The BBC's director general said the broadcaster would never mock Mohammed like it mocks Jesus. He justified the astonishing admission of religious bias by suggesting that mocking Mohammed has the ‘emotional force of grotesque child pornography’. But Jesus is fair game, he said, because Christianity has broad shoulders and fewer ties to ethnicity. Mr Thompson says the BBC would never have broadcast Jerry Springer The Opera – a controversial musical that mocked Jesus – if its target had been Mohammed. He made the remarks in an interview for a research project at the University of Oxford. Mr Thompson said: ‘The point is that for a Muslim, a depiction, particularly a comic or demeaning depiction, of the Prophet Mohammed might have the emotional force of a piece of grotesque child pornography.’ The BBC director general admits Christianity gets tougher treatmen than other religions because it has ‘pretty broad shoulders’.

Pray: for greater understanding that all faiths are important to their followers and all should be treated equally and with respect. (1Pe.2:17)

More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/well-mock-jesus-but-not-mohammed-says-bbc-boss/

On Wednesday 27th July disability rights campaigners staged a mock execution of a wheelchair user outside Parliament. The group, Distant Voices, is trying to publicise and reverse what it sees as the drift towards involuntary euthanasia. The event was led by Nikki Kenward, a woman who experienced being ‘locked in’ after contracting Guillian Barre Syndrome, which left her totally paralysed for five months except for the ability to wink an eye. Mrs Kenward is among those who fear that pressure is mounting on Parliament and in the Courts to allow the killings of seriously sick, disabled or minimally conscious patients, particularly the 6,000 mentally-incapacitated patients in the British health care system. She said: ‘Everybody is going to get old, everybody is going to be disabled. If we don’t want to value difference what differences will be acceptable in the end? Very few.’

Pray: that this protest will raise awareness of this drift to involuntary euthanasia and lead to a reversal. (Ps.119:154)

More: http://www.christianconcern.com/our-concerns/end-of-life/mock-execution-of-wheelchair-user

Mr Kafwanka,Director of Mission for the Anglican Communion, speaking in Glasgow last Sunday said The 'mission trip' has often meant "going to help some poor African souls who cannot help themselves but this is not the only story of mission today", “It is tempting to think of mission in terms of one party providing support and another receiving. But such a relationship will come to be characterised by "paternalism on one side and dependence on the other" he says, “instead of both sides seeing mission as "an opportunity to serve together". "There is small but growing confidence among Christians in the majority world and a determination to forge partnerships characterised by sharing and transparency, In that sense, mission today is less about 'what we do 'out there' and more about churches being in a relationship of 'sharing'. While he commended the UK church's heart for world mission, he said that British Christians going to do mission were not being properly prepared to learn.

Pray: for a new response to mission that is mutually inclusive and transparent. (Jn.13:34)

More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/mission.from.everywhere.to.everywhere/32123.htm

James Brokenshire, the UK's crime and security minister, said an update on the government's plans to tackle terror content online was imminent. The government is to order broadband companies to block extremist websites and empower a specialist unit to identify and report content deemed too dangerous for online publication. The crime and security minister, James Brokenshire, said on Wednesday that measures for censoring extremist content would be announced shortly. The initiative is likely to be controversial, with broadband companies already warning that freedom of speech could be compromised. Ministers are understood to want to follow the model used to crack down on online child abuse. The Internet Watch Foundation, which is partly industry-funded, investigates reports of illegal child abuse images online; it can then ask service providers to block or take down websites.

Pray: for the success of the government's plans to tackle terrorist and extremist websites. (Pr.21:15)

More: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/27/ministers-order-isps-block-terrorist-websites

Parents who buy their children tablet computers at Christmas should ensure anti-porn filters are applied, Culture Secretary Maria Miller says. Tablets such as iPads and Kindles are expected to be one of the top presents this year - with Tesco and Argos coming on the market with cheaper versions. But the Culture Secretary warned last night that unless parents switch on family filters, their children could stumble across porn and other inappropriate material. The top four internet service providers have agreed to ask all households whether they want to install a filter over the next year, thanks to the intervention of David Cameron and pressure from the Daily Mail. But until that happens, Mrs Miller said parents had to take the initiative and install filters themselves. TalkTalk and Sky have already made network filters available, meaning parents do not have to install filters on every separate device. BT and Virgin will follow within the next two months.

Pray: that anti-porn filters will be readily available and fitted; pray also that other providers such as BT and Virgin will speed up their availability. (Ps.73:7)

More: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2515354/Porn-risk-children-iPad-presents.html#ixzz2mJUMGnrt

Iain Duncan Smith last night signalled support for a major campaign to promote marriage and turn back the ‘appalling’ tide of divorce. The Work and Pensions Secretary, widely seen as the social conscience of the modern Conservative Party, indicated he was wholeheartedly behind a bid by High Court judge Sir Paul Coleridge to end the ‘destructive scourge’ of family breakdown. Sir Paul will formally launch the Marriage Foundation in a bid to raise awareness of the vital role of marriage in bringing up children. The senior family court judge said he felt compelled to speak out because of the unprecedented scale of the problem. It is unusual for a serving judge to speak out in such a way but Sir Paul, who sits in the Family Division, has been outspoken on the issue of marriage and divorce.

Pray:for the campaign as it grows and gains more support that more MP’s will join and add their support for marriage. (Heb.13:4)

More:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2137659/Iain-Duncan-Smith-backs-campaign-promote-marriage.html

Comedians Jo Brand and Meera Syal have become two of England's first 'dementia friends', in an initiative launched by the Alzheimer's Society. And the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has pledged to become one too. The scheme aims to reach one million people in England by 2015 with free information sessions exploring what it is like to live with the condition. The £2.4m project is supported by the Government and funded by the department of health and cabinet office. The Alzheimer's Society says around 800,000 people in the UK have a form of dementia. And one in three people over the age of 65 will go on to develop the condition. The organisation wants the volunteer-led sessions, taking place in workplaces and town halls across the country, to ‘change the way the nation thinks, talks and acts’.

Pray: that this initiative would succeed in finding many hundreds to come alongside those in need. (Job.19:14)

More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21415594

Former head of the army said Britain is losing its moral compass to such a degree that the armed forces can no longer rely on young recruits to behave in a way once expected. General Lord Dannatt, a committed Christian, has previously expressed concern about British society, suggesting that many members of the armed forces lacked moral values when they joined up. Speaking in a lecture sponsored by Theos, a thinktank he said now the military can teach society about the importance of ethics and morality. ‘In the past it was often assumed that young men and women coming into the armed forces would have absorbed an understanding of the core values and standards of behaviour required from their family or from within their wider community. Such a presumption, he adds, cannot be made now.

Pray: that ethics and morality will become central to our forces and to our nation. (Jas.1:21)

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/nov/08/military-moral-values-ethics-dannatt

Labour leader Ed Miliband has released a video thanking churches and Christian agencies for their efforts in social justice, and emphasising the importance of Christians being involved in politics. "You do incredibly important work here at home: helping people who go to food banks, helping the homeless and helping all those at risk of disadvantage and those who are vulnerable in our communities," he says. He also commends the action Christians undertake in different countries across the globe "for development, against climate change, on all the important issues that matter". The video encourages Christians to engage with politics and Miliband spoke of his support for Christians on the Left - formerly the Christian Socialist Movement - which works in partnership with the Labour Party to put Christian values and ideas around social justice into political action. The society, which counts forty MPs among its members, believes that to make lasting change, Christians must be a real voice from within the political world, not just outside of it.

Pray: for a greater recognition of the significant and crucial role played by Christians inboth public and political life. (Mk.16:15)

More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/miliband.urges.christians.to.engage.with.politics/34861.htm