The incoming Archbishop of Canterbury has joined forces with the Labour Party to launch an attack on the Government over its failure to curb the excessive charges of legal loan sharks. The highly political intervention by Justin Welby, the Bishop of Durham, is his first since being announced as the successor to Dr Rowan Williams as leader of the Church of England. Bishop Welby has denounced payday loan firms and the levels of interest they charge as ‘morally wrong’ and even a ‘sin’. He is stepping up his campaign with a House of Lords amendment – jointly with a Labour peer – to a Coalition finance bill which would give regulators the power to cap the total cost of loans. He said ‘The reality is interest rates are in the thousands of per cent, which at any time in history would have been called usury, and which the church has always considered a sin, and I think that even now it is a sin to charge that level of interest.’
Pray: for the success of this amendment and also for all those affected by such exorbitant loan repayments. (Ex.22:25)
Senior Church figures are forcing a showdown with the judiciary over an allegation that some of the country’s most senior judges are prejudiced against Christianity. Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury (1991 – 2002) and other church leaders will urge the Master of the Rolls and other senior judges to stand down from future Court of Appeal hearings involving cases of religious discrimination because of the judges’ perceived bias against Christianity. Senior churchmen believe that Christians have little chance of a fair ruling if the latest significant hearing is heard in front of those judges who, they argue, have already shown a lack of understanding of Christian beliefs. Critics are particularly alarmed by a ruling by Lord Neuberger, the Master of the Rolls, on behalf of the Court of Appeal, that Lillian Ladele, a registrar who refused to conduct civil partnership ceremonies – because they were against her Christian beliefs – broke the law.
Pray: that the Judiciary comes to respect wholeheartedly our Christian faith. (Dt.17:8)
Judge slates same-sex couples’ fight over girls
17 Oct 2011A High Court judge has criticised a lesbian couple and a male homosexual couple who are fighting over parenting rights for two little sisters they had by IVF. Mr Justice Hedley said: ‘The four adults in this case regard the price paid by these two children as an acceptable price for the pursuit of their own adult disputes.’ The judge also said: ‘The case provides a vivid illustration of just how wrong these arrangements can go.’ A social worker informed the court that the older girl has suffered serious emotional harm. The couples met after the women placed an advert in a homosexual publication in 1999 asking for ‘a gay man or couple who would like to start a family with a lesbian couple’. The men replied, saying, ‘We would love to be father and stepfather’. But relations broke down in 2008 when they fell into a dispute over the girls.
Pray: for the children in this case and for society to recognise the serious problems that may emerge in such flawed arrangements. (Pr.11:3)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/judge-slates-same-sex-couples%e2%80%99-fight-over-girls/
Judge rules against guest house owners
01 Feb 2011A judge has sided with a homosexual couple who were refused a double room at a Christian guest house. (see Prayer Alert 02-2011) Owners Peter and Hazelmary Bull implemented a policy of allowing only heterosexual married couples to stay in their double rooms when they opened the guest house, also their family home, in 1986. Their website gives notice of the policy on its booking page. They were sued by civil partners Steven Preddy and Martyn Hall for £5,000 in damages on the grounds that the policy discriminated against them under the Equality Act. Judge Andrew Rutherford ruled that the Bulls’ policy was unlawful and that the Equality Act requires that civil partnerships are treated in the same way as marriage. The Bulls must now pay Preddy and Hall £3,600 in damages. Responding to the ruling, Mrs Bull said: ‘Our double-bed policy was based on our sincere beliefs about marriage, not hostility to anybody’.
Pray: that the Equality Act be amended to distinguish between legal and behavioural rights. (Jas.1:21)
More:http://www.christiantoday.com/article/judge.rules.against.christian.guesthouse.owners.who.refused.civil.partners/27378.htm
Judge hits out at 24-hour drinking
13 May 2010A judge has blasted 24-hour licensing laws after sentencing yet another troublemaker for a late night drunken brawl. Supermarkets have also been slammed this week for slashing the price of a pint to 40p ahead of the World Cup. Judge Christopher Harvey Clark QC is calling for a review of 24-hour licensing laws after becoming frustrated at dealing with cases of drunken violence ‘almost on a daily basis’. This latest case involved a 31-year-old former soldier from Bournemouth, who attacked his victim after he flicked a kebab in his face during a night out. Judge Harvey Clark said: ‘Speaking as someone who has to deal with such violence, almost on a daily basis, there is far too much violence and drunkenness on the streets of Bournemouth late at night. It may, in part, be due to the relaxation of the licensing laws. I would hope that relaxation is reviewed in the foreseeable future.’
Pray: that the 24-hour drinking law will be reviewed in the near future. (Joel.1:5)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/judge-hits-out-at-24-hour-drinking/
Over 10,000 people have signed the Jubilee Debt campaign petition for a ‘Jubilee for Justice’ calling for cancellation of the unjust debts of the most indebted nations, the promotion of just and progressive taxation policies, and an end to harmful lending which forces countries into debt. At the start of 2013, over 400 faith leaders signed a similar letter to the Prime Minister calling for the same three things to tackle the global debt crisis. The Prime Minister’s response to the faith leaders said that “Freeing developing countries from their debt service payments frees up vital resources that can be used to support the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals” and that the UK had been doing this through the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. The organisation has now written to the Prime Minister again, with six concrete proposals of how the UK government could cancel unjust debts, promote just taxation and control lending.
Pray: for world Governments and the IMF to recognise the need for debt cancellation and ending unjust taxation. (Lev.25:28)
More: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/19116
Joy is still possible in a world of injustice
28 Apr 2011
Delivering his Easter sermon at Canterbury Cathedral, Dr Rowan Williams affirmed that it was possible to experience joy and happiness in spite of difficult circumstances. He pointed to the examples of Christians who remain faithful despite facing threats and attacks in Pakistan and northern Nigeria. ‘Authentic happiness doesn’t take away the reality of threat or risk of suffering; it’s just there. This is one of the hardest things to get hold of here. How can I feel ‘happy’ in a world so full of atrocity and injustice? How can I know joy when I’m aware of my own failure, my own shabbiness, my own depression? There are no answers in theory because this isn’t a matter of theory. Joy’, he maintained, was ‘not feeling cheerful or simply pretending that things are not so bad after all and it’s a grim reproach that’s all too often what people half-expect from Christians, a glib and dishonest cheerfulness,’ he said. Pray: for people to find a lasting connection to joy through Jesus Christ. (Ps.19:8)
Joseph as ideal male role model
17 Jan 2011Jesus and Mary are usually the centre of attention at the school Nativity play, but Iain Duncan Smith says society – and the church – would do well to pay more attention to Joseph. Writing in the Daily Mail last week, the Tory MP said Joseph was the ‘forgotten hero’ of the story of Christ’s birth. The example set by Joseph in standing by Mary and Jesus offered, he said, a ‘very clear message for our own time’ in which generations of young people are growing up without fathers. Mr Duncan Smith said society seemed to have forgotten the important role played by fathers, from providing shelter and placing food on the table, to nurturing and supporting their children. ‘It’s about providing the best male role model that a man can have,’ he said. Mr Duncan Smith pointed to the link between fatherlessness and family breakdown, high levels of truancy, anti-social behaviour, youth crime, street gangs and teenage pregnancy.
Pray: for all fathers to recognise their responsibility to be a good role model for their sons. (Pr.1:8)