Extraordinary conversions, Northern saints, abortion activism...

... and should Protestants rethink contraception?

August has been busy and I have heard some powerful testimonies of faith and God’s goodness. First the courageous testimony of a former activist in the far-right “Patriotic Alternative” who experienced a breakdown after he began to question his politics. His heart began to change after prayer, reading the Bible and experiencing loving acceptance in multicultural churches:

“There was a very welcoming gentleman who was the utter antithesis of anyone I would have associated with before. He was an immigrant from Asia, and he was homosexual. He was not someone you would expect someone like me to gel with at all. And yet, he was wonderfully welcoming, even though I was open about who I had been and what I believed. He forgave me right off the bat for any enmity I might have felt towards him in the past and to people like him. And he welcomed me.

“I was reading about the divine image and the idea of the holiness of the human person, and about seeing Christ in one’s neighbour, and I started to see that in people.”

I am experimenting with videoing my interviews for print/online and publishing them on my resurrected YouTube channel - you can watch Theo’s interview here. Although the recording quality in the first five minutes is poor, it does improve.

I came across this story while researching a resurgence of interest in pro-life activism in the younger generation. There are interesting changes happening in ‘Gen Z’. Here are five young, pro-life Catholics who will be attending the March for Life in London today. I am writing on the subject for the evangelical press, too - watch this space.

Christ in the North

I am on a quest to visit places of pilgrimage in Northern England, with the goal of connecting with the faith of our fathers and mothers. I visited Whitby over the bank holiday weekend to learn about a very significant Christian for my beloved Yorkshire, St Hilda, although the town is more known for darker folk these days. Find out more: Between spooky Dracula and a saintly woman who helped found Christianity in England: contradictions and contrasts at the seaside town of Whitby.

Another article was published on an influential Christian woman, Josephine Butler, who campaigned for the rights of prostitutes in Victorian Britain. Although modern feminists present her as ‘one of them’, I’m not so sure that she would agree. See what you think.

Speaking of feminism and women’s issues, my article that asks whether the Protestant church needs to rethink its stance on contraception is out. It is part of a wider discussion that is happening - at last - about the harmful effects of the sexual revolution. How can we reverse the damage? These young people below - those interviewed for the young pro-lifers article - offer some interesting thoughts on the subject. You’ll hear more soon.