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CARE in Northern Ireland was very pleased to see Sinn Fein overwhelmingly back a campaign to make buying sex a criminal offence at its Ard Fheis (Party Conference) on Saturday evening. Sinn Fein members voted to support the ‘Turn Off the Red Light Campaign’ - a coalition of organisations including political parties, Trade Unions, Christian Organisations and civil society groups seeking to criminalise the purchase of sexual services in the Republic of Ireland (http://www.turnofftheredlight.ie/). Its decision has made Sinn Fein the 67th organisation to join forces with the campaign. Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, Sinn Fein’s spokesperson for Justice and Equality, said following the vote: ‘There are as many as 1000 women and girls for sale for sex in Ireland today. Prostitution is not a real choice for the vast majority of these women. The ‘Turn off the Red Light’ campaign argues that the most effective solution is to tackle the demand for paid sex that fuels prostitution and trafficking.’
Pray: that the campaign to tackle trafficking and prostitution would not just reduce the problem but stopping it. (Hos.5:4)
Online dating service Christian Connection has spent the last few months surveying thousands of single Christians on their experiences in the church. The decline in younger people attending church means many single Christians are struggling not only to find a life partner, but to figure out their place and worth in largely family-focused churches. Survey respondents reported difficulties in finding other single Christians in their church and turning to online dating as "a last resort". "There's such a pitiful lack of forums for meeting up with other single Christians," said one respondent. Another reported that "married with 2.4 kids" was the norm in their church. Many of the women responding to the survey reported fierce competition to bag the single Christian men in the church. In addition many single Christians feel "socially anxious" because of the pressure to be married. "This creates social anxiety for many single people in the church. 'Will I get married and fit in with the majority or not?'"
Pray: for churches to recognise the issues facing single people in their congregations and to work to support them. (Ps.103:5)
More: http://www.christiantoday.co.uk/article/single.christians.experience.anxiety/32169.htm
The NHS is facing a chronic shortage of family doctors after official figures showed some GPs were responsible for 9,000 patients. More than a million people were registered with a GP who served more than 3,000 patients, almost twice the average list size of 1,600. Dr Michael Dixon, chairman of the NHS Alliance, said it was a question of whether doctors were ‘able to cater as well for each patient with a list once they get much over 2,000 or 3,000’. He said shortages were already being seen in inner cities, but recruiting GPs had become a problem even in affluent rural areas such as his practice in Devon. England has 25,000 family doctors, but there are growing concerns that the NHS faces a retirement crisis. One in eight GPs is planning to retire within two years. The shortages have been exacerbated by the retirement of a generation of Asian GPs who came to Britain during the 1960s and 1970s.
Pray: that there would be an increase in those called to serve the people as medical doctors.
Sheffield shopping centre believes that allowing a Christian 'flash mob' at Christmas would compromise its impartiality. Shops across the country may be bedecked with seasonal decorations and Christmas greetings, but one of Europe’s largest shopping centres says it cannot allow a Christian ‘flash mob’ because of concerns over impartiality. According to Julian Mann, aka Anglican blogger Cranmer’s Curate, the Meadhowhall Shopping Centre in Sheffield has refused permission for a choir to sing ‘the kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever’ in its food court. Local Christians were inspired to attempt a Christmas flash mob in the shopping centre after a choir did something similar in the Seaway Mall in Welland, Ontario, Canada. Last week a flash mob choir surprised commuters in Sheffield train station when they emerged from the crowds to sing a medley of Christmas carols on the main concourse.
Pray: that God will continue to stimulate His people to use different activities to promote our faith. (Heb.4:12)
The bells of St Paul’s Cathedral rang out across the city of London on Monday, October 14, 2013, as people gathered in the portico and on the steps of the ancient place of worship to ‘Shine a light on Corruption’. According to a news release, the Vigil marked the start of the global EXPOSED Week of Action highlighting the effect of corruption on the world’s poorest people. Lord Leslie Griffiths, leading churchman and member of the House of Lords, laid down the challenge facing not just government and church but all people of faith and conscience. ‘Our job is to see that we overcome evil with good. We expose the evil for what it is and then set our targets for overcoming that evil. I believe that this campaign is part of an orchestrated effort on behalf of good-willed people around the world to see that we have the kind of world that God wants us to live in,’
Pray: that the hundreds of EXPOSED vigils globally will focus God’s light on corruption. (Mt.5:16)
More: http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2013/s13100068.htm
New figures showing a rise in the number of multiple abortions among younger women have prompted criticisms of government sex education policies. A Christian doctor’s group called the statistics ‘profoundly depressing’ and blamed the government’s longstanding ‘values-free’ sex education. ‘It is increasingly clear,’ said Dr. Peter Saunders, of the Christian Medical Fellowship, ‘that abortion is simply being used as a form of contraception by a growing percentage of girls and women, and that tired policies of values-free sex education, condoms and morning-after pills are not working.’ George Pitcher, a liberal Anglican minister, commented that the current approach to dealing with unwanted pregnancies, especially among the young, is failing to take the problem seriously. ‘You don't have to be over-cynical to feel that making the likes of Marie Stopes the principal public voice in abortion policy is like appointing a fox as gamekeeper. There needs to be a higher moral imperative than that.’ Pray: for the return of clearly taught values to sex education and an end to abortion being used as a quick fix. (Jn.8:32)
Government figures released last week show a sharp increase in the number of homeless families over the past year. In 2012, 34,080 households with children were accepted as homele ss, an increase of 12 per cent on the previous year. At the end of 2012, 76,790 children were living in temporary accommodation, an annual increase of 11 per cent. Currently every fifteen minutes another family find themselves homeless. The figures also show an increase in the number of families living in bed and breakfast accommodation, up 29 per cent since the same time last year. Official guidance to local authorities says bed and breakfast temporary accommodation should be avoided ‘wherever possible’. Lack of privacy, inadequate provision for cooking and washing means it is ‘not suitable’ for families with children or for pregnant women ‘unless there is no alternative accommodation available and then only for a maximum of six weeks.’
Pray: for all those who are facing the difficulties of homelessness that suitable accommodation will be found and they will come to realise that God will be their provider. (Ps.104:1-3)
Sharia law is undermining the ‘concept of judicial equality’ at the expense of the vulnerable, a prominent peer has warned. Baroness Cox says Britain no longer operates ‘under a single legal code’ and that Sharia is ‘effectively a parallel quasi-legal system operating within some Muslim communities’. The warning comes after an undercover investigation revealed that two imams were prepared to marry a twelve-year-old to grown men ‘under the aegis of Sharia law’. Lady Cox, in an article for the Daily Mail, cautions: ‘No society can function effectively with a parallel quasi-legal system, with some people having, in practice, drastically diminished legal rights because of their religion and their gender.’ She adds: ‘In so many ways, Sharia law treats women as second-class citizens, whether it be in inheritance rights or divorce. ‘According to Sharia law, for instance, a woman’s word counts for only half the value of that of a man.’
Pray: for a resolution to this issue that restores judicial equality for all. (1Jo.5:3)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/peer-sharia-courts-subvert-british-law/
Sharia courts are putting women at risk of violence from abusive husbands, the Crown Prosecution Service has warned. The courts, which issue rulings according to Islamic law, have been found to be giving Muslim women advice which experts warned may place them in danger. Undercover filming in some of the 85 councils operating in mosques and houses across the country has revealed that the courts, which are run by sharia councils, are ruling in favour of men meeting estranged wives or having access to children when they have found to have been abusive. Sharia law has no formal place in any of Britain’s legal systems. However, the investigation found courts in London which follow it were making rulings on domestic and marital issues according to Islamic law which appeared at odds with English family law. It is suggested that sharia courts may act contrary to English courts in matrimonial and child care issues.
Pray: for sharia courts to operate within British law and to ensure that the safety of women and children is of the highest priority . (Ac.10:43)
More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9976822/Sharia-courts-putting-women-at-risk-CPS-warns.html
Proposed laws against clothing that sexualises children would be impractical, parenting experts have warned the Government. MPs would struggle to draw up rules on the acceptable length of skirts or height of heels that could be worn by young girls, it is claimed. It emerged at the weekend that the Government is to commission a review of inappropriate products and images targeting girls as young as 10. The chief executive of the Mothers’ Union, Reg Bailey, will produce a report on the ways in which children are put under pressure by retailers and advertisers to grow up too fast. This could lead to industry standards being established or individual businesses being prosecuted, while parents could be given new powers to challenge inappropriate adverts or products. Pippa Smith, co-chairman of Safermedia, said: ‘Unfortunately children are quite a high priority on the marketers’ list. I think there’s got to be willpower with the Government’.
Pray: for clarity in formulating standards and laws that will see an end to much of the commercial sexualisation of children. (Jn.17:15)