Putting the 'fair' back into welfare
24 Aug 2012This is the theme of an expert panel discussion that will take place at the Greenbelt Festival, at 11am on Saturday 25th August 2012. The controversial Welfare Reform Act has reignited debate about the scope and nature of public support for children, carers, disabled people and vulnerable people in society. So is ‘the welfare state’ a thing of the past? Who is welfare for? Who provides for whom? And what is the role of voluntary and faith bodies? This Children’s Society panel in association with the Christian think-tank Ekklesia looks at the future of ‘welfare for all’ in tough economic times, and asks how fairness and creativity can help chart fresh ways forward. The speakers are: Sam Royston (Children’s Society policy adviser) - Sue Marsh (Disabled activist, Spartacus Welfare Campaign) - Savi Hensman (Care and equalities adviser, Christian commentator) - Simon Barrow (Ekklesia think-tank).
Pray: that the discussions will lead to a wider understanding of fairness in this generation and beyond. (Pr.2:9)
Putting God at heart of communities
19 Jan 2012Church charity shop is a listening ear and a place for a bargain. ‘The Church Shop’ is the brainchild of the Rev Alison Phillipson, vicar of Coatham and Dormanstown, and has been set up with the help of lay members of her church. ‘In a world where people don’t stop and listen, we here will listen,’ she said. Alison is one of the individuals living out the Gospel in the north-east of England whose stories will be told on the Archbishop of York’s website in the coming weeks. Other stories to be highlighted include a former drug addict and school bad boy who now contributes to the spiritual and moral development of school students. See: http://www.archbishopofyork.org/ Dr John Sentamu said: ‘How wonderful it is to hear these encouraging stories. Across the country, so many people are proclaiming the Good News and putting God at the heart of their communities’.
Pray: that the Holy Spirit will give vision to believers in creating ways to spread the Good News. (Ps.127:1)
Put Morality First
02 Jan 2012Writing a New Year message in Yorkshire Post, The Archbishop of York said that morality must come first. He said, ‘I am not one for unattainable New Year’s Resolutions. They can only be temporary fixes, based on blind optimism rather than on what is sustainable.... after a few days the promises are broken. Personal good intentions and national well-being should go together. A strong society needs decent ideals, too. We need strong morals and a shared purpose which is grounded in more than what is on the bottom line of a balance sheet in Whitehall. If we want to build a strong country, we need to ensure the foundations are solid. Candidates for election should ‘put morality ahead of politics, science, and economics’ and that ‘the only genuine core of all our actions – if they are to be moral – is responsibility......Our country was built on Christian faith and morals, and we should not only be grateful for this, but also celebrate this fact.’
Pray: for a reclaiming of Christian morality by a society that finds itself victim of amoral greed and violence. (Ps.25:9)
More: http://www.archbishopofyork.org/articles.php/2307/archbishops-new-year-message
Pupils aged ten viewing pornography
25 Nov 2010
One in three children is accessing a ‘tsunami’ of explicit pornographic images on the internet by the age of ten, a study has revealed. Four in five teenagers regularly look up unsuitable photographs or film on their computers or mobile phones, it also suggested. Campaigners warned that exposure to these images inflicts ‘serious mental harm’ on children and prevents them forming healthy adult relationships in later life. The average age of a child first exposed to pornography is just 11. At a conference in Parliament on Monday, campaigners called on ministers to force websites to carry cigarette-style health warnings. A large ‘R18’ banner would pop up on targeted websites, alerting children and parents to the nature of the site, they said. The British Board of Film Classification, which censors films, should also be called in to classify website content. Miranda Suit, director of SaferMedia, said pornography was getting more extreme and easier to access. Pray: for the internet to become better regulated to prevent corruption of our young. ( Job.5:17)
Pupils 'learn to cut off hands of thieves'
25 Nov 2010
Up to 5,000 Muslim children at a network of Islamic schools across Britain are being taught how to chop off the hands of thieves and that Jews are plotting to take over the world. This was disclosed on the programme Panorama on BBC One, which also claims that the children's textbooks were discovered at a network of 40 private schools, called Saudi Students Clubs and Schools, teaching the Saudi Arabian national curriculum. One book for six-year-olds warns that those who do not believe in Islam will be condemned to ‘hellfire’ in death. Another book for 15-year-olds teaches about Shariah law and its punishments. ‘For thieves their hands will be cut off for a first offence and their foot for a subsequent offence,’ it says. Two diagrams show where cuts should be made. Panorama also found examples of private Muslim schools using extremist sentiments on their websites. Pray: that the Imams who fervently wish for better understanding between our faiths will rein in the use of such subversive material in Islamic schools. (Ps.55:9) More: http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC101123-0000046/Where-pupils-learn-to-cut-off-hands-of-thieves
Public misjudge health risk of smoking cannabis
11 Jun 2012Most people alarmingly underestimate the health risks of smoking cannabis, the National Lung Foundation has warned.
Almost 90 per cent of people think a tobacco cigarette carries a greater risk than a cannabis joint – but the risk of lung cancer is actually 20 times higher with cannabis. The British Lung Foundation (BLF) carried out a survey of 1,000 adults, and a third wrongly believed cannabis did not harm health. The BLF said the lack of awareness was ‘alarming’, and issued a report warning people about the dangers saying that smoking one cannabis cigarette every day for a year increases the chances of developing lung cancer by a similar amount as smoking 20 tobacco cigarettes each day for one year. ‘We therefore need a serious public health campaign – of the kind that has helped raise awareness of the dangers of eating fatty foods or smoking tobacco – to finally dispel the myth that smoking cannabis is somehow a safe pastime.’
Pray: for better education to alert people to the newly discovered dangers of taking drugs such as cannabis. (1Co.6:19-20)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/public-misjudge-health-risk-of-smoking-cannabis/
Protests made against Mental Health cuts
23 Feb 2012Thousands of residents in Kingston upon Thames will be affected by cuts in provision for mental health patients by Kingston Council and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust, according to local campaigners in the Christian Peoples Alliance party (CPA). The CPA is warning that pressure on individuals from the economic recession and stagnant jobs' market could lead to additional demands on existing services, not fewer. It has written to South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust - which delivers care at Tolworth Hospital - demanding guarantees that inpatient care will continue to be provided in the borough, following news that it is to end at Tolworth. Last year, Kingston Hospital said it was cutting £600,000 from its mental health budget. Next week, Kingston's Budget Council will consider making their own cuts this year and next of over £240,000, amounting to nearly 8 per cent of its present budget for mental health social care services.
Pray: for the situation within the NHS with all the proposed cuts. Pray that wisdom would be the guide over all the decisions. (Jas.1:5)
Protecting Christian beliefs
17 Jan 2011The legal system may have gone ‘too far’ in restricting the right of Christians to live out their faith, Britain’s former top judge has cautioned. (See Prayer Alert 5310.) Lord Woolf’s comments came after the Bishop of Winchester warned that the demise of ‘religious literacy’ had created an imbalance in the way Christians are treated by the courts. Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has urged the Prime Minister to review legislation which has been used to penalise Christians. Lord Woolf acknowledged that the Bishop of Winchester’s concerns had ‘a grounding in the facts’, saying ‘The law must be above any sectional interest even if it is an interest of a faith but at the same time it must be aware of the proper concerns of that faith. The law should be developed in ways that, wherever practicable, it allows that faith to be preserved and protected.’
Pray: for fairness in the law towards Christians acting out their belief. (Ps.136:16)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/ex-top-judge-warns-against-penalising-christian-beliefs/