Irreverend: Faith and Current Affairs

In this episode of Irreverend Faith and Current Affairs, Rev. Dr. Jamie Franklin is joined by Rev. Thomas Pelham for a wide-ranging discussion on two major stories. First: Sadiq Khan celebrates a partnership between Fabric nightclub and St Paul’s Cathedral. Is this just another concert in a historic building, or a sign that the Church of England has lost the distinction between the sacred and the secular? Jamie and Tom examine Bishop Robert Barron’s strong critique, Gavin Ashenden’s polemics, and the wider question of what church buildings are actually for. Second: Cambridge academic and Reform UK policy chief James Orr is forced to step down after being caught in a journalistic sting discussing foreign funding. Was it illegal? Immoral? Or just politically disastrous? The pair dig into the optics, the law, Nigel Farage’s ruthless response, and what it means for Christian influence in politics. Also in this episode: the assisted dying bill, the AfD surge in Germany, Iceland rejecting the EU, and a listener question about blessing children’s backpacks. Timestamps: 0:00 – Intro & banter 7:04 – Lord’s Prayer & Psalm 117 13:30 – Fabric nightclub at St Paul’s Cathedral 25:13 – Bishop Robert Barron’s critique of sacred vs secular 33:02 – Gavin Ashenden & Roman Catholic reactions 36:32 – James Orr, Reform UK & the foreign funding controversy 50:02 – Assisted dying, abortion & the AfD rise in Germany 1:00:39 – Listener question: blessing backpacks 1:06:41 – Closing prayer Support Irreverend: 🔥 Patreon → https://www.patreon.com/irreverend 🔥 Substack → https://irreverendpod.substack.com 📧 Email / donations → irreverendpod@gmail.com Like, subscribe, comment and share if you want more fearless commentary on church, culture and current affairs. #StPauls #Fabric #JamesOrr #ReformUK #ChurchOfEngland #Irreverend Support the show

In this episode of Irreverend Faith and Current Affairs, Rev. Dr. Jamie Franklin confronts one of the most disturbing stories gripping social media: the Lindsay Clancy trial. A Massachusetts mother methodically strangled her three young children before attempting suicide. As the jury remains deadlocked, supporters gather outside the courthouse wearing “Stand with Lindsay” T-shirts, while commentators rush to excuse her by blaming sleep deprivation, “the patriarchy,” mental illness, or Big Pharma. Jamie argues this is a clear bellwether of a post-Christian anthropology that replaces objective morality and personal responsibility with identity hierarchies — and shows how the logic of abortion is now being applied to born children. Timestamps: 0:00 – Intro & welcome 1:59 – Lord’s Prayer and Bible reading: Matthew 18:15–20 3:06 – Personal responsibility & the breakdown of the moral universe 9:40 – The Lindsay Clancy story begins 12:47 – Post-Christian anthropology & the decline of the West 17:00 – Pagan Rome, infanticide & the Christian revolution 22:04 – Lindsay Clancy as feminist icon & the TikTok supporters 26:56 – Caitlin Bennett interview with Clancy supporters 32:45 – Legal ramifications if she is found not guilty 35:41 – Anne Hathaway on abortion as “mercy” 40:44 – Church of England / Church Times silence 44:41 – Why the leftist ideology is uniquely toxic 50:14 – Listener question: Big Church Festival tragedy & the problem of evil 1:01:01 – St Stephen of Hungary & the call for Christian restoration 1:04:50 – Closing prayer This is one of the darkest and most important conversations Jamie has hosted. Not for the faint-hearted — but essential if you care about the direction of our civilisation. Support Irreverend: 🔥 Patreon → https://www.patreon.com/irreverend 🔥 Substack → https://irreverendpod.substack.com 📧 Email / donations → irreverendpod@gmail.com Like, subscribe, comment and share if you want more fearless commentary on church, culture and current affairs. #LindsayClancy #CultureOfDeath #MoralResponsibility #ChristianAnthropology #Irreverend Support the show

Rev Jamie is back with a solo episode that starts with absurdity and ends with righteous anger. 🔥 The Home Office’s jaw-dropping pamphlet telling asylum seekers that “in the UK both people must say yes to sex” – complete with unfinished sentences and cartoon illustrations. Madeleine Grant calls it Victorian moralising; Jamie calls it something far darker. 👑 Prince Harry’s latest “hostage video” for the Diana Award: systemic racism, unconscious bias, and the obligatory apology for the sins of previous generations. Production values that would embarrass a parish podcast. 🎓 Academia continues its descent: a very tall man in a dress receives an honorary degree for DEI activism at the University of Bradford… while Cambridge’s Education Faculty hires someone who once called for engineering degrees to produce “advanced weaponry for jihad.” And the main event: the continuing fallout from Jason Arday’s death. Nathan Cofnas speaks. The Bishop of Croydon and former Archbishop Rowan Williams turn the tragedy into a morality play about “bullying” and “basic human dignity” – while ignoring the plagiarism, the fabrications, and the DEI machine that put an unqualified man on a pedestal from which he had so far to fall. Jamie names names, refuses the victimhood narrative, and asks the forbidden question: who is actually responsible? Plus: the quiet death of the parish system under “oversight ministry” and why the Church of England’s technocrats don’t understand what a priest actually is. Support Irreverend: 🔥 Patreon → https://www.patreon.com/irreverend 🔥 Substack → https://irreverendpod.substack.com 📧 Email / donations → irreverendpod@gmail.com Like, subscribe, comment and share if you want more fearless commentary on church, culture and current affairs. Support the show

Rev Jamie returns with a powerful solo episode on the tragic death of Cambridge professor Jason Arday and what it reveals about our post-truth culture. In this episode: 🔥 Jason Arday’s death and the reaction The James O’Brien interview, the rejection of meritocracy, the Trafalgar Square vigil, Diane Abbott’s claims of a “vicious campaign”, and the Committee for Academic Freedom’s response. 📖 Victimhood as the new sainthood How modern culture has taken the Christian idea of martyrdom and twisted it into identity politics. ⛪ Church of England Project Spire Alex Scott discovers her ancestor was a slave owner — and why race-based reparations make no sense. ⛪ Truro’s 21-church benefice Mass opposition ignored, and Bishop David Williams’ comments on “priest-centred” ministry. Timestamps: 0:00 – Intro & apology on sociology 3:30 – Lord’s Prayer & John 9 11:30 – Jason Arday’s death and the culture war 25:40 – The James O’Brien interview & meritocracy 42:00 – Trafalgar Square vigil & Diane Abbott 55:00 – Project Spire & Alex Scott 1:05:00 – Truro 21-church benefice 1:15:00 – Listener emails Support Irreverend: 🔥 Patreon → https://www.patreon.com/irreverend 🔥 Substack → https://irreverendpod.substack.com 📧 Email / donations → irreverendpod@gmail.com Like, subscribe, comment and share if you want more fearless commentary on church, culture and current affairs. #JasonArday #Cambridge #DEI #ChurchOfEngland #ProjectSpire #Irreverend Support the show

Jamie and Tom are back with another explosive episode. 🔥 Jason Arday / Cambridge scandal The “inspirational” professor whose remarkable life story is collapsing, extensive plagiarism, incoherent teaching, a $1.15 million book deal still going ahead, and the toxic DEI culture that allowed it all to happen. ⛪ Madeline Grant on the Church of England Why the CofE is still doubling down on Project Spire and 2020-era racial politics long after the rest of society has moved on. ⚖️ Massachusetts abortion law A major change expanding access to later-term abortions — and what it reveals about the direction of Western culture. Sharp, unfiltered, and no sacred cows. Support the show: 🔥 Patreon → https://www.patreon.com/irreverend 🔥 Substack → https://www.patreon.com/c/irreverend 📧 Email / donations → irreverendpod@gmail.com Please subscribe, leave a 5-star rating, and share if this episode hit home. Support the show

In this episode of Irreverend, Rev. Jamie Franklin examines two major stories making waves in the Church and wider culture. 1. The Archbishop of Canterbury in Ghana Filmed visits to former slave sites, public displays of piety, and a renewed commitment to the Church of England’s £100 million slavery reparations fund. Historical claims, collective guilt theology, African involvement in the slave trade, British abolition, parish backlash, and the legal challenge now underway. 2. Oxford Union debate – “The West is right to be suspicious of Islam” Protesters outside, Tommy Robinson on the panel, a revealing joke about him being “cooked,” the attempt to separate Islam from Islamism, the age of Aisha, and why the Christian-history comparison doesn’t work the way some claim. Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 5:37 Archbishop in Ghana & reparations 21:13 Oxford Union Islam debate Parish funding stories and other comments, questions and stories welcome: irreverendpod@gmail.com Support the show: 🔥 Patreon → https://www.patreon.com/irreverend 🔥 Substack → https://www.patreon.com/c/irreverend 📧 Donate → irreverendpod@gmail.com Please subscribe, leave a 5-star rating, and share if this episode hit home. Support the show

The Church of England is sitting on an £11.6 billion endowment — yet parish churches are being closed, merged, and left without clergy or cash. In this hard-hitting episode, Jamie Franklin interviews the Rev. Marcus Walker, rector of St Bartholomew the Great in the City of London and one of the key voices behind the Save the Parish movement. They dig into: 🔥 The extraordinary growth at St Bartholomew’s (from ~50 to 250+) and why young adults are flocking to traditional high-church worship 💰 How historic parish money has been redirected while poorer churches struggle ⛪ The controversial push for 10,000 new lay-led church plants 📖 The Quiet Revival, the King James Bible, beauty, and why “relevance” often means the opposite of what people actually want ⚔️ What ordinary Anglicans can do to fight back This is one of the most important conversations about the future of the Church of England right now. Get involved: 🔥 Join Save the Parish → https://www.savetheparish.com/join/ 🔥 Stand for General Synod → https://www.savetheparish.com/general-synod-manifesto-2026/# Support the show: 🔥 Patreon → https://www.patreon.com/irreverend 🔥 Substack → https://www.patreon.com/c/irreverend 📧 Donate → irreverendpod@gmail.com Please subscribe, leave a 5-star rating, and share if this episode hit home. Support the show

Jamie shares encouragement from listener feedback and reflects on the Parable of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Great Price — the Kingdom of Heaven is worth selling everything for. This week’s topics: - World Cup wrap-up: Why true unity comes from Christ, not global sporting events - Andy Burnham’s speech as new Prime Minister — a return to 1970s economics? - The Assisted Suicide bill returns to Parliament. (Write to your MP: https://righttolife.org.uk/jnmv). - General Synod approves new “Festival of Creation in Christ” — theological renewal or net zero propaganda? - Church decline and the state of theological education - Free speech debate after a university employee’s arrest over vile posts celebrating Anne Widdecombe’s murder Raw, honest, and unflinching. Subscribe and support the show if this content matters to you. Support Irreverend: 🔥 Patreon → https://www.patreon.com/irreverend 🔥 Substack → https://irreverendpod.substack.com 🔥 Buy Me a Coffee → https://www.buymeacoffee.com/irreverend Email: irreverendpod@gmail.com Share this episode with friends who need it. Support the show

In this week's episode of Irreverend: Faith and Current Affairs, Jamie Franklin opens with the Lord's Prayer and Jesus' Parable of the Weeds, reflecting on judgment, patience, and hope in dark times. Jamie addresses: - The murder of Anne Widdecombe and grim reactions from some public figures, including Peter Tatchell - England’s World Cup progress and the heated debate around nationalism and Jude Bellingham - Bernard Randall’s legal victory after years of being targeted for orthodox Christian teaching - The Church of England’s continued push for £100 million in slavery reparations (Project Spire) amid parish struggles - General Synod’s engagement with a controversial Palestinian Christian document on Israel - A narrow defeat of a motion undermining traditional marriage teaching Hymn of the Week: "Just As I Am" by Charlotte Elliott. Raw, honest, and unflinching. Subscribe and support the show if this content matters to you. Support Irreverend: 🔥 Patreon → https://www.patreon.com/irreverend 🔥 Substack → https://irreverendpod.substack.com 🔥 Buy Me a Coffee → https://www.buymeacoffee.com/irreverend Email: irreverendpod@gmail.com Share this episode with friends who need it. Come on England! ⚽ Support the show

In this hard-hitting interview, Daniel speaks with investigative journalist Sonia Elijah about her new book 3:11 Viral Takeover. Sonia breaks down: The overwhelming evidence for a COVID lab leak and how top scientists knew it but pushed the natural origin story How fear was weaponised to enforce compliance and crush dissent The deeply flawed PCR testing regime and rushed mRNA rollout Coordinated censorship between governments, Big Tech, and legacy media The shift from temporary emergency powers to permanent digital authoritarianism With over 940 citations, this is a meticulously researched account of one of the most consequential events of our lifetime. If you want the truth behind the official COVID narrative — and what it means for the future — this episode is essential listening. Get Sonia’s book: 3:11 Viral Takeover https://amzn.to/4w2cHxg What do you believe really happened in 2020? Leave a comment or review! Support Irreverend: 🔥 Patreon → https://www.patreon.com/irreverend 🔥 Substack → https://irreverendpod.substack.com Email: irreverendpod@gmail.com Thanks for listening — please subscribe, rate, and share if you found this valuable. Support the show