Hospital managers wanting to ban bedside Gideon Bibles have been attacked by religious leaders who warned that sick people will be deprived of spiritual comfort when it is most needed. The ban, at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, is intended to reduce levels of infectious superbugs such as MRSA on the grounds that the Bibles are hard to clean. They want all bedside areas in Queen’s Medical Centre and City Hospital kept tidy to stop deadly viruses breeding. Christian protesters said the holy texts pose a ‘minimal’ risk of infection and called for the plans to be scrapped. A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham said: ‘For many patients Bibles have been a source of comfort and support through uncertainty and illness. It is unsatisfactory that patients may now have to ask a nurse for a Bible’. Hospital officials are now consulting staff, patients and chaplains before bringing in the ban.

Pray: that a way is found for these Bibles to remain to support for patients without any health risk. (Jn.1:1)

More: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/189145/Bashing-for-hospitals-over-ban-on-the-Bible

Western Europe has become a region of ‘empty nominalism’ and ‘confused spirituality’ said the chairman of the evangelical Keswick Convention. Dr. Jonathan Lamb told this year’s convention that while millions of people in Western Europe define themselves as Christian, they regard themselves as Christian only by nationality, culture, and as a result of family ties to the faith, or tradition. He said the spiritual landscape closer to home could be characterized by a ‘dry orthodoxy’, which he explained as Christians who are committed to the evangelical faith but whose life ‘has been drained of its spiritual vibrancy’. Others outside the church fold appear to be caught up in a kind of ‘confused spirituality’. Dr. Don Carson, research professor of the New Testament, cautioned Christians about the dangers of pursuing spirituality, for its own sake without any reference to Christ and Jonathan Stephens, Principal of the Wales Evangelical School of Theology, reminded Christians that the key to Christ-centred renewal could be found in returning to Scriptures.

Pray: for Christ and His Gospel always to be at the heart of our Christian lives. (Ro.1:16)

More: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100727/evangelicals-confront-western-europes-spiritual-malaise/index.html

The health gap between the richest and poorest in Britain is now wider than it was during the great depression, according to researchers from Sheffield and Bristol Universities. They say that the gap was gradually narrowing until the 1970s, when the trend reversed. Health inequality has grown rapidly in the last twenty years. This reflects a growth in economic inequality over a similar period. ‘Health and wealth are directly linked’, insisted researcher Danny Dorling, ‘Unless we tackle the income gap, we could well see life expectancy actually starting to fall for the first time in the poorest areas.’ Campaigns for economic equality have gained momentum since the publication last year of the The Spirit Level. The book's authors, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, use detailed analysis to demonstrate lower levels of crime, unwanted pregnancies and other social problems in more equal societies. This perspective is now promoted by the Equality Trust.

Pray: for an understanding that redressing this imbalance will also address other problems in society. (Dt.15:4)

More: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12729

African churches in Britain are learning how to safeguard children's rights against exploitative pastors. Monday’s ‘Dispatches’ programme on Channel 4 highlighted the harm caused to children in the UK, mainly from an African background, by church pastors who are apparently labelling them as witches or as in some way ‘possessed’. Enormous strides have been made recently in building relationships with African churches, many of whose members do not speak English as their first language. To that end, the Child Protection Advisory Service has already trained more than 5,000 church leaders and volunteers in the optimum standards of child protection. The practices of a minority of ‘rogue’ churches and pastors are being challenged by African communities. This voice has been strengthened by community-led meetings and training for parents and young people. Specialist training has improved social work and health practitioners' knowledge and understanding of harmful cultural practices, which is critical to improved identification of abuse linked to spirit possession and witchcraft.

Pray: for the complete eradication of child abuse linked to these ‘cultural practices’. (Dt.18:10)

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jul/27/religion-witches-africa-london-exorcism