SPIRITED THINKING SINCE 1888
Tim Stanley

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Could the coronavirus prompt a religious revival?
May 15, 2020
On the walk to my mother’s house there is a handwritten sign on a gate that reads “Happy Easter! Jesus is risen from the dead!” It doesn’t belong to a church, just a perfectly normal suburban home, and I doubt you’d have seen something like it before the pandemic. Perhaps the coronavirus will lead to
Is Boris the best we can hope for?
December 19, 2019
What are Christians to make of Boris Johnson and his spanking new majority? It depends, of course, on your politics. I know plenty of Christians who can’t bear him. Some blame him for the referendum result; they think he lied our way out of Europe. Others dislike his character and private life. This election has
Usman Khan exploited loopholes in our justice system – and our worldview
December 05, 2019
If we suspect someone is a lost cause, is it naïve to try to reform them and stupid to release them? Usman Khan went to jail in 2012 for his role in a terror plot and the judge thought he was a “serious jihadist”. He was given a type of sentence specifically created so that
Cranmer’s accidental gift to Catholics
November 21, 2019
Last week I was the guest speaker at the semi-finals of the Book of Common Prayer recital contest in Kent. Even one of the participants said to me, “This is a bit eccentric, isn’t it?” I’d been invited to give a talk on “my relationship with the Book of Common Prayer.” I didn’t think I
There was nothing inevitable about it
November 07, 2019
We’re fast approaching the 30th anniversary of the opening of the Berlin Wall, which helped spell the end of communism. East Germany was morally bankrupt the moment the wall was built: it’s not paradise if you have to lock people up in it. But demolition was by no means inevitable and history owes a debt
We’ve seen the ‘new masculinity’ before
October 24, 2019
The latest craze is to go “gender fluid”. The name of the game is playing with identity, mixing things up, blurring lines. The male musician Pharrell Williams is on the front cover of GQ magazine wearing a frock that resembles a teepee, or even – dare I say it? – a religious vestment. Yes, he
The courtroom hug that showed Christianity in action
October 10, 2019
I can entirely understand why some people thought Brandt Jean shouldn’t forgive Amber Guyger. Guyger killed his brother. On September 6, 2018, in Texas, Guyger says that she came home, found what she thought was an intruder in her apartment and shot him dead. In fact, it wasn’t her apartment – she’d gone through the
The most peaceful and prayerful liturgy I’ve ever known
September 26, 2019
The triumphant tour of the relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux showed that Catholicism is alive and well in Scotland. Thousands came out to see her: the spontaneous enthusiasm of old and young demonstrated that piety draws piety. It was also a credit to the team at Sancta Familia Media, a brilliant local crew of filmmakers
First they came for Pell…
August 29, 2019
Why do so many Catholics refuse to believe that the Australian cardinal George Pell is guilty of child abuse? The cynical answer is “tribal loyalty”: he’s one of us, so we’ll defend him. But Catholics have had plenty of opportunity to get used to the idea of clerics abusing children and we’d gladly condemn the guilty
My metaphysical friend is running for president
August 15, 2019
Yet more Americans have been killed in mass shootings: 22 in El Paso, Texas, and 10 in Dayton, Ohio. It’s senseless. I love America but this is a part of its culture I’ll never comprehend. I understand that the second amendment grants the right to bear arms; I know that Americans pride themselves for their
Neo-Victorians like Rees-Mogg know what Britain is lacking
August 01, 2019
I’m very much enjoying our neo-Victorian government. I’ve been pushing Boris for PM for over a year: I said on BBC Question Time that Theresa May should resign, and one lady gasped. I said Boris should replace her and the audience booed. Well, they must feel very silly now. Not only is the big man
The vote that made me wish I was back in Iraq
July 18, 2019
I’m afraid this is a very depressing story. I was in the House of Commons last week, after a trip to Iraq, giving a talk on what life was like for Christians under ISIS (in short, they had to convert, run or die). The MP hosting the meeting said he’d have to leave the room
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