Displaying items by tag: British Isles

The shift in tone and mood was unmistakable as US president Joe Biden visited the Republic of Ireland, having spent a short time in Northern Ireland. Baseball cap on, and into a pub. ‘It feels like I'm coming home,’ he said in Dundalk, County Louth. The NI politics tightrope negotiated, it seems it is now time to unwind a little. His sister and son were in tow: it was not diplomacy but a return to family roots and a sense of belonging. 30 million Americans also have Irish ancestry, and Biden hopes for a political dividend the year before a presidential election. Meanwhile his visit to Northern Ireland, although talked about for months, only lasted 17 hours. There is no such thing as a low-key trip for an American president, but this came close. Quick, short, with Rishi Sunak's input minimal, not even appearing at Biden's only public appearance - raising some eyebrows in government.

The House of Lords debated a bill on 11 April, and if wise amendments are not made before it receives royal assent it is regarded as the gravest threat to our wildlife in decades by a number of wildlife and conservation charities. A new bill, officially called the Retained EU Law Bill, threatens to wipe out thousands of crucial laws which protect wildlife by the end of the year. This will lead to even more pollution poisoning rivers, more wild places at risk of being damaged - and potentially destroyed - and more wildlife threatened with extinction. It is an attack on nature, and environmentalists are urging the Government to bin it before it’s too late. The Government wants to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2030. If this bill is passed without change, it will undermine any possibility of achieving that goal. A Rocha believes the bill should be abandoned in its current state.

The authorities that exist are established by God (Romans 13:1). Pray for the King, Prime Minister, first ministers and all those in national and local government to have heaven’s wisdom. Pray that parliamentarians promote good and restrain evil. Marriage is a creation ordinance given by God for the good of all people. Genesis 2:24 says, ‘A man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife; they will become one flesh’.’Pray that churches faithfully uphold the Bible’s teaching on marriage and sexual ethics. Psalm139:14 says, ‘I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.’ Pray that attempts to legalise euthanasia and allow abortion at any stage will fail. There is pressure to move away from God’s instructions for his world. ‘Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you.’ Pray for the UK's repentance and revival.

Peter Murrell, Nicola Sturgeon’s husband, was arrested, questioned for eleven hours and then released pending further investigation into the SNP’s fundraising and finances. Searches were carried out at a number of addresses including his home and SNP offices. The inquiry was launched after complaints about the SNP’s handling of £600,000 in donations raised by the party, ostensibly to campaign for and hold a second independence referendum. It is alleged that the money was used instead to help with the party’s day-to-day running costs. As the investigation is ongoing the police are unable to comment further. A report will be sent to the Crown Office and the Procurator Fiscal Service. On 19 March Murrell resigned after misleading the media about party membership numbers. He had been chief executive since 1999 and was responsible for running the SNP. On 1 April the SNP decided to review its governance and transparency. See

Humza Yousaf has a history of meeting with Hamas and has called for an arms embargo against the state of Israel. He is the first Muslim and at 37 the youngest person to hold the leadership position. But his meeting with Hamas has prompted concerns over his selection. In May 2021, when Israel retaliated to thousands of Hamas rockets he tweeted, ‘Wife in floods of tears all evening, her brother living in Gaza telling us it’s raining rockets’. Yousaf has also said, ‘People are starving and dying a slow death in the Gaza Strip.’ The Jewish Chronicle reported him having attended the high-level meeting with Hamas leader Mohammad Sawalha. The BBC has named Sawalha as having masterminded much of Hamas’ political and military strategy. Scottish parliamentary questions reveal that he attended the Holyrood meeting as a representative of Islam Expo, which was funded by a £2 million grant from Qatar.

For King Charles III’s coronation, the World Prayer Centre in Birmingham is inviting Christians from Commonwealth nations and territories to join its Coronation and Commonwealth zoom Prayer Watch on Friday 5 May, from 10am to 12 noon GMT+1, to unite, worship, pray for the coronation and bless the Commonwealth to fulfil God’s purposes. If you would like to join online via Zoom video conferencing, you will need to set up an account and download the app to your device or computer. Download here: Log into Zoom when the meeting is due to start, using these details. Topic: WPC PRAYER WATCH Join Zoom Meeting at Meeting ID: 819 5187 5317 Passcode: jesuslives. You will be admitted to a waiting room until WPC permits access. Enter with your microphone on mute. Please share this with others across the UK and Commonwealth.

Over a quarter of Anglican churches do not now hold a weekly Sunday service, according to the National Churches Trust. They also found that many churches struggle to raise funds for repairs and maintenance. Covid has had a significant impact on church attendance, which has fallen by over 20% from before the outbreak. It is not that no one wants to come to services; churches that stayed online and have not reduced their service numbers have regained 2019 attendance levels. Exhausted leaders spread across multiple congregations, tired volunteers and financial struggles were given as some of the issues facing churches post-pandemic. This relates only to the Church of England, and some of the findings are not present in the wider evangelical church. A common denominator in churches who are experiencing reduced numbers of attendees is that they are the churches who have abandoned orthodox Christian teaching.

A report into how police forces in England and Wales tackle online child sex abuse has found responses to allegations are slow, leaving vulnerable children in danger while allowing offenders to escape justice. In some cases, it takes up to a year and a half before an arrest is made. Many officers do not follow lines of inquiry into who the suspect is and whether they are approaching children. In most forces, cases reported directly to police are dealt with by non-specialists with inadequate training. These people are unaware of guidance they should follow and what specialist services they should refer children to. The lack of a consistent, effective national approach to tackling online abuse is a concern to the UK's only independent Christian safeguarding charity, Thirtyone:eight. They urge chief constables, policing bodies and the Government to implement the report’s seventeen recommendations speedily with a coordinated, sustained response across the country.

A Bible college hit the headlines this week for sacking a Christian lecturer over tweets defending a Christian view of sexuality. Dr Aaron Edwards, a father of five, was even threatened with a counter-terrorism referral for writing the tweet that went viral. Aaron was told that ‘sharing a Christian understanding of sexuality’ had brought the Methodist college into disrepute. The tweet sought to bring clarity to the same-sex 'marriage' debate; he argued that ‘if sin is no longer sin, we no longer need a Saviour.’ Aaron said, ‘The reaction to my tweet and unjust treatment by Cliff College and the British Methodist Church completely illustrates the problem my tweet addressed.’ In a wide-ranging interview with CBN, the father of five defended his tweet and said the Biblical views on sexuality were being ‘silenced and stamped out’ by the Methodist Church.

Asylum-seekers will be housed in disused military bases in Essex and Lincolnshire and a prison in East Sussex, under plans to cut the £6 million a day spent on hotel accommodation for people landing in the UK in small boats. Housing them in barges and other floating accommodation has also been mentioned. Rishi Sunak has also brought forward proposals to use barracks at Catterick, in his constituency. The Refugee Council is deeply concerned, calling the suggested accommodation ‘entirely unsuitable’ for the needs of vulnerable men, women, and children who have come to our country in search of safety; it will add yet more cost and chaos to the system. The Home Office said that healthcare will be available along with catering facilities and 24/7 security, and ‘accommodation for illegal migrants should meet their essential living needs and nothing more’.