010 Dignity and Right to Health award are Dr Gisela Schneider from Germany…

More knowledge of fetal development leads to new US laws making late abortion illegal
In April this year the US state of Nebraska legislature signed off a bill that could weaken further the…

Chile’s president says country’s respect for life mandated great efforts to save lives of Chilean miners
I see that 26 of the rescued Chilean miners have just been welcomed to Manchester United by football…

As Christian doctors today let’s, like Nehemiah, be people of prayer and perseverance
Nehemiah was the key figure, along with Ezra, who was used by God in the fifth century BC to help bring…

Further stem cell advance brings clinical trials with ethically produced embryonic-like stem cells one step closer
Ethical stem cell treatments for diseases like Parkinson’s disease, diabetes and multiple sclerosis…
Caring for your mind during lockdown
When Boris Johnson announced a UK-wide lockdown, my immediate response was fear and dread. Many people are currently living in fear of catching Covid-19, and understandably so. However, for some of us, this virus may present a greater risk to our mental health than it does to our physical well-being. I find myself in this […]
Sidelined? Or waiting for God’s time to serve?
How Life Changes Four and a half weeks ago, I left my desk at a busy teaching hospital to start a semi-enforced break of five weeks between technical retirement and return to work in early April. Fortunately, I didn’t plan a cruise or world tour! However, a visit to a Christian hospital with a CMF […]
Facing coronavirus (COVID-19): the practicalities of critical illness and the reality of our mortality
Introduction In a manner not seen in the United Kingdom since World War Two, the COVID-19 crisis has brought death and dying – society’s greatest taboo – to centre stage. Whether we would like to admit it or not, even as Christians, we find this a very hard topic to discuss, especially with our closest […]
Coronavirus emergency measures remove safeguards around ‘home abortions’
Under the guise of the coronavirus lockdown, abortion campaigners have taken the opportunity to lobby the UK Government to substantially change the rules around abortion pills, something they have wanted to do for years, as this blog explains. This week, they have been successful in their campaign. Now women will be able to take two powerful […]
The ethics of emergencies must not become policy for peacetime
One of the questions proponents of abortion like to pose to their opponents runs like this: If you were in a hospital that was burning down, would you save a tray full of frozen embryos or a single child? This is supposed to prove that we pro-lifers don’t really believe that an embryo is human, […]
Ten things to pray for Christian healthcare workers
This morning I read a news article entitled ‘What am I still allowed to do?’ It outlined the new measures which the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson announced to the nation on Monday evening, explaining what this new UK-wide lockdown means for each of us and when we can leave the house. However, whilst we are […]
Denying conscience – the Canadian experiment
Recent reports from Canada reveal a worrying trend of doctors being pressurised and bullied into participating in Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD, the Canadian euthanasia programme). This is not only a worrying development in itself but one that follows almost inevitably from the steady erosion of the freedom of conscience in Canadian law around euthanasia […]
Compassion and Coronavirus: Where is God?
You may have read about the consultant anaesthetist, who has moved into a caravan to allow him to keep treating COVID-19 patients whilst protecting his son, just three years old, who is undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma. The chemotherapy will result in his son’s immune system being suppressed and means COVID-19 is a significant threat to […]
Washing feet
John 13: 1-20 Jesus is approaching the climax of his life. All his acts of service were about to be culminated and summated in his willing sacrifice on the cross. And it is all motivated by agape love – the love that gives. ‘Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to […]
Leadership in pandemics – six principles to guide us
The COVID19 epidemic has thrown nations into complete chaos. Fear and panic have gripped the world. Many nations are struggling with the impact of large numbers of people falling ill and increasing numbers of new infections. Many nations are preparing for this eventuality, but struggling, not knowing what they should be doing since the current […]
Coronavirus and the call to risk
It’s the early hours of the morning, and I’m standing in a cholera camp looking at the scene around me. There are people everywhere – on beds, on benches, on the floor, even lying in wheelbarrows. Sunken eyes look up at me as I look at the line of IV drips and giving sets attached […]
Christianity in a time of plague
Epidemic infections were a source of terror in the ancient world. They would sweep into the cities of the Roman Empire, causing devastation. The Plague of Cyprian was a pandemic that afflicted the Roman Empire from about AD 249 to 262. From 250 to 262, at the height of the outbreak, 5,000 people a day […]