George Clooney credits Christian aid agencies ; Faith groups ‘prevented from doing vital community work by anti-religious prejudice’ ; Let African faith lead the Church of England
George Clooney credits Christian aid agencies
Christian Today – George Clooney has praised the work of Christian organisations in providing humanitarian assistance to people in areas of conflict. “They lead the work a lot of times here,” he said. “When we were at the Darfur rally it was ministers. It was a lot of people of faith that had been working very hard on this.
“So in some ways I’m trying to honour whatever part I can in the hard work that they do because I’m a big fan of all the work that’s being done. And people really put their hearts and souls in it.”
Clooney has been a long-time advocate for peace in Darfur, situated in the western region of Sudan. He recently spent eight days in Sudan and went before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to tell of violence being committed by the Sudanese government against civilians in the border region.
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/george.clooney.credits.christian.aid.agencies/29502.htm
Faith groups ‘prevented from doing vital community work by anti-religious prejudice’
Telegraph – Religious groups are being inhibited from doing vital work in the community because of outdated anti-Christian prejudice, academics have claimed.
Research into the involvement of faith groups in social and charity work has highlighted “inaccurate and out-of-date assumptions” still blighting their work. It suggested government money was still difficult to access, with civil servants wrongly assuming a faith organisation will put pressure on people they help to convert. Academics Dr Sarah Johnsen and Dr Adam Dinham have now claimed fears about religious groups are misplaced, with “no foundation” in modern-day community work. Their findings are based on years of research in the charitable sectors, and will be presented at the Westminster Faith debates on March 21. Dr Dinham, head of the Faiths and Civil Society unit at Goldsmiths, University of London, said he had identified a “subconscious secularism” running through modern society. He said: “It’s not outright hostility, but a misconception that faith-based groups want to evangelise or will restrict their services to people of the same faith.
“People and authorities which commission services from faith-based providers are often concerned they will have strings attached. If they can find other services to use, they will do.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9156381/Faith-groups-prevented-from-doing-vital-community-work-by-anti-religious-prejudice.html
Let African faith lead the Church of England
Evening Standard – Certainly the race for the new Archbishop of Canterbury already looks more politically acrimonious than that for the Republican ticket.
The official reasoning behind the Anyone but York campaign is that Dr Sentamu, at 62, is too old for the job. This would also rule out the profound and dignified Bishop of London.
Both are spring lambs compared with the Pope and I would have thought the Church is one area of life in which an advertising agency view of the world need not prevail. Anglican congregations are not brimming with 25-year-olds.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/comment/comment/let-african-faith-lead-the-church-of-england-7578498.html