The Salvation Army has won a government contract to oversee help for victims of trafficking, but humanists have hit out at the move. The £6m contract went to the Christian group because it had put in a stronger bid than a secular group which had held the contract, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said. But the British Humanist Association (BHA) attacked the move, calling it ‘deeply concerning’. The Salvation Army will oversee support and accommodation for male and female victims of all types of trafficking, including sex trafficking. It said its aim was simple: ‘To ensure that every woman and man who is identified as trafficked will receive a quality support package that is tailored to their individual needs.’ The MoJ said the previous group, Eaves Housing, ‘had done a very good job’ in recent years but Salvation Army had put in a stronger bid for the contract.
Pray: that the Salvation Army through this contract will be enabled to make a huge difference in this area. (Ep.4:16)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/humanists-angry-over-6m-contract-salvation-army-win/
Human trafficking in Scotland
29 Mar 2012For a number of years Christian organisations have rightly campaigned on the issue of global human trafficking, leading national and international debate on the issue. Organisations such as International Justice Mission, Stop the Traffik, and CARE have raised awareness of both trafficking within and outside the Church. Most recently, a group of Christian musicians came together to produce the song Twenty Seven Million. The song tells the true story of a girl trafficked from Eastern Europe into London's sex trade. In Scotland the issue is also gaining momentum both within and outside the Christian community. Recently the Scottish Parliament held a debate looking into the extent of human trafficking in Scotland and the possibility of legislating to strengthing the law. Subsequently the Equal Opportunities Committee brought together a number of key stakeholders to begin the process of developing a holistic strategy for tackling trafficking in Scotland.
Pray: that the Scottish Parliament will strengthen the law legislating against trafficking. (Ps.119:53)
More: http://www.eauk.org/current-affairs/politics/human-trafficking-in-scotland.cfm
Human Trafficking in Olympic year
12 Jan 2012The 2012 Games are likely to be a key target for criminal gangs who will look to take advantage of a larger than usual number of visitors heading to the UK. In July Theresa May launched a human trafficking strategy and started working with other countries to combat the expected increase in human trafficking in the British Isles in the run up to the Games. Police estimated that 2,600 people were trafficked for sexual exploitation alone in 2009 and fear around 300 children are smuggled in to the UK every year. Anti-trafficking campaigners are saying, ‘Human trafficking may increase during the 2012 Olympic
Games in London because of a heightened demand for sexual services and cheap labour,’ and Bex Keer of Stop the Traffik said, ‘There is always talk around any big sporting event of how it increases the demand for trafficking victims, whether that’s for sexual exploitation, forced labour or street begging and crime.’
Pray: for unity between experts in the fields of clubs and vice, human trafficking, immigration and crime, as they work together to powerfully to eliminate human trafficking. (Ps.29:11)
Human rights and Christian values
17 Jan 2011Christian assemblies in schools could be scrapped if campaigning atheists and teachers get their way. According to the National Secular Society, a legal requirement for pupils to take part in a daily act of collective worship ‘of a broadly Christian character’ discriminates against young atheists and non-Christians, and infringes human rights. The Association of School and College Leaders has also suggested assemblies should end, and the British Humanist Association is campaigning on the subject. But the most direct attack on religious assemblies, which represents yet another assault on Britain’s historic Christian values, has come in a letter to Education Secretary Michael Gove from Keith Porteous, executive director of the National Secular Society. This week, former Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf joined the Bishop of Winchester in saying the Bench had gone ‘too far’ in curbing the rights of Christians to demonstrate their faith at work. (See story above)
Pray: that human rights would not be used to attack this nation's Christian values. (2Ch.20:12)
Laws originally designed to protect basic freedoms are instead being used to strip British society of its Christian foundations while upholding the rights of minorities. The warning, from a prominent Church of England bishop, comes as part of a landmark case on religious freedom in Britain to be heard at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg next week. In a powerful submission to the judges, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, warns of a distorted “human rights agenda” which he likens to the atheist communist regimes in Eastern Europe which also suppressed Christianity by preventing public manifestations of faith. Unless basic Christian values are upheld, human rights will become “another inhuman ideology”, like the totalitarian regimes of the past, suppressing individuals, he says. The case is being brought by four workers including Shirley Chaplin, and Nadia Eweida, who were denied the right to wear a cross at work as a visible manifestation of their faith.
Pray: for this case and that the references to religious freedom in Human Rights will be reasserted (Jos.24:15)
More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9511836/Human-rights-agenda-is-new-totalitarianism-bishop-warns-judges.html
How churches fight belief in witchcraft
02 Aug 2010
African churches in Britain are learning how to safeguard children's rights against exploitative pastors. Monday’s ‘Dispatches’ programme on Channel 4 highlighted the harm caused to children in the UK, mainly from an African background, by church pastors who are apparently labelling them as witches or as in some way ‘possessed’. Enormous strides have been made recently in building relationships with African churches, many of whose members do not speak English as their first language. To that end, the Child Protection Advisory Service has already trained more than 5,000 church leaders and volunteers in the optimum standards of child protection. The practices of a minority of ‘rogue’ churches and pastors are being challenged by African communities. This voice has been strengthened by community-led meetings and training for parents and young people. Specialist training has improved social work and health practitioners' knowledge and understanding of harmful cultural practices, which is critical to improved identification of abuse linked to spirit possession and witchcraft. Pray: for the complete eradication of child abuse linked to these ‘cultural practices’. (Dt.18:10) More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jul/27/religion-witches-africa-london-exorcism
Hospitals propose banning Bible
02 Aug 2010
Hospital managers wanting to ban bedside Gideon Bibles have been attacked by religious leaders who warned that sick people will be deprived of spiritual comfort when it is most needed. The ban, at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, is intended to reduce levels of infectious superbugs such as MRSA on the grounds that the Bibles are hard to clean. They want all bedside areas in Queen’s Medical Centre and City Hospital kept tidy to stop deadly viruses breeding. Christian protesters said the holy texts pose a ‘minimal’ risk of infection and called for the plans to be scrapped. A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham said: ‘For many patients Bibles have been a source of comfort and support through uncertainty and illness. It is unsatisfactory that patients may now have to ask a nurse for a Bible’. Hospital officials are now consulting staff, patients and chaplains before bringing in the ban. Pray: that a way is found for these Bibles to remain to support for patients without any health risk. (Jn.1:1) More: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/189145/Bashing-for-hospitals-over-ban-on-the-Bible
Hospital trusts rapped over major failures
19 Jul 201311 hospital trusts are being placed in special measures because of major failings, the Government has announced. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the trusts, among 14 investigated for high death rates, had problems so entrenched that tough action was needed. He cited examples of staffing problems, poor care and weak leadership as he announced the move in Parliament. The other three trusts investigated were also told to make improvements following the review. But the Health Secretary said investigators had confidence the leadership at those trusts was capable of making the changes needed. As part of the process of special measures for the other 11, teams of external experts will be sent into the organisations to work with the senior management team. Regular updates on their progress will also be given, while unsafe practices have been stopped immediately. For example, two operating theatres have been closed at one site because of inadequate maintenance records.
Pray: for those charged with the task of achieving improvements to the NHS. (Ps.8:4)
More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23315869for-justice-and-peace