This week, beginning on Friday 11 July, the Church of England’s General Synod will be meeting in York. This is always an occasion for the media to highlight debates or decisions which are seen to be controversial or eye-catching. The main item on the agenda is the legislation to consecrate women bishops, which was narrowly defeated at the last Synod meeting in November 2012. This time it is expected to be passed, mainly because of a great deal of behind-the-scenes consultation with those who were opposed on principle, to improve the wording. Tom Sutcliffe (Diocese of Southwark) said, ‘The Measure which is before us this month makes much better provision for most of those who don't believe women can or should be bishops and priests. . . If this Measure were to fail, I think it would be a total disaster.’
Mobile phones or tablets with flat batteries will not be allowed on flights as part of new security restrictions. All air passengers flying into or out of UK airports must ensure their electronic devices are charged, following updated guidance from the Department for Transport (DfT). Advice issued at the weekend concerned passengers flying to the United States, but on Tuesday that instruction was widened to affect anyone flying into or out of the UK. No specific routes have been highlighted, and the DfT spokesman said they hope to ‘minimise disruption as far as possible’. The heightened security comes amid reports that two terror networks are working together on a bomb that could evade existing measures. Last week Prime Minister David Cameron said decisions had been made based on ‘the evidence in front of us’ and in co-operation with America. ‘The safety of the travelling public must come first. We mustn't take any risks with that,’ he told the BBC.
Peter Wanless, chief executive of the child protection charity NSPCC, has said people who cover up child sex abuse should be prosecuted, and there should be a duty on institutions like hospitals, children's homes and boarding schools to report abuse. He said, ‘If someone consciously knows that there is a crime committed against a child, and does nothing about it because they put the reputation of the organisation above the safety of that child, that should be a criminal offence.’ Until now the charity has opposed all forms of so-called mandatory reporting, but Mr Wanless said the NSPCC would be open to discussions about what form a new law should take. He is currently heading an inquiry about whether the Home Office failed to act on allegations of child sex abuse handed over in the 1980s by former Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens. Another independent inquiry, looking at historical sexual abuse and institutions' protection of children, will be led by retired senior judge Elizabeth Butler-Sloss.
Down’s Syndrome shouldn’t be feared, says mum
10 Jul 2014The mother of a seven-year-old girl with Down’s Syndrome, who hit the headlines for appearing in Sainsbury’s clothing adverts, has said there had been an ‘assumption’ she would abort her daughter. Hayley Goleniowska, 43, and her husband Bob, 59, told the Daily Telegraph they have no limits on their expectations for their daughter Natalia (Natty), who swims, rides horses and is in mainstream school. Hayley said there is a ‘conditioning to fear Down’s syndrome’ and an ‘assumption’ that if the baby tests positive for the condition, you will ‘automatically’ have an abortion. But, she said, ‘we knew who she was - our daughter, not a set of symptoms or predictions for the future’. Hayley has started a blog offering advice and support for parents of children with Down’s Syndrome, which gets 30,000 hits a month. She said, ‘when a family or a mum tells us ‘Your blog has thrown me a lifeline; now I can see what the future could hold’, then we know we’re doing the right thing’
Christian bakers in gay campaign cake row
10 Jul 2014A Christian-run bakery in Northern Ireland is facing legal action after it declined to produce a pro-gay marriage campaign cake. The McArthur family, who own Ashers Baking Company in Belfast, said they could not fulfil the order because it conflicts with their Christian beliefs about marriage being between a man and a woman. Although the Northern Ireland Assembly has voted three times in recent years against redefining marriage, the taxpayer-funded Equality Commission for Northern Ireland claimed that the bakery had breached equality laws. The bakery’s manager, Daniel McArthur, said: ‘We thought that this order was at odds with our beliefs, and contradicts what the Bible teaches.’ Colin Hart, director of the Christian Institute, which is supporting the company, said ‘This claim, if supported, would establish a dangerous precedent about the power of the state over an individual or business to force them to go against their deeply held beliefs.’
The NHS has been criticised for failing women who suffer from postnatal depression by denying many of them potentially life-saving services to help them cope. Information from 193 NHS trusts across England reveal that only 50 provide a specialist perinatal mental health service to women around the time they give birth and five others offer some sort of provision. More than half of the trusts disclosed that they do not offer any formal help, even though one in ten mothers experiences postnatal depression. Even among the 50 trusts operating such a service, 26 employ only one dedicated perinatal mental health midwife or doctor and many of those work part-time. Government health advisers recommended seven years ago that such care should be available everywhere. The National Childbirth Trust (NCT) said it was absolutely disgraceful that so few parts of the health service provided specialist help to women, some of whom end up taking their own lives (and their children’s lives) because they cannot cope.
Legislation stating schools must hold a daily ‘broadly Christian’ assembly is at risk of being abolished. The National Governors' Association (NGA) has declared the law, as set out under the 1944 Education Act, to be ‘meaningless’, and has urged the government to put an end to its application in non-faith schools. ‘Few schools can or do meet the current legislative requirement for a daily act of collective worship, partly because there isn't space in most schools to gather students together, and often because staff are unable or unwilling to lead a collective worship session. There is also the added issue that worship implies belief in a particular faith - if the 'act of worship' is not in your faith then it is meaningless as an act of worship,’ a policy statement from the NGA reads.
This week, the Court of Appeal heard the case of Christian Legal Centre, regarding Nohad Halawi, who was dismissed from her job at Heathrow airport after her comments were incorrectly perceived by Muslim colleagues as being offensive to Islam. Judgment in the case has been reserved until a later date. Nohad Halawi, who worked for 13 years in World Duty Free (WDF) in Heathrow’s Terminal 3, spoke about Christianity and was perceived by Muslim colleagues to have given offence. The management, without any proper procedure, immediately took away her airside pass which meant she was prevented from working, despite an unblemished record. An Employment Tribunal ruled that Nohad had no protection under employment law as she was not technically employed, despite significant evidence to the contrary. Nohad contacted the Christian Legal Centre and Standing Council, Paul Diamond, represented her.