Section 1. Is there a problem? ‘Religious freedom is in the news. The statutory framework affecting the manifestation of religious belief has changed extensively over the past decade in the UK – and recent high profile cases have demonstrated how Christian believers have increasingly found themselves in conflict with some elements of the UK’s new […]

Today marks the start of Fairtrade Fortnight.  ‘Take a Step’ for Fairtrade is this year’s campaign call to people in the UK to engage with the Fairtrade Foundation’s vision of an even bigger movement for positive change on unfair trade, including making the switch to buying Fairtrade. Starting today, the Fairtrade Foundation is challenging the […]

The preliminary report into the freedom of Christians in the UK from the Clearing the Ground inquiry has been launched today.  The inquiry was overseen by Christians in Parliament, an official All-Party Parliamentary Group and the committee included MPs and Peers from the three major parties and from a range of Christian traditions.  took oral evidence […]

This post is by Graham Goldsmith, a regular contributor to this site: ‘Awake O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.’ (Ephesians 5;14) In 2007 I read the now very well known book. ‘The God Delusion’ by Professor Richard Dawkins. Barely a page was turned without feeling a mixture of […]

As we get nearer to the Government’s consultation on legalising gay marriage, now seems a good time to gather together recent articles on the subject in order to try to develop a grounded understanding. Before I go any further, I want to say that I am not interested in drawing attention to homophobic propaganda or unconsidered […]

It’s been a remarkable couple of weeks for the relationship between Christianity and the state.  We’ve had  the Advertising Standards Authority ruling against Healing on the Streets – Bath and the Bideford Council prayers case at the High Court along with Eric Pickles response in the form of the Localism Act.  The chair of the Equality and Human […]

As the Government gets ready for its public consultation on the legalisation of gay marriage, so the Coalition for Marriage is launched today.  Here is the statement from the website: The Coalition for Marriage is an umbrella group of individuals and organisations in the UK that support traditional marriage and oppose any plans to redefine it. The […]

A YouGov poll in February 2011 found that 93% of Women and 73% Men (83% average total) felt that the ease with which pornographic content can be viewed on the internet is damaging to children.  However, only one of the top six UK Internet Service Providers (ISPs), TalkTalk, is willing to block pornographic content at […]

This is a guest post from regular site contributor, Graham Goldsmith, who attended the First Westminster Faith Debate at Whitehall on 8th February.  You can watch the video of the debate at the end of this post: I was recently privileged to attend the first in a series of six debates arranged by the Religion and […]

Religion’s relationship role in society continued to stay in the headlines yesterday as Richard Dawkins’ Foundation for Reason and Science released the results of a poll it commissioned looking at Christian belief and practice in the UK (full Ipsos MORI report here).  Its main finding was that those who identified themselves as Christian in the poll […]

I don’t normally choose to highlight individual cases of persecution against Christians around the world as sadly there are too many to know where to start.  However I recieved a personal message about this case and feel obliged to highlight it. Eight Coptic families have been forcibly removed from their Egyptian village because of a […]

Today is of course Valentine’s Day, but it is also the last day of Marriage Week UK.  As the nation forks out a small fortune for cards and chocolate all in the name of romantic love, Marriage Week does it’s best to remind us of the importance of building secure and stable lifelong relationships. Whilst we […]

Until today Prayers have been said at the start of Bideford Town Council meetings.  This practice has been taking place for around seventy years.  However all this changed today when the High Court ruled: ”The saying of prayers as part of the formal meeting of a council is not lawful under section 111 of the […]

Banker bashing season is well and truly open for another year.  It almost feels like a game trying to guess how the government is going to reign in the bonuses and which banker or ex-banker is going to be the next figure to be vilified and made a scapegoat.  But as we all know, this […]

Sixty years ago today George VI died and his eldest daughter, Elizabeth ascended to the throne as Queen Elizabeth II.  It has been a remarkable reign during which time she has seen twelve British prime ministers and as we know, the world has changed incredibly. If you look at any coin with the Queen’s portrait […]

You may have already read about the Advertising Standards Authority’s ruling on February 1st against Healing on the Streets (HOTS) - Bath. HOTS – Bath is a three-year old registered charity run by over 20 churches in Bath and the surrounding area who train volunteers to pray for people particularly in the area of physical healing.  Two to […]

A few interesting links… Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, was interviewed in Saturday’s Telegraph.  In part of the interview he discussed his opposition to gay marriage.  This is a short extract: “I don’t think it is the role of the state to define what marriage is. It is set in tradition and history and […]