Thou shalt not tell me what to think

Apparently we have a new 11th Commandment, well five to be precise. The Methodist Church distributed 750,000 beer mats and postcards to pubs and clubs across the land asking people to text their suggestions. Five wannabe deities, have now been rewarded with top of the range mobile phones for prohibitions on: worshipping false pop idols, killing in the name of any God, confusing text with love, eating thine own body weight in fat and being negative.

The attempt to engage with the culture of under forty somethings has been dismissed by some in the media as a "jolly jape" and gimmicky. Some Christians missed the humour and castigated the project for rewriting the bible or blurring the gospel with beer goggles. Few people seem to be aware of the rather serious implications of such a competition.

Whilst some entrants wittily admonished the church for interrupting their pint, it was surprising how much people connected with the idea. Texts received within minutes of each other often had a theme, implying a discussion in the pub. Thirty three radio and television shows also played with the idea.

However, not once did the Methodists expect people to change their beliefs or start going to church. Compare this to the recent church hijacking of cinemas where it was assumed that watching twenty minutes of a man’s flogging would convert me or at least make me ask their counsellors questions.

Have the Methodists made the radical step of realising that whilst many of us will never become Christians, there might still be a role in society for the church? I don’t mind thinking about values and having sensible debates about ethical decisions. The church has long experience in this area and I welcome them to join in such discussions, on the proviso they don’t tell me what to do.

But this is the most exciting part of the competition; the church for once was not preaching, but listening. Yes they made a judgement on the best entries for the purpose of prize giving but many other entries, both sacred and profane will be included in a book later this year.

After being bombarded with tracts, books and dictats on salvation in the cinema, maybe it is within the pub that I can freely and humorously engage with the questions of life. So dear Methodists if you would like to share a pint, feel free to pull up a pew.