Armageddon is 65% proof // Biblical theme park for sale: $350,000 ono // Current chance of rapture: %

Join shipmates currently on our discussion boards, talking about...         Chat, debate, rant...     Join the Ship of Fools discussion boards for up-to-the-minute debate, talk, sharing ideas and games. Register here!     Or drop straight in on our most popular discussion boards...       Heaven Post jokes, moan about spam, discuss Dr Who... welcome to Heaven.   Purgatory Theology, culture, ethics, social issues... welcome to our serious debate space.   Hell Is Mel Gibson one bead short of a full rosary? Here's the place for rants and vitriol.     In praise of holy fools The feast of St Simeon the Holy Fool (and patron saint of this website) is here. In celebration, Simon Jenkins muses on the holy fools of past and present times, in a chapter from his book, Jumble Sales of the Apocalypse. Getting a visitors' eye-view of church Anne Richards has been dipping into the dispatches of our Mystery Worshippers, who drop in on churches and then file a visitor's report. The results aren't always pretty. She asks: How can churches welcome people so they don't end up feeling invisible and lonely?   Whatever happened to Billy Shears? Steve Goddard's new novel bridges the 1967 world of Sgt Pepper and the Summer of Love, and the world of now.   Bosoms and ebenezers Simon Jenkins delves into his copy of Hymns Ancient and Freudian, and discovers that sex and hymns have a lot more in common than you might think. Trekking the Camino One of our best-travelled Mystery Worshippers has been on the back roads of Spain on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. Upside down Bible A new book looks at Jesus's parables through the eyes of atheists, trade unionists and sex workers. Symon Hill explains. Judging by numbers Fiona Gibson responds to megachurch pastor Andy Stanley's comment that parents who take their children to small churches are "stinking selfish". Hairshirt for Archbush Canterbury's hairiest Archbishop of the past 1,000 years has been awarded his very own t-shirt, with Darwin, Freud and Dickens. Quizzed about the sermon The Mystery Worshipper visits Westminster Chapel and is quizzed in the coffee queue about the sermon. Beware the warrior archaeologists Rowan Williams explains how 'warrior archaeologists' are manipulating the past and using it as a weapon. Religion must be a laughing matter In the wake of the murder of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists, Simon Jenkins argues that all religions need to be satirised. Love, secrets and footie Tim Pike reviews Steve Goddard's novel, Rattles and Rosettes, the story of two football fans living a century apart. Holy smoke! Introducing our first print publication in more than two decades, a novel embracing the WW1 trenches and football. God and cake at the Sunday Assembly The Mystery Worshipper calls in on godless church the Sunday Assembly in Belfast. The canon, the dean and the wardrobe A Mystery Worshipper is on hand to witness CS Lewis inducted into Poets Corner, Westminster Abbey. Shaming the tiger Gavin Drake investigates the unravelling story of kung fu champion turned prison evangelist Tony Anthony. Holy dispenser! Put an end to deadly raging epidemics breaking out at your communion services with this handy host dispenser. Global warm-up The death of ecosystems is hardly laugh-a-minute stuff, but comedian Paul Kerensa performs a set on climate change.   Post your entry in our latest caption competition, The Mystery Worshipper Our latest reports from churches around the world are: Balham, UK Tarragona, Spain Peoria, USA Deptford, UK Port Elizabeth, S Africa London, UK Lullingstone, UK Beckenham, UK New York, USA Worms, Germany Ship of Fools mugs! Order your Ship of Fools mug... five inspired designs. Click here. We rely on voluntary donations to stay online. If you're a regular visitor to Ship of Fools, please consider supporting us.