Comments on: Gays should be tattooed with health warnings claims vicar

By: Sister Mary Clarence

Sister Mary Clarence — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:34:18 +0000

I've received a reply today in response to my complaint to the bishop:

Thank you for your e-mail.

The comments made were unacceptable and the matter is being dealt with.

With all good wishes.

+ Richard Londin

The Rt Revd & Rt Hon Richard Chartres DD FSA
Bishop of London

Somewhat briefer than I had anticipated I have to say.

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By: flapjack

flapjack — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 07:50:04 +0000

The Reverend Spooner had a speech impediment that meant he would inadvertently swap the first consonants of words around. According to urban legend he once called someone "a shining wit", and they never knew if it was an insult or not. I would class Mr Mullen as a shining wit on that basis.

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By: David

David — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:33:59 +0000

What a dishonest lying little twit. I've read the original post and the context and it was never meant to be funny. It is obvious to anyone that he is lying to save his skin. Look how widely his vile comments have been printed. It's this sort of hate filled rant that gives permission for people to verbally and physically abuse gay men and lesbians and increases the stigma associated with STIs. His bigoted arguments are ridiculous anyway. It is the religious bigots who fuel homophobia and hate. They get away with it constantly by bleating it is there right to express their religion. They are the loudest voices against equality. His second apology his so mean spirited and offensive. He is so obsessed with homosexuality that he can see only sex and nothing else. Can't see that we have relationships, feelings and bonds, that we can love too. If he is so concerned about HIV then why is he denigrating lesbians who probably have less risk than straights. It is great to see that his views have been widely slammed in every paper.

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By: Harry

Harry — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:50:12 +0000

Another thing. Mullen is not chaplain to the Stock Exchange in any meaningful sense. they never appointed him. all it means is that the Stock Exchange falls within his parish.

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By: Andrew Flynn

Andrew Flynn — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:57:25 +0000

Every day it should become more apparent that the religious are now the main enemy of gay rights.
And here is where the real problem lays. If they can believe in the bizaar lunacies written by men in the bible what wont they believe. As long as they hold the bible up as the innerrant word of some sort of god then they will never be able to move on and will in turn compensate themselves by making sure that we will never move on.

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By: karl

karl — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:46:55 +0000

charm , a razer sharp wit and good looks some guys have all the luck!

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By: Eddy

Eddy — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:30:36 +0000

I have to say that I and my partner are both fervent humanists, total rationalists, who have no truck with any form of religion, voo-doo, or other supernatural nonsense, but we have been surprised in moving out to an isolated part of the country to find that we have a formed a very close friendship with an Anglican vicar and his wife. We have so many interests in common: the arts and travel mainly. They know never to mention God in our presence. And we of course just keep the conversation normal – never referring to the mechanics of sex, homosexual or otherwise. So, let's not pillory ALL priests, please. They are not ALL like this Mullen bigot.

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By: gabriel

gabriel — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:57:40 +0000

Maybe all priests should have a similar tattoo- "Kepp out of reach of children"

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By: Alan

Alan — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:04:31 +0000

This man is a total disgrace, he should be sacked from the church. Its comments like this that cause homophobia. Be it on his consience if a gay is now attacked.

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By: fred

fred — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:15:06 +0000

His name should be Cupid Stunt.

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By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:02:17 +0000

In case anyone should fall for the 'Some of my best friends' or 'It was only a joke' defence that Mullen has been promulgating, it's worth noting that his sermons, posted on the St Michael's website, contain clearly expressed antipathy towards gays as a group. There's nothing light-hearted about it. Just goes to show that a PhD is no guard against bigotry.

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By: Adrian-T

Adrian-T — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:59:48 +0000

Another example of how religious faith rots the mind. It's funny to read all these self-pitying rectors bemoaning the fact that no-one will contribute to repair their crumbling village churches, or go to church. But is it any wonder people don't go, when it's clear that religion is not merely superstitious nonsense, but just a mandate for hatred, bullying, sectarianism and oppression? And he can go on making statements like that, because it's high time people realised the true face of religion.

His comments will appeal to the thuggish elements of society, no doubt like the BNP, and the psycopaths that knife people on their way to gay bars in Shoreditch. Go on, 'reverend', explain yourself to 'Olly' the 21 year old paralysed after his attack.

And what's worse is that we the taxpayer, fund this C of E bigotry!

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By: harry

harry — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:29:03 +0000

Let's hope this man's bigotry will show up the utter pointlessness of Chrisitian practice and belief. In a funny way I ma glad that he shows the pointless superstition of Christianity in its true nasty colours.

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By: Edward in Los Angeles

Edward in Los Angeles — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:17:05 +0000

He sounds like perhaps he's mentally ill? It would be rare for a sane person to write bigoted thoughts on a blog with that kind of perverse clarity.

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By: AB

AB — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:00:08 +0000

What tattoo do you give the many paedophile priests? "if you can read this, tell your mummy!". Being homosexual is not the biggest sin, people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

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By: AB

AB — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:57:25 +0000

What would you tattoo on the many paedophile priests?

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By: robfox66

robfox66 — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:40:05 +0000

Like most Christian Clergy, Peter Mullen is essentially a professional dissimulator. Christian Clergy are just not honest with their parishioners about what they learn during their undergraduate theological studies.

The majority of academic scholars of the Historical Jesus believe(on the best evidence available – the Synoptic gospels)that Jesus of Nazareth was an apocalyptic preacher whose proclamation of the imminent arrival of God's Kingdom was mistaken.

One former minister put it this way: "Jesus' kingdom preaching was predicated on a mistake. His fervent belief that a magnificent kingdom, primarily for Jews, would appear on Earth within his listeners' lifetime was an error, an illusion, an unfulfilled hope."

Perhaps Mullen should have a health warning tattooed on HIS face: "Warning! Religious Snake-Oil Peddler at Work!"

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By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:09:45 +0000

Something noteworthy about Mullen; he was once censured by the Church for adultery. I do not know Mullen, or the woman he committed adultery with, but this is in the public domain. Page 194 of Peter Vardy's The Puzzle of Sex (Fount Paperbacks 1997- Vardy is an ethics lecturer at Heythrop College) refers to Peter Mullen as "An Anglican vicar who resigned for committing adultery with a parishioner" If you look him up in Crockford's clerical directory, he left a parish in yorkshire in 1989, and did not minister as a priest again until 1997. His resignation would have been obligatory, and he would presumably have been on the Lambeth discipline list for at least 5 years.

As a hopefully penitent former adulterer, Mr Mullen should show more compassion and less ridicule. If he believes being gay is a sin (i dont) then he should do as Jesus did; I dont recall Jesus ever ridiculing sinners, except of course, religious hypocrites.

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By: rjb

rjb — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:53:16 +0000

Dr Mullen certainly represents a minority strand in the C of E, and not just on these issues. He is well known as an ecclesiastical gadfly in the Diocese of London. As Chaplain to the London Stock Exchange, he has been vocal in his commendation of unfettered free-market capitalism; a view that is increasingly unfashionable in the Church (as the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent address on Marx and the markets might suggest). He represents another generation, when the Church of England was the Tory Party at Prayer. I suspect that the Bishop of London (whose ecclesiastical sympathies certainly do not lean towards Dr Mullen's reactionary evangelism) might view this as a welcome opportunity to nudge this turbulent priest into early retirement. He would not be widely missed.

Comments on: Gays should be tattooed with health warnings claims vicar

By: Sister Mary Clarence

By: flapjack

By: David

By: Harry

By: Andrew Flynn

By: karl

By: Eddy

By: gabriel

By: Alan

By: fred

By: Jonathan

By: Adrian-T

By: harry

By: Edward in Los Angeles

By: AB

By: AB

By: robfox66

By: Bob

By: rjb

By: Luke