Episode 85: Beer, hymns, refugees and Gaza - Steve Tinning, JPIT / Beer & Hymns
Steve Tinning is a Baptist Minister, a Public Issues Enabler for the Baptist Union of Great Britain and one of the team that makes Beer and Hymns happen at Greenbelt festival.
Steve is a lovely chap and on this episode, he talks to us about his secondment to JPIT (the Joint Public Issues Team of the Baptist, URC and Methodist churches), issues of asylum and refugee policy, and about different responses to Ukrainian and other groups of refugees.
These are all excellent reasons to get him on the show. but there’s another.
Steve is one of the people who makes Beer and Hymns happen at Greenbelt festival. And we bloody love Beer and Hymns like we bloody love Greenbelt (actually, Malky likes it, but that’s about as far as it goes for him). Steve tells us a little about the origins of Beer and Hymns and spread of the idea, how he came to be involved and the deep, thorough and extensive philosophy behind it. (We’ve linked to some other places you can find out more.)
Steve also has ideas about how you can run a Beer and Hymns (or Beer and Carols) in a pub near you, so you have to listen to the episode just for that!
You can listen to one of the OG Beer and Hymns experiences, from 2013, here.
You can watch 2023’s Beer and Hymns at Greenbelt, here and see Steve in action.
You can visit the JPIT website to find out more about what they are doing to make the world a better place.
You can follow Steve on Twitter / X here.
Also, given that Israel, at time of recording, was still bombing the trapped and overwhelmingly civilian population of Gaza, we also talked about Palestine and standing with Palestinians. Steve denounces Hamas, you'll be pleased to know.
This episode runs a little long because Jonty and Steve argued a little, and also because we wanted to include some clips of Beer and Hymns in the wild. Included are audio tracks from Greenbelt 2023 , Greenbelt 2013 (featuring Dave Ball) and from the White House pub in Oxford, hosting St Aldates' Beer and Hymns (a more sedate and civilised affair than the Jesus Arms version) a few weeks ago.
We hope you enjoy!
You can listen to Episode 85 anywhere: in Parliament, as you remove all legal ways for refugees and asylum seekers to enter the country; in a luxury holiday home with a huge garden while you say ‘England is full up’; in one of the many countries Britain, Europe and the USA have helped to turn into hellish warzones one might want to escape, or right here…
If you want to get a different perspective on what’s happening in Palestine and Israel right now, listen to Palestinians as much as you can. In addition, here are a few things we’ve done on the subject:
Beer Christianity (the newsletter)
Jonty has written a couple of pieces already and will probably write a few more, so you can subscribe at Beer Christianity (the newsletter), or read these:
Toxic Sympathy: When we tolerate for others what we would never tolerate ourselves
An examination of our double standards when it comes to violent resistance.
Stand with Gaza, stand with Palestine: Neutrality now is complicity
Engaging with the shibboleths and loyalty tests uniquely applied to supporters of Palestine, and all the other things we must condemn as we condemn terrorists.
2. Beer Christianity (the podcast) (this podcast)(this very one)
Episode 44: Israel-Palestine with Ilan Pappe - an Israeli historian's analysis
From 2021, our chat with the brilliant historian and professor at Exeter University. This one is on our slightly uglier old site because we are slack and have not finished carrying across all the old episodes.
Episode 84: Stand with Gaza - Palestine, Israel and justice with peace
Laura and Jonty (and Malky in spirit!) talk about the then-unfolding crimes against Gaza.
New to Beer Christianity? Salaam.
Beer Christianity is an anti-capitalist, pro-BLM, pro-LGBTQ+, post-post-post-evangelical podcast where we drink a bit and talk a lot. Our aim is to be real, helpful and entertaining.
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We don't really want to preach at you, but some people like to know what we believe. It's this: Jesus Christ is the Son of God and came to teach us a better way to be while reconciling us to God and each other in a way we could never do without Him. He also changed water into wine. Nice.