Last week's UNICEF report on parenting led to a flood of news items lamenting the consumer culture and its impact on British children. In fact, UNICEF interviewed a total of 25– yes, twenty-five – families across Europe . That's fewer than ten per country. This is hardly a good statistical base for drawing conclusions. Another report commissioned for the Labour party questioned 2000 adults in the UK and found ‘a yearning for traditional family values’, which many feel have disappeared, saying the ‘ideal’ family should have a mother and a father. This is quite a contrast to Government policies over the last decade encouraging mothers to go out to work. Jill Kirby, a family expert and author of The Price Of Parenthood, said: ‘This survey shows how out of touch current political parties are with what families really need and what most women want. They want more time with their children.’

Pray: for governments and policy to be much more oriented to support family life. (Eph.3:14-15)

More: http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/2011/09/20/the-media-wont-tell-you-but-what-british-parents-really-want-is-more-time-to-spend-with-their-children/

Many parents fear music videos have become too sexualised and violent, the founder of a parenting website has said. Siobhan Freegard, of Netmums, said parents were not prudes, but felt things had "gone too far". In a survey of some 1,500 website members, most (82%) said their children had repeated sexual lyrics without knowing their meaning. And three-quarters said they tried to stop children watching music videos. Ms Freegard said parents were most angry that their children were being exposed to "lewd viewing" on programmes shown before the 21:00 watershed for family viewing. "Modern parents aren't prudes - they know sex sells," she said. "But there's a strong feeling that things have gone too far now. It's toxic to tell young kids casual sex and violence are something to aspire to." Most (75%) of parents with daughters said very sexual pop acts were teaching girls they would be "judged on their looks, not their achievements or personality".

Pray: for this issue, that is regularly raised by concerned groups, to be noticed and acted upon by all authorities to tackle the problem in a meaningful and positive way. (1Pe.3:3-4)

More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-24836571

An American woman who claims to worship Norse gods has won the right to stay in Britain because of her ‘family life’ with her boyfriend and his wife. The Home Office refused Emily DiSanto, permission to stay in Britain because the law bans polygamous relationships. But now she has won an extraordinary legal case in which she is allowed to remain on the basis
of her human right to family life. Emily now shares Alan and Anne-Marie Caulfield’s marital home in south-east London with his two children – one by each of the women. The case is the latest example of how human rights laws are being used to overturn the decisions of ministers in immigration cases in what critics say are dubious circumstances. This decision also shows the definition of family life is now widening far beyond the conventional couple with children and has implications for immigrants who believe in polygamy, which is still practised in parts of the Muslim world and – illegally – by breakaway Mormons in the USA.

Pray: for God’s hand on the lives of these people and also for the courts to recognise the primacy of monogamous marriage in our society. (2Sa.22:31)

More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/8963019/Pagan-wins-family-life-human-rights-case.html

Churches in the UK and Ireland will be holding services outdoor next month as a mark of solidarity with persecuted Christians around the world. The Great Out doors Church Service is an initiative of Release International, which works with Christians suffering for their faith. In some parts of the world, authorities have demolished churches or banned congregations from meeting in their own buildings. Worshippers at Shouwang Church in Beijing, China, are banned from entering their building and have been arrested as they meet outdoors. According to Release International, Shouwang Church has now held more than 100 services in the open air after being refused official recognition by the authorities. In Nigeria, the destruction of churches by extremists has forced many Christians to hold their services in the open air. In Central Asia, Christians have resorted to meeting in the countryside to escape surveillance. Churches in the UK and Ireland will be holding their services outdoors on 19 and 26 May as an act of public witness.

Pray: that those who are persecuted 'and where Churches have been destroyed, will be protected and God will provide. (Gen.50:21)

More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/outdoor.church.services.to.raise.awareness.of.persecution/32234.htm

Scotland is ‘on the brink of declaring illegal the belief that every child where possible deserves a mother and father’, the chairman of a threatened Roman Catholic adoption agency has said. It follows the agency being told to end its pro-marriage policy by officials who say it discriminates against gay couples. But one board member of the agency commented: ‘The ultimate irony is that apparently in the name of tolerance, societies such as Saint Margaret’s are no longer to be tolerated.’ St Margaret’s Children and Family Care Society, which is based in Glasgow, lost a ruling in March from the charity regulator. The regulator backed a previous decision which forces the agency to end its policy of prioritising couples that have been married for at least two years. And he added: ‘The reality is that the issue is not one about equality or diversity, but about freedom of religion and belief.’

Pray: that those organisations that hold to a belief in the centrality of marriage will be able to follow those convictions. (2Cor.8:13)

More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/our-beliefs-risk-being-made-illegal-says-adoption-agency/