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The commercialization of wombs is increasing day by day in our society. Commercial surrogacy is illegal in Britain but many Britons are paying Indians to become surrogate mothers for them. This growing trend in India not only disregards the social systems in the country but also raises many ethical questions. The birth to surrogate mothers in India last year is likely to be 2,000. Experts agree that the prime single source of the majority of these births is from Britons. There are almost 1,000 unregulated clinics in India, most of them specializing in helping Britons to become parents. Indian surrogate industry has been utilized widely by Britons who don’t wish to bear and deliver children. Only around 100 births are recorded in Britain while almost 1,000 births are recorded through surrogate mothers in India for British couples. Surrogacy Centre India reported, ‘Gay people are desperate to have a family.’ The investigation conducted by last week’s Sunday Telegraph highlights a rapidly growing business.
Pray: that the ‘wombs-to-rent’ culture and all its medical hazards among third world countries would be carefully regulated. (Job 5:16)
More: http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=052812110304
The British Youth Parliament has rejected campaigning for same-sex marriage, after it came bottom in a vote of priorities for 2013. The issue received just 22 votes, whereas the most popular campaign, a curriculum to prepare young people for real life, got 154 votes. Each year, 11 to 18-year-olds from each part of the UK debate priorities for the coming year in a special session in the House of Commons. George Poole, an 18-year-old openly homosexual MYP (Member of the Youth Parliament) for Cornwall, said that whilst same-sex marriage is an issue “close to home” for him, he needed to “think of the young people who won’t benefit from this policy”. And Jack Lewis, a 15-year-old MYP for Richmond-Upon-Thames, said there are more important issues to be campaigning about, such as youth unemployment. Many have argued that the Government is prioritising same-sex marriage when issues such as the economy are more pressing.
Pray: for the government to note the result of this vote along with the views of so many groups calling for current proposals to be dropped. (Pr.16:9)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/british-youth-parliament-rejects-campaigning-for-gay-marriage/
More and more soldiers are returning from Afghanistan suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Many are not coping and are drinking heavily, in some cases leading to violence and wife-beating. Many have suicidal thoughts. This
is becoming a big problem and is affecting Christian families as well as non-Christians. Marriages are suffering and the children are distressed and need protection from witnessing the ugliness of the situation. Combat Stress, the veterans’ mental health charity, said that based on the MoD figures it would mean that 51,000 veterans were likely to show symptoms of mental health problems because of their service in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is a need for the government to recognise this problem and bring in compulsory post operation counselling for all soldiers.
Pray: that the Lord will heal memories and restore these service men and women. Please pray for the families and the healing of relationships. (Jer.8:15)
According to available published official figures from the Defence Analytical Services Agency the UK has 173,020 regular trained and serving personnel in the Armed Forces. The total number of personnel serving on permanent postings abroad is approximately 23,570. At this Christmas season we are asked to remember the men and women away from their family and
homes. Their work doesn’t finish on Christmas Eve and their routine will continue as normal, even on Christmas Day. Please pray for a peaceful and quiet time for those deployed - for opportunities to attend Church and to be able to reflect on Christ this Christmas and for good communications home to loved ones. Pray also for the Military Chaplains who provide spiritual leadership, moral guidance and pastoral support irrespective of religion or belief, in order to meet their needs, over the Christmas season.
Pray: for those service families celebrating Christmas alone and for children missing their deployed mum or dad. (Lk.2:14)
More: http://www.militarychristians.org.uk/
A growing number of British schools are dropping traditional Christian assemblies in favour of multi-faith meetings and ‘moments of reflection’. More than 140 primary and secondary schools across Britain have won the right to opt out of the legal requirement to provide a daily act of worship which is ‘broadly Christian’ in character. (See also: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20101204/wrong-to-exclude-god-from-classroomsays-u-kthink-tank/) Some schools have adopted Islamic assemblies. The highest number of opt-outs from traditional assemblies is in Bradford where 47 schools have decided to introduce ‘new-style’ assemblies. Rt Rev Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali reminds us that: ‘The Judaeo-Christian tradition provides the connecting link to our island story. Without that tradition, it is impossible to understand the language, the literature, the art or even the science of our civilisation. It provides the grand themes of virtue and vice, atonement and repentance, resurrection and immortality. It undergirds and safeguards our constitutional and legal tradition’.
Pray: that the Gospel message will continue to be taught to our schoolchildren and sustain our shared heritage. (Mk.16:15)
Several military barracks are to close and more than 30,000 soldiers relocated to new bases across the UK as part of a restructuring of the army. The moves are part of the wholesale re-organisation and shrinking of the army as almost 16,000 soldiers return from Germany over the next six years and thousands more are pulled out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014. The army will restructure around seven regional hubs in the UK.
Pray: for wisdom for those involved in the shaping of Britain's armed forces over the coming decades. Pray for those civilian as well as military staff affected in these changes; some facing relocation of job, home and schools and others redundancy. (Pro.3:13)
More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/mar/05/seven-military-barracks-army-restructuring
On Sunday, 25 March, a member of the Afghan National Army opened fire at the entrance gate to the British headquarters in Lashkar Gar city, killing the two British service personnel and injuring a third. On Tuesday, 27 March, 11 suicide jackets were seized inside the Ministry of Defence in Kabul and 18 people arrested including some Afghan National Army soldiers. This puts incredible pressure on our personnel, in areas which should be ‘safe’. Our servicemen work closely with Afghan police and troops but these attacks serve to make our personnel more fearful.
Pray: that God will protect our service personnel and help them remain vigilant at all times. That He will guide them through the long hours on duty and that wherever they are, they can rest in the knowledge that the Lord is covering them. (Ps.91)
British Forces training teams are on target and have just finished training 1000 Afghan soldiers. The recent conference on Afghanistan has endorsed President Hamid Karzai's goal that Afghan forces should lead security operations across the country by 2014. Hopefully this will encourage a new determination for peace and unity. (See also World item below) The number of British military personnel killed on operations in Afghanistan since 2001 stands at 324 after two soldiers were shot dead while trying to rescue a wounded colleague in the Lashkar Gah district of Helmand province on 21 July. Of all those killed, 39 have died from accidents, illness, or non-combat injuries. Others have yet to be assigned a cause of death. Pray: for the families of all the soldiers who have lost their lives and for supernatural intervention to bring about real peace and unity in Afghanistan. (Job.22:21) More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10687527
British culture is ‘increasingly pornified’ and is damaging young people, Shadow Health Minister Diane Abbott is to warn in a speech later. She believes that the rise of sexual bullying and ‘sexting’ - where people send sexually explicit text messages - is a result of hyper-sexualisation. A ‘revolution in sex education' to help tackle the problem is needed, she says. She will urge a ‘national conversation’ between parents and children about sex, porn and technology. There have been increasing concerns over the commercialisation and sexualisation of children, the ease with which pornography can be accessed through the internet and the way in which young people use text messages and emails to exchange sexually explicit images. In 2011, the head of the Mothers' Union, Reg Bailey, carried out an independent review for the Government looking at the pressures on children to grow up too quickly. It found that nine out of every 10 UK parents said children were having to grow up too early.
Pray: against the changes in our culture that are increasingly distorting the minds of the young. (Jn.17:15)
Parliament must rectify the ‘bad laws’ restricting the freedom of Christians to live according to their beliefs, says a Christian barrister Paul Diamond. Mr Diamond said there was much to be commended in the Equality Act and the Sexual Orientation Regulations and that sexual orientation or faith should not be a reason to discriminate against others. However, he said the laws were ‘poorly drafted’ and ‘leaving too much discretion to the Courts’. He added that they were being used to eradicate Judeo Christian morality and usher in secular values. The ‘countless’ cases where accommodation of conscience was being denied to Christians amounted to a ‘liberal tyranny’. Campaign group Christian Concern warns that recent legislation and its interpretation in the courts has led to several Christians being barred from different areas of public life and is ‘creating a serious obstacle to the Christian community’s full and active involvement in the Big Society initiative’. Pray: for a review leading to clarification and protection of Christian morality. (Gal.5:1)