I found this story on the religion section of the Moscow interfax news service. It recalls an incident a number of years ago in Gateshead. There is an annual Catholic walk in honour of the martyr Blessed John Ingram every July from Newcastle to the site of his execution outside St Edmund`s chapel in Gateshead High street. There follows a service inside the chapel where the Anglican parishioners make everyone very welcome. As this walk had been going on for quite some time, I heard that it was suggested that there be a plaque installed in the chapel to commemorate the martyrdom. When application was made to the C of E authorities, it was turned down on the grounds that John Ingram had been executed as a traitor and, never having as yet received a royal pardon, he could not be thus commemorated. I had wondered whether it was ok to worship Christ there as he also had been executed and had never received a pardon but if this goes ahead there will be no more worries on that score! Although this story claims a BBC connection I couldn`t find anything on the BBC website.
Moscow, August 31, Interfax - A Christian group wants Kenya's High Court to declare Jesus Christ's conviction declared 'null and void' and his Crucifixion 'illegal.'
The petition has raised a novel set of jurisprudence quandaries - not the least of which involved the statute of limitations and whether the high court of Kenya had jurisdiction over Jesus.
However, the high court spokesperson Dola Indindis said that the appellants actually 'might have a right in court because the issues raised touch on human rights and the high court has unlimited powers on that line,' the BBC reports.
Little is known about Kenya's Friends of Jesus (FOJ), which did not proselytize and was reticent about its numbers, saying they could not be counted in figures, but in 'the many who are ready to heed the Jesus teaching and be his friend.
`The FOJ includes Kenyan lawyers and wealthy businessmen who view their worldly fortune in this east African country, where half the population lived below the poverty line as a gift from God.
The FOJ's lawyer Humphrey Odanga said Jesus' Crucifixion was a wrongful punishment for a trial based on charges of "blaspheming the Holy Spirit" and should be corrected by modern law.
Some lawyers say the FOJ's complaint was legitimate but they rather should have filed it in the International Criminal Court in The Hague which has the mandate to hear that case. Nairobi constitutional lawyer Albert Kuloba, for one, said: 'The Kenyan courts do not have jurisdiction because the 'course-of-action' never arose within its jurisdiction. And even if they have jurisdiction, the application is time-barred.'
Still the group was determined. One member said: 'We need the court to clarify, for the record, that Jesus was not a criminal. He advocated for the rule of law. Do you mean to worship a convicted criminal?'
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Never know what you're going to hear next!
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