Halt to 'draconian' vetting
The vetting of up to nine million people who frequently work with children, which was due to start next month, was halted by the Home Secretary, Theresa May, pending a review intended to scale back the scheme to ‘common sense’ proportions. May said she had taken the decision because it was now recognised that the vetting and barring scheme was disproportionate, burdensome and infringed on civil liberties. ‘Until this remodelling has taken place, we have decided to maintain those aspects of the new scheme which are already in place, but not to introduce further elements.’ More than 66,000 employers, charities and voluntary groups are being told the details of the decision. Under the original scheme the database of people registered to work with children would have covered 11 million adults, the largest child protection database in the world. Similar action is required for hospital volunteers. Pray: for those who freely volunteer their talents and that the remodelled scheme will be widely accepted. (Ac.8:15) More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jun/15/child-worker-vetting-scheme-review
Sharp rise in repeat abortions
New figures showing a rise in the number of multiple abortions among younger women have prompted criticisms of government sex education policies. A Christian doctor’s group called the statistics ‘profoundly depressing’ and blamed the government’s longstanding ‘values-free’ sex education. ‘It is increasingly clear,’ said Dr. Peter Saunders, of the Christian Medical Fellowship, ‘that abortion is simply being used as a form of contraception by a growing percentage of girls and women, and that tired policies of values-free sex education, condoms and morning-after pills are not working.’ George Pitcher, a liberal Anglican minister, commented that the current approach to dealing with unwanted pregnancies, especially among the young, is failing to take the problem seriously. ‘You don't have to be over-cynical to feel that making the likes of Marie Stopes the principal public voice in abortion policy is like appointing a fox as gamekeeper. There needs to be a higher moral imperative than that.’ Pray: for the return of clearly taught values to sex education and an end to abortion being used as a quick fix. (Jn.8:32)
NHS chaplains
Hospital chaplains play an ‘important’ role in the NHS, and the Government values their work, a Conservative Peer has said. Speaking in the House of Lords, Earl Howe said the Government is committed to giving patients and staff in the NHS access to ‘spiritual care’. Chaplains came under fierce attack from secularists last year who launched a campaign to remove their funding. Earl Howe said the chaplains ‘play an important part in providing high-quality spiritual care services to patients and staff, and we are committed to ensuring that patients and staff in the NHS have access to the spiritual care that they want, whatever faith they may have’. The Bishop of Chichester, the Rt Revd John Hind, had earlier pointed out that ‘a chaplain often serves more patients directly each week than any other single healthcare professional working in a hospital’. Pray: for hospital chaplains and that their valuable services will be secure in the future. (Jas.5:15) More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/govt-affirms-importance-of-nhs-chaplains-work/
Bloody Sunday: justice at last
After a 38-year struggle for truth and justice, campaigners for those killed in Derry on Bloody Sunday celebrate the Saville Report's exoneration of the victims and its unequivocal conclusion that the shootings were ‘unjustified’. The Bloody Sunday tribunal's verdict that soldiers had lied to the inquiry now opens up the possibility of legal action against the former troops involved. David Cameron announced the findings and apologised on behalf of the British state, ‘I never want to call into question the behaviour of our soldiers and our army, who I believe to be the finest in the world, but the conclusions of this report are absolutely clear. There is no doubt, there is nothing equivocal, there are no ambiguities. What happened on Bloody Sunday was both unjustified and unjustifiable. It was wrong.’
Pray: for all those affected by these events and that the report might heal old wounds. (1Pe.5:10)
More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jun/15/bloody-sunday-report-soldiers-prosecuted
Christians need 'spiritual ambition'
More than 1200 church leaders from 77 countries and 28 denominations attended Alpha International’s conference for leaders from Europe, the Middle East and Africa last week at Holy Trinity Brompton in London. The week aims to train, equip and encourage leaders who are heading up Alpha courses in their nations. The Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, opened the conference with an address in which he told delegates ‘The Christian movement throughout the entire world has really got to develop and increase in this century; proper spiritual ambition for the sake of Jesus Christ. This is a very turbulent world, a world where we’re facing huge promise and huge peril and unless the followers of Jesus Christ have spiritual ambition and a real burning zeal to present Jesus Christ as part of the truth that will bring to fulfilment the promise of the 21st century, then things will look dark indeed.'
Pray: for the Alpha movement that it will continue to bring many to Jesus with zeal and ambition. (Ro.12:11)
Russia urges global struggle against Afghan heroin
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev says the international community must accept responsibility for the fight against illicit drugs from Afghanistan. He told an anti-drug conference in Moscow that worldwide Afghan heroine has killed nearly one-million people under the age of 35 in the past eight years. Speaking at an international anti-drug forum in Moscow, President Medvedev issued a call for a common global fight against narcotics, saying the entire world is threatened by drug-producing countries, especially those that make hard drugs - narcotics that are more addictive and damaging. He said Afghanistan does not have the resources for a breakthrough in the fight. He said ongoing efforts by various international organizations, including the United Nations, NATO and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, are not enough. Mr. Medvedev said, standing up to the evil of narcotics on a global scale requires a struggle not only against drug trafficking, but also the social problems created by that evil. Pray: that the world governments would work together to find ways to successfully defeat this menace. (Ps.34:16)
Russia urges global struggle against Afghan heroin
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev says the international community must accept responsibility for the fight against illicit drugs from Afghanistan. He told an anti-drug conference in Moscow that worldwide Afghan heroine has killed nearly one-million people under the age of 35 in the past eight years. Speaking at an international anti-drug forum in Moscow, President Medvedev issued a call for a common global fight against narcotics, saying the entire world is threatened by drug-producing countries, especially those that make hard drugs - narcotics that are more addictive and damaging. He said Afghanistan does not have the resources for a breakthrough in the fight. He said ongoing efforts by various international organizations, including the United Nations, NATO and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, are not enough. Mr. Medvedev said, standing up to the evil of narcotics on a global scale requires a struggle not only against drug trafficking, but also the social problems created by that evil. Pray: that the world governments would work together to find ways to successfully defeat this menace. (Ps.34:16)
Vatican says Christians in Middle East are ignored
A working paper released during Pope Benedict XVI's pilgrimage to Cyprus to prepare for a crisis summit of Middle Eastern bishops in Rome in October also cites the ‘extremist current’ unleashed by the rise of ‘political Islam’ as a threat to Christians. In his final Mass in Cyprus on Sunday, the pontiff said he was praying that the October meeting will focus the attention of the international community ‘on the plight of those Christians in the Middle East who suffer for their beliefs.’ He appealed for an ‘urgent and concerted international effort to resolve the ongoing tensions in the Middle East, especially in the Holy Land, before such conflicts lead to greater bloodshed.’ Pray: for the Holy Spirit to give peace to those suffering for their faith in the Middle East. (2Th.1:5)
Vatican says Christians in Middle East are ignored
A working paper released during Pope Benedict XVI's pilgrimage to Cyprus to prepare for a crisis summit of Middle Eastern bishops in Rome in October also cites the ‘extremist current’ unleashed by the rise of ‘political Islam’ as a threat to Christians. In his final Mass in Cyprus on Sunday, the pontiff said he was praying that the October meeting will focus the attention of the international community ‘on the plight of those Christians in the Middle East who suffer for their beliefs.’ He appealed for an ‘urgent and concerted international effort to resolve the ongoing tensions in the Middle East, especially in the Holy Land, before such conflicts lead to greater bloodshed.’ Pray: for the Holy Spirit to give peace to those suffering for their faith in the Middle East. (2Th.1:5)
Edinburgh 2010’s call for co-operation
Around 1,000 Christians from across the denominations and traditions heard the call from the Archbishop of York to the ‘be, see, think and do mission’ on Sunday night as they came together for the close of Edinburgh 2010. Christians were gathered for the conference in the Scottish capital for most of last week. The occasion celebrated the 100th anniversary of the historic World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh in 1910 and the subsequent birth of the world church. In an honest closing address, the Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu, said that' too much of what the church did today amounted to nothing more than ‘re-arranging the furniture.’ ‘re-organizing the structures; arguing over words and phrases, while humanity as a whole plunges suicidally into obscurity and meaningless despair. And so often the Church’s activities and energies appear to be totally irrelevant to the needs of the world today,’ he said. (See Prayer Alert 2310) Pray: for the Holy Spirit to empower and lead the Church in its mission to reach the world in a meaningful way. (Ac.9:31)