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In early Christian meetings both men and women were allowed to address the congregation, in marked contrast to the Jewish synagogues. Paul was concerned, not because the women were engaging in a ‘masculine’ activity but because they were doing so in an inappropriate way - with uncovered heads...

The C of E does ordain women priests. It has always had gay clergy (as has every other denomination - merely being gay is not a sin) It does not perform same-sex marriages. (other churches under the Anglican umbrella, such as the Episcopal church in America, allow same-sex marriages, but it's...

You can't assume that the Queen is "in favour" of anything that happens within the Church of England. She has no actual power to stop it, and as the reigning monarch is not even allowed to express her personal opinion. And I'm not sure what you mean by "protecting" Prince Andrew. He has for...

Yes, they're kidding. She's the "Supreme Governor" of the Church of England - but that's a ceremonial title only. Nothing like the Pope at all. She doesn't decide anything, let alone matters of doctrine! Even when she "appoints" bishops, she just appoints whoever the church tells her to...

In the UK, if you pay taxes, the Government will add 20% to your charitable giving (20% being the basic income tax rate). So when I tithe net, I'm also effectively giving the church money out of what I've paid in income tax, and I don't need to worry about the gross figure.

In actual fact, the tithe is the first item in our monthly budget - and the charitable giving is second. That's the best way to do it.

There are lots of ways of knowing. Faithfulness to apostolic doctrine and commitment to fellowship (in various forms) should be essential prerequisites. If only one church in your area meets these requirements, that's probably where you should be. But if there's more than one, how do you choose...

For many Christians, tithing smacks of legalism. Wasn’t it part of the Old Covenant Law, which no longer applies to us? And in all the many passages on money and giving in the New Testament, tithing is never even suggested, let alone commanded. However, tithing pre-dates the Law. It is first...

I think of Father Christmas as a traditional Christmas game - not to be taken too seriously. (Unfortunately, many people take it far too seriously...) He's a sideshow, not the main event. When my daughter asked if he was real I told her to work it out for herself - and made sure to leave clues...

It's the graph that I find hard to believe. The first bit is suspiciously flat - real life isn't like that. Where does it come from? The print is small, but if it's from VAERS then the same considerations apply: you can't use raw VAERS data to prove anything. And it's still suspiciously flat...

You can't usually tell whether or not the vaccine was the cause by doing tests. What actually happens is that you count up the number of cases of a particular event (e.g. spontaneous blood clots) after the vaccine and compare that with the number of spontaneous blood clots that are known to...

"Post hoc propter hoc" is a well-known fallacy, and shouldn't be used as an argument.

But VAERS is a record of "adverse events" related in time to receiving the vaccine, NOT a record of events caused by the vaccine. They are not the same thing at all! Most of the VAERS data will be coincidences.

Raincoats don't keep off 100% of the rain - but most of us nevertheless wear raincoats when it's raining. Seatbelts don't save 100% of lives in accidents (because some accidents are non-survivable even with a seatbelt) - but most of us still think it's worth wearing a seatbelt when driving...

I should add that I know several people who have had Covid after being vaccinated. Most of them were high risk, all but one got it very mildly, and the other was admitted to hospital but only for a couple of days (and didn't need a ventilator). So the vaccine definitely seems worth having.

We are doing very well, thankyou. I've had two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and now one of the Pfizer. No side-effects apart from a few hours of 'fluey' symptoms (which you can get from any vaccine) and a sore arm for a few days. Everyone I know has been vaccinated, with no serious...

Oh, it's definitely real. But I've read a report today that this new variant causes less severe symptoms, even in people who aren't vaccinated, so the panic will hopefully turn out to be an overreaction. I've been vaccinated anyway, so I'm not worrying. But the extra restrictions will be a pain...

They are pretty rare in the UK.

Three points. First, science cannot disprove miracles (unless you're using it in a forensic way to investigate a particular case, e.g has this person actually been healed?). Science deals only with the 'normal', the general rule. Whether there might be occasional exceptions due to the activity...

Were there any missionaries in New Testament times, in addition to the Apostles? Yes - and they were also called "apostles". For example - Barnabas (Acts 14:14), Andronicus and Junia (Romans 16:7). So we do still have apostles today, only we call them "missionaries"! (Both "apostle" and...