Occidental Partridge

“There’s something in the culture of XR, in its DNA, that’s got all the good things of religion…in the community, in the bond, in the ethics and the care and the compassion that is amazing,” says Mark Ovland, who has – since we met – gone viral as one of the two Extinction Rebels who sparked commuter backlash by mounting a Tube train at Canning Town. This wasn’t the first time Mark crossed swords with Transport for London, being among the first to glue himself to the DLR during Extinction Rebellion’s first weeks of direct action in April. The press have described him as a ‘Buddhist teacher’ though as I found out, this isn’t strictly true. Although he has practiced Buddhism with great dedication for many years – even to the point of caring for his teacher when he fell ill, hardly leaving his side for three years – Mark has never considered himself a Buddhist. In common with many Westerners who adopt Eastern spiritual practice, he has drunk deeply from the cup of Buddhist wisdom and p

Going by the attendance, you would never think Western Christianity was in any kind of trouble. I join a long queue snaking round the north face of St Paul's Cathedral and another twenty or so join behind me within minutes. Eventbrite has warned me that over 1,800 will be turning out to see the American clergyman who stole the show at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Miss Meghan Markle, and boy, have they turned up. The crowd is everything the Church of England would want to see at any of their churches: racially diverse, a mean age closer to 30 than 70, spiritually engaged (there is a monk behind me with long strawberry-blonde hair and a striking blue cassock) and - if I haven't made it clear already - big . Proportionately there must be a significant portion of this audience - congregation? - who are not regular churchgoers. But who can blame them? Archbishop Michael Curry's homily appeared like a bolt from the blue during last year's big ceremony, seizing his