Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Religious freedom...

...and an excellent celebration in London to mark the launch of Benedict Rogers' splendid book From Burma to Rome  which tells the story of his own Christian journey in the context of his work for persecuted Christians in various countries including Burma and North Korea. It's partly a sort of Apologia, and partly an adventure story, and it works well...and the celebration this evening was hosted by Lord Alton and brought together all sorts of people from Parliament, Christian organisations, and academia...

Ben does wonderful work with Christian Solidarity Worldwide, and because he travels a great deal, the theme of a journey echoes throughout the book. The reader can in a sense accompany him, and the companionship is a good one, cheery and uplifting.

A delight to chat to, among others, young people from Youth 2000, the team from Aid to the Church in Need, Baroness Cox - who will shortly be presenting prizes, in the House of Lords, for the Schools Bible Project which I help to run - and the excellent Tom Longford of Gracewing Publishing. A particular pleasure to talk to Peter Smith, currently editor of Crossbow, magazine of the Conservative think-tank The Bow Group, The latest issue is a good read, tackles  topics including resuscitating the NHS, an authentic One Nation approach, a way forward from the current EU tangles...and more.

Long years ago, Auntie was editor of Crossbow. I still have some back copies poking out of a bookcase, and will look them up...

A gusty wind whirled across London, hurtling down golden and brown leaves into the lamplight as I walked back down The Mall and along by Parliament Square.

There will be another celebration for Benedict's book this Friday: all welcome...more about it here...

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