Songs of Praise in Calais migrant camp

Written by Linda Digby 13 Aug 2015
Songs of Praise in Calais migrant camp

The crew of the BBC's flagship religious show Songs of Praise has arrived in the Calais migrant camp to shoot one of its most controversial episodes yet. They’re to film at a makeshift Ethiopian Orthodox Church in the centre of the Calais migrant camp. The decision to film there has provoked a mixed reaction from the public and the migrants. The Eritrean priest who runs the chapel feared that filming would endanger his family’s life if the images were seen in his home country, adding that the producers did not have permission to film in the camp. The BBC was accused of wading into a politically-sensitive issue. Meanwhile a blog by the so-called “Archbishop Cranmer” said that this is Christ’s church for the poor, weak, lonely, dispossessed, hurting, grieving and broken. It’s for the desperate and oppressed; destitute and dying. Hold your nose and avert your eyes: it’s the swarm of humanity in the cesspit of life. Songs of praise are to be sung to the Lord in the cardboard church of Calais. The Lord is there. His Spirit is with them. Glory to God in the lowest places. See: http://archbishopcranmer.com/songs-of-praise-and-the-cardboard-church-of-calais/

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