Church news in GB media – Church Commissioners urged to spread some Valentines Day love ; Clergyman ‘found dead at vicarage’ : Church of England could lose key prison chaplain role : Church launches Pray One For Me website : Baroness Warsi – religious confidence helps Britain attack ‘persecutors’ abroad : Poll – Christians don’t want religion to ‘influence public life’ : Secularists – Our pious politicians are out of step with the people : Text of Poll – Religious and Social Attitudes of some British Christians : Christian marriages have higher success rate .
Church Commissioners urged to spread some Valentines Day love
Ekklesia – The Commissioners of the Church of England were presented with Valentines’ cards from campaigners urging them to express more love for vulnerable people affected by their multi-million pound investments.
More at : http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/16276
Clergyman ‘found dead at vicarage’
BBC – A man has been found dead at a vicarage in an old market town in suspicious circumstances. The body – widely reported to be that of the Rev John Suddards – was discovered by workmen as they arrived at the building in Thornbury, south Gloucestershire, on Tuesday morning and realised it was locked. Avon and Somerset Police confirmed in a brief statement the death was being treated as “suspicious” but declined to confirm or deny reports a murder investigation had been launched. Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/clergyman-found-dead-at-vicarage-16117951.html#ixzz1mRNzMh25
Church of England could lose key prison chaplain role
BBC – The Church of England could lose its traditional role as the provider of the chief chaplain to the Prison Service. The Ministry of Justice has confirmed it is “considering arrangements” for appointing a new Chaplain-General – but the job might not go to an Anglican. Prison chaplains can be of different religions and denominations, but the 1952 Prison Act requires every jail to have an Anglican chaplain. There are several Roman Catholic and Muslim chaplains who could do the role. The Church believes the legal requirement “should be reflected” in the appointment of the Chaplain-General. A spokesman for the bishop for prisons, the Bishop of Liverpool James Jones, said that the Church was being fully consulted on a successor to the former chaplain-general, the Venerable William Noblett.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17020294
Church launches Pray One For Me website
C of E press release – Prayer is in the news; banned from council agendas and, according to one opinion poll, ignored by many of those calling themselves “Christian”. Yet in time of trouble, crisis, and thanksgiving many of us do ‘say a prayer’. Research conducted for the charity Tearfund in 2007 concluded that as many as 20 million adults in the UK (42% of the population) pray. But for those who find it difficult, the Church of England launches a new website, www.prayoneforme.org, where anyone can post their prayer requests and know that they will be prayed.”You can pray about anything,” says the Revd Alison Roche, vicar of St Christopher’s parish in Leicester. “Some people think God’s only concerned with the really big things in life. But some people pray for car parking spaces. God is concerned about the big things in life like disasters and relationships breaking up and the very small things. In a relationship with a human being you would communicate on different levels. It’s the same with God. So go for it”. Prayoneforme.org, launching on Ash Wednesday (22nd February), will be supported by church groups and prayer communities across the Church of England. They will pray the prayers. The site will be open throughout the year.
Read more: http://www.churchofengland.org/media-centre/news/2012/02/church-launches-pray-one-for-me-website.aspx
Baroness Warsi: religious confidence helps Britain attack ‘persecutors’ abroad
Telegraph – Britain must be confident in its own religious beliefs so that it can attack those “persecuting” people abroad, Baroness Warsi will warn in a speech at the Vatican. The Cabinet minister has warned that British society is under threat from the rising tide of “militant secularisation” reminiscent of “totalitarian regimes”. In an historic visit to the Vatican, Baroness Warsi will express her “fear” about the marginalisation of religion throughout Britain and Europe, saying that faith needs “a seat at the table in public life”. In her speech, the peer will urge that European countries need to be “more confident” about the role of Christianity. “Our continent needs the zeal of a convert,” she will say. “Not from discovering something new but rediscovering something which has underpinned our civilisations for centuries.” The Cabinet minister has warned that British society is under threat from the rising tide of “militant secularisation” reminiscent of “totalitarian regimes”. In an historic visit to the Vatican, Baroness Warsi will express her “fear” about the marginalisation of religion throughout Britain and Europe, saying that faith needs “a seat at the table in public life”. In her speech, the peer will urge that European countries need to be “more confident” about the role of Christianity.“Our continent needs the zeal of a convert,” she will say. “Not from discovering something new but rediscovering something which has underpinned our civilisations for centuries.”
Read and hear the speech at : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9081641/Baroness-Warsi-religious-confidence-helps-Britain-attack-persecutors-abroad.html
Full text also available at : http://m.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2012/02/14/warsi-s-speech-on-militant-secularism-in-full
Christians don’t want religion to ‘influence public life’
Telegraph – British Christians do not think religion should have a special influence on public policy and display low levels of belief and practice, research suggests. Despite identifying themselves with the religion, most turn out to be overwhelmingly secular in their attitudes on issues ranging from gay rights to religion in public life, the Ipsos Mori poll found. Almost three quarters (74 per cent) agreed that religion should not influence public policy, while only about one in eight (12 per cent) thought it should, the survey found. Conducted for the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (UK), it also found that 92 per cent of Christians agreed the law should apply to everyone equally, regardless of their personal religious beliefs.
Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9081215/Christians-dont-want-religion-to-influence-public-life.html
Our pious politicians are out of step with the people
Politics.co.uk – Terry Sanderson -president of the National Secular Society writes : I’m sure Baroness Warsi’s speech to the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome yesterday was very well-received by its audience. She promised to support the Pope in his desire to return Christianity to the centre of public life in Britain. It also seemed to chime with the mood of the media – which was fizzing with fury at the modest high court judgment ruling that it was not legal to include prayer on a council agenda – because it is not council business. Under extreme bombardment from the press, we at the National Secular Society were preparing to barricade the doors – until we noticed a sudden and unprecedented upsurge in membership applications. Something very strange was happening. The media was almost unanimous in its disapproval of the ruling. Strangely the Sunday Times alone gave unequivocal support to it – and in an editorial even suggested it should be extended to cover prayers in parliament. Another strange phenomenon is the disparity between what newspapers are writing above the line and what their readers are writing below it. Look at the reaction to Baroness Warsi’s courting of the Pope in the Daily Telegraph – thousands of reader responses and a vast majority of them hostile to her behaviour.
Then this morning comes the result of an Ipsos Mori poll commissioned by the Richard Dawkins Foundation which shows that, overwhelmingly, those people who ticked the ‘Christian’ box in the last census don’t want religion to have any influence over public policy. That’s 74% of self-defined Christians who do not agree with Baroness Warsi.
More at :http://m.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2012/02/14/comment-our-pious-politicians-are-out-of-step-with-the-peopl
Religious and Social Attitudes of some British Christians
Thinking Anglicans – There was a great deal of comment in the media on Tuesday about a poll undertaken by Ipsos MORI for the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. You can read the survey results for yourself. The Ipsos MORI summary is available on this site – see below. A poll carried out by Ipsos MORI for the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (UK) in the week after the 2011 Census focused on the beliefs, attitudes and practices of UK adults who say they were recorded as Christian in the 2011 Census (or would have recorded themselves as Christian had they answered the question).
Read more : http://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/archives/005369.html
Christian marriages have higher success rate
Christian Today – Christians are happier in their marriage and more likely to stay together than non-Christians, new research has found. The ‘How’s the Family?’ report from the Evangelical Alliance also found that Christians were highly likely to accept outside help and advice to keep their marriages healthy. The typical lifestyle choices of Christians who went on to happy and lengthy marriages were found to be marrying young – at 25 on average compared to over 30 in the general population, being less likely to have lived together as a couple, and being willing to participate in activities that support and maintain their relationship. The supporting activities were often provided by their own church.
Read more : http://www.christiantoday.com/article/christian.marriages.have.higher.success.rate/29292.htm