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Thanks to the generosity of parishioners up and down the country, the Catholic Archbishops of England and Wales were able to distribute over £500,000 in grants in support of life over the last two years. The annual Day for Life is dedicated to celebrating the dignity of life from conception to natural death and the annual collection taken up in Roman Catholic parishes on the last Sunday in July each year is used to give grants to life-related activities supported by the Catholic Church. The Archbishop for Day for Life, Archbishop Bernard Longley said: ‘I wish to extend my thanks to the generosity of parishioners up and down the country who give so generously to the Day for Life collection each year. Your generous giving enables us to support so many worthy projects and organisations – all working in different ways to promote the dignity of life from conception to natural death.’ Pray: for the generosity of parishioners this Sunday and that their donations will be powerfully used. (Dt.15:10)
Harrow Council in London has provoked a storm of protest after announcing plans to prefer Islamic halal-only menus in the borough’s state primary schools. Parents are outraged that meat prepared according to Islamic Sharia law is being pushed on non-Muslim children. Contracts signed with the Council’s preferred catering company, Harrison’s, stipulate that only halal meat is served. The Council claims the plan is needed to overcome difficulties in keeping halal meat separate from non-halal meat. It has since said it will postpone the move because of, in part, ‘the level of interest from parents’ and revisit the issue in the autumn. According to the 2001 census, the religious affiliation of Harrow’s population is just seven per cent Muslim. Harrow resident, Sheila Murphy, blasted the Council’s plan as ‘appalling’. She said it is ‘taking away the choice of children and their parents over what meat they eat and I urge residents to make their views known to Harrow Council’. Pray: for the council to reflect the views of the vast majority of their residents. (Ac.10:14-15) More: http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/2010/08/10/halal-only-menu-for-london-primary-schools-sparks-row/
Girlguiding UK is backing a campaign to remove pictures of topless women from page 3 of The Sun newspaper. An online poll of more than 2,000 guides aged between 16 and 25 showed 88 per cent believed the editor of The Sun, Dominic Mohan, should end page 3. Girlguiding Advocate!, a group within the movement which is involved with public affairs, emailed Mr Mohan last week. It said of The Sun: ‘Anyone can pick it up and turn to page three and think that it is normal for young women to be treated as objects. We feel that this is just wrong and has to stop.’ Girlguide Katie Wormald, 17, came up with the idea of taking the poll. She said: ‘Children shouldn’t grow up thinking that this is the norm and that it is right.’ She added: ‘Young girls shouldn’t grow up thinking that they will achieve more by being sexually objectified’.
Pray: that this campaign will succeed in removing such pictures.
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/guides-join-campaign-to-end-topless-pictures-in-the-sun/
An assistant editor at The Guardian and the Labour MP Chris Bryant have both hit out at a secularist pressure group’s attempt to ban a local council from saying prayers. Last week the National Secular Society (NSS) went to the High Court in an attempt to end Bideford Town Council’s practice of saying prayers at the start of its meetings. Commenting on the case Michael White an assistant editor at The Guardian, warned that the case raised a wider question ‘about the intolerant impulse many people have to inflict their views on others’. He said that ‘communities should surely be allowed to sort out their own arrangements’ without interference from the NSS. And Chris Bryant, the Labour MP for Rhondda, questioned why the case had even gone to court. Mr Bryant said ‘surely the 16 members of Bideford Council, who have already voted on this twice, should be allowed to pray, if they want to.’
Pray: for the Bideford Council to be empowered in their stand and for the NSS to recognise that a period of reflection is helpful before meetings. (Job.33:26)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/guardian-editor-and-mp-criticise-nss-prayer-case/
Grim predictions for UK family finances up to 2015 are revealed in new evidence produced by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) for the Family and Parenting Institute (FPI), published yesterday. The report says the median income among families with children is projected to fall between 2010 and 2015 by 4.2 per cent. For a couple with two children this equates to £1,250 less a year by 2015. Families with children aged under five, families with more than two children, and lone parent families not in paid work will bear the biggest financial pain in years ahead, says the research. The report, is the first to reveal the prospects for poverty rates and income for different family types up to the year 2015. Dr Katherine Rake, Chief Executive of the FPI, commented: ‘These figures reveal the full extent to which families with children are shouldering the burden of austerity.
Pray: for the Government to ensure there are proper safeguards to protect the most vulnerable from the more serious effects of the austerity measures. (Ps.83:3)
Britain’s only Green Party council has been accused of ‘violent prejudice’ against Christians as it considers expelling a member who spoke out against same-sex marriage. Christina Summers, a member of Brighton and Hove City Council in Sussex, has been ordered to face a party disciplinary panel after voicing dissent over the issue. She was the only member of the council who at a meeting last week voted against a motion in support of the Government’s plans to allow homosexual couples to marry. Miss Summers, a devout Christian, says that she strongly supports gay rights and the introduction of civil partnerships but could not back the change to marriage laws on religious grounds. She argued that equality did not require changing the traditional definition of marriage and told colleagues it was a matter of ‘freedom of speech’ for her. However, fellow Green councillors voted to launch an ‘official inquiry process’ into her stance, accusing her of bringing the party into disrepute.
Pray: for Christina’s right to express her own belief to be upheld, and may the Green Party respect the principles of free speech. (Ps.19:8)
Graham Kendrick is calling Christian men in the UK to stand together in prayer and praise this month. He will be leading CVM's Prayer and Praise day in Market Harborough Evangelical Church on February 25. He said: ‘This will be a key day for every man who wants to see men come to faith in Jesus. Prayer and praise is so often the missing jewel in our strategy. It’s an event for Christian men to put in their diaries.’ Hundreds of men are expected to attend the day, which will provide them with the opportunity to pray for their friends and family. CVM's general director, Carl Beech, wants to see more men dedicate their Christian witness and evangelism to God this year. He said: ‘Anyone interested in seeing more men coming to faith should take this opportunity to stand with their brothers in prayer and praise. It’s about drawing a line in the sand and starting this year the right way.
Pray: that many men will respond to this event motivated by the power of The Spirit. (Isa.2:3)
More: http://www.christiantoday.co.uk/article/graham.kendrick.to.lead.prayer.and.praise.event.for.men/29255.htm
A Labour MP’s attempt to criticise a Government department for presumed excessive festive spending backfired spectacularly earlier his week. Robert Neill, a minister in the Communities Department, highlighted the Government’s commitment to a Christian Christmas. He was responding to Caroline Flint, Labour’s Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary. She asked ‘how many Christmas parties and drinks receptions his Department plans to host in December 2010’. Robert Neill, MP for Bromley and Chislehurst, responded on behalf of the Secretary of State, Eric Pickles. He said: ‘As the Secretary of State indicated in his departmental press notice of 29 November 2010, the new Administration is committed to celebrating Christmas, including its Christian heritage. Ministers recognise that we live in frugal times due to the need to pay off the significant public deficit and national debt. But there is no need to play Scrooge. We should not allow politically correct Grinches to marginalise the importance of the birth of Christ.’
Pray: that the UK Government continues to ensure that Christianity is not marginalised. (Jn.1:17)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/govt-tells-labour-were-not-ashamed-of-christmas-cheer/
Former Government minister Tim Loughton was sacked because of his opposition to redefining marriage, according to reports. He was removed from his ministerial post in September’s Government reshuffle, and close friends say it was because of his support for keeping marriage as it is. Mr Loughton voted against the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill on Tuesday night, together with over 170 other Mps. One Tory MP told the Scotsman newspaper: “Tim was a really good minister whose career was wrecked because of his stance on this issue on a matter of principle. “It shows that, already, this bill is poisoning the party and destroying careers.” David Cameron promised that Tory MPs would have a free vote, but behind the scenes a lot of pressure was applied to stop them breaking rank.
Pray: for God's protection for all those who find themselves pressured or threatened in any way simply for standing up for their beliefs. (Dt.31:6)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/govt-minister-sacked-for-opposing-gay-marriage/
The Evangelical Alliance(EA) has welcomed assurances from Baroness Warsi that this Government ‘does God’ and is ‘comfortable’ with faith. The Government minister made the comments to Church of England bishops last week, adding that the church was ‘at the heart of society’ and that the Labour Government had failed to ‘create policies to unleash the positive power of faith in our society’. The EA head of public affairs, Dr Don Horrocks, said her comments were ‘welcome’ and ‘timely’. He pointed to the work of Christian charities like Redeeming our Communities in Manchester, whose volunteers have been credited with helping to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour. The General Director of the EA, Steve Clifford, said that Christians were ‘already at the heart of serving their communities’ but should grasp the opportunity to get even more involved by being a part of the Government’s Big Society initiative.(See Prayer Alert 3010) Pray: for Government to act on their words to place the Church at the ‘heart of society’. (Isa.26:2) More:http://www.christiantoday.co.uk/article/evangelical.alliance.welcomes.governments.commitment.to.people.of.faith/26745.htm