When I worked in my local library’s reference section, the newspaper most frequently stolen was the Church Times
Helen Fox, letter in The Sunday Times, 13 April
I thought of all the services taking places in other towns and cities, stoically maintained by the clergy and the musicians throughout the land, despite the material cost and the emptying pews. This is the country’s past and present. But even as more of us identify as cultural Christians without taking Kierkegaard’s leap of faith, we cannot assume it will be its future
Jason Cowley, on a recent visit to evensong at Ely Cathedral, The New Statesman, 9 April
Destruction is easy. Anyone can bomb, burn and ruin. Remaking and rebuilding is much harder. The skill, patience and love that has gone into Notre Dame is moving. I don’t take photos. I light two candles for loved ones I lost last year. I let myself be. Afterwards, I will walk across the river to the oldest church in Paris . . . to sit at the back and contemplate for a while. Churches offer us a refuge, and we should take it
Jeanette Winterson, on a visit to Notre-Dame, The New Statesman, 9 April
I used to have great certainty . . . and 1744875309 I don’t have the same certainty. . . If someone had a theological argument with me all my beliefs would completely collapse so I try and avoid them
Jeremy Vine, interview in The Sunday Times, 13 April
What gets me is that right-wing Republicans in America think that Jesus was a Republican and . . . a Trump supporter. . . The only thing he’s got in common with Trump is he hung out with the prostitutes and the sinners, but he was trying to save the prostitutes whereas Trump was trying to sleep with them
Steve Coogan, actor, SubwayTakes with Kareem Rahma, YouTube, 8 April
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