Justin Welby calls for cap on total cost of payday loans
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)
Campaigners to switch off Facebook over tax dodging
Anti-poverty campaigners are urging people to switch off Facebook for a day in protest against the company's alleged tax avoidance. The Facebook blackout was initiated by Church Action on Poverty after it emerged that the company had paid £196,000 in corporation tax on estimated UK sales of £175 million in 2011. Facebook users are being urged to share images advertising the day-long initiative on 1 December and leave a message telling their friends why they are switching off. CAP is hoping the message will go viral and alert other Facebook users about the company's contentious tax practices. National Co-ordinator Niall Cooper said: ‘Despite media coverage, many of Facebook’s 43 million users will be unaware of the company’s tax dodging. CAP is engaging in the protest as part of a wider effort to make the Government clamp down on tax dodging.’ (See also Prayer Alert 47-2012)
Pray: for the success of this campaign against the companies which are avoiding corporation tax. (Mk.12:14)
More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/campaigners.to.switch.off.facebook.over.tax.dodging/31148.htm
Concern about marriage breakdown
Most Brits feel that marriage's fall from grace has not been good for society, a new survey has found. In a poll by the Centre for Social Justice, 60% agreed that marriage has become less important and that this is a ‘bad thing’ for Britain. Over half (55%) said there was at least one area close to where they lived that was affected by serious social problems like broken families, poor schools and crime. Most of those surveyed (85%) felt that family and parenting were key to mending broken society. When asked what they felt was the most important for children to have when growing up, 46% said a safe community and environment, followed by having two parents at home (31%). The findings were released as the CSJ prepares to launch Breakthrough Britain II, a major study into the causes of poverty and social breakdown that will run until 2014.
Pray: that the recognition of the importance of marriage in our society be realised and once more become central. (Heb.13:4)
More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/brits.concerned.about.marriage.breakdown/31136.htm
Majority want gay marriage referendum
Most people support the idea of holding a referendum to decide whether marriage should be redefined, a new poll has shown. In a recent survey commissioned by the Coalition for Marriage, 54 per cent agreed that redefining marriage should be put to a public vote. Of those surveyed, only 26 per cent disagreed with the idea of a referendum of the people. The Coalition for Marriage, which campaigns against the Government redefining marriage, says the results aren’t surprising. Campaign director Colin Hart said: ‘This poll follows a series of bad news stories for the PM’s profoundly undemocratic plans.’ He added, ‘ordinary men and women have never been able to cast a vote on the issue as neither the Conservatives, Lib Dems, or Labour included this proposal in their manifestos and they are fed up with being told it is going to happen regardless of what the majority of people in this country believe.’
Pray: for the political leaders that they will listen to the majority of the people and allow for a referendum on redefining marriage.
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/majority-want-gay-marriage-referendum-poll-shows/
Church planting in France
Next year's World Day of Prayer will be focusing not on Malaysia, Chile or Cameroon (as the last three did), but on our neighbouring France. While France is often thought to be a Catholic country, now only five per cent of the country would identify themselves as such, and 74 per cent of French people have never opened a Bible. And although when thinking of France we often imagine great food, good wine and a long cultural history, it also has the highest rates of depression in the world. Over 90 per cent of the country's towns and villages have no evangelical church. However, the evangelical church has seen a growth of nearly 10 times since 1950, and half of this number are younger than 35. And there is a new evangelical church planted somewhere in France every 10 days.
Pray: that our prayers will help towards a revival of the church in France. (Ps.85:6)
More: http://www.eauk.org/current-affairs/news/church-planting-in-france.cfm
Church planting in France
Next year's World Day of Prayer will be focusing not on Malaysia, Chile or Cameroon (as the last three did), but on our neighbouring France. While France is often thought to be a Catholic country, now only five per cent of the country would identify themselves as such, and 74 per cent of French people have never opened a Bible. And although when thinking of France we often imagine great food, good wine and a long cultural history, it also has the highest rates of depression in the world. Over 90 per cent of the country's towns and villages have no evangelical church. However, the evangelical church has seen a growth of nearly 10 times since 1950, and half of this number are younger than 35. And there is a new evangelical church planted somewhere in France every 10 days.
Pray: that our prayers will help towards a revival of the church in France. (Ps.85:6)
More: http://www.eauk.org/current-affairs/news/church-planting-in-france.cfm
Spain's secret shame - baby black market exposed
At a cemetery in Barcelona, trucks arrived for a court-ordered exhumation. All across Spain, officials are opening the coffins of dead newborn babies to see if there are any human remains inside, many of the coffins were empty. Spain is reeling from one of the worst crimes since World War II. It is known simply as ‘los bebés robados,’ the stolen babies. The sheer scale of it is staggering: perhaps 300,000 Spanish babies have been taken from their mothers at birth and sold on the black market. Beginning during the Franco dictatorship in 1939 and continuing until the 1990s, newborns were stolen from hospitals and trafficked by a network of doctors, nurses, priests, and nuns. The attending nurse would take the newborn from the mother to have to it examined or cleaned. The nurse would return with a dead baby that was kept in a freezer at the hospital as proof that the child had died.
Pray: for God’s forgiveness for all those who perpetrated these crimes and healing for the mothers and children involved. (Tit.3:11)
More: http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2012/October/Spains-Secret-Shame-Baby-Black-Market-Exposed/
Spain's secret shame - baby black market exposed
At a cemetery in Barcelona, trucks arrived for a court-ordered exhumation. All across Spain, officials are opening the coffins of dead newborn babies to see if there are any human remains inside, many of the coffins were empty. Spain is reeling from one of the worst crimes since World War II. It is known simply as ‘los bebés robados,’ the stolen babies. The sheer scale of it is staggering: perhaps 300,000 Spanish babies have been taken from their mothers at birth and sold on the black market. Beginning during the Franco dictatorship in 1939 and continuing until the 1990s, newborns were stolen from hospitals and trafficked by a network of doctors, nurses, priests, and nuns. The attending nurse would take the newborn from the mother to have to it examined or cleaned. The nurse would return with a dead baby that was kept in a freezer at the hospital as proof that the child had died.
Pray: for God’s forgiveness for all those who perpetrated these crimes and healing for the mothers and children involved. (Tit.3:11)
More: http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2012/October/Spains-Secret-Shame-Baby-Black-Market-Exposed/
Please kindly see the attached links for WPA videos with Chinese subtitles for your reference.
WPA Children’s Track, 3 minutes, 40 seconds in English
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB__qJ8p94w&feature=youtu.be
English with Chinese subtitles:
1) WPA Documentary Video, 17mins, in Chinese subtitles
http://youtu.be/X5Bp3koISVM
2) Children in Prayer, 9mins, in Chinese subtitles
http://youtu.be/QD_e1EGmoEA
Domestic violence accounts for 10% of emergency calls
One in 10 emergency calls to police are categorised as domestic violence related, rising in some areas to a fifth of all 999 alerts. The figures, obtained following freedom of information requests, have prompted fresh demands for a long-term strategy to tackle Britain's 'hidden crime.' Home Office data reveals that more than a million British women a year experience domestic violence, although experts believe the vast majority of incidents remain unreported. However, domestic violence conviction rates in the five years to 2011 stood at just 6.5% of incidents reported to police. Yvette Cooper, shadow home secretary, said: 'Last year the domestic violence rate was twice as high as the burglary rate. Two women every week are killed at the hands of their abuser in England and Wales, yet it still isn't given enough priority to keep people safe.' Cooper is currently consulting on ways to better protect women, saying too much complacency surrounds the issue.
Pray: for all those affected by domestic abuse and for measures to be taken to reduce the level of such abuse. (Col.3:19)
More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/nov/24/domestic-violence-emergency-calls-data