Free Republic

The Church of England has joined the war on plastic as vicars buy cassocks made from recycled bottles. A clerical clothing manufacturer has launched the first-ever plastic cassock in a bid to make priestly clothing more eco-friendly. Butler & Butler has begun selling a men's cassock made from 100 per cent recycled polyester made from reclaimed PET bottles. The company, which specialises in fair trade and organic clerical outfits, first began selling the clothing a fortnight ago and Mr Butler says it has been popular with ethically-minded clergy. Director of the company the Rev Simon Butler said it had come...

This is one for the “too stupid to survive” files: US Army Labeled Evangelicals, Catholics as Examples of Religious Extremism. When I first saw the headline, I assumed it must all be a little less obviously bone-crushingly stupid or at any rate more nuanced once you got into the story. But I invite you to look at the accompanying poster for the Equal Opportunity training brief issued by the Army Reserve in Pennsylvania. It lists “extremist” groups, starting with “Evangelical Christianity” at Number One, “Al Quaeda” (misspelled under any Roman rendering of Arabic) at Number Five, “Hamas” at Six, and...