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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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