Key Quotes - Religion/Spirituality

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Last update: Wednesday 25th March
 
The Bishop of Tasmania has called upon the state parliament to reject a voluntary euthanasia bill tabled by the Green party, saying only God, not man or the state, had the right to take life. On 27 May the leader of the Green Party, Nick McKim, tabled the Dying With Dignity Bill before the state parliament permitting assisted suicide. Mr McKim claimed that a privately commissioned poll found that 78% of Tasmanians endorsed assisted suicide or euthanasia, and that his bill contained safeguards to prevent the abuse of the law including a psychiatric evaluation of the person seeking to die, a second medical opinion verifying a life limiting condition, and residency in Tasmania for at least twelve months.
However, Bishop John Harrower urged legislators to reject the Bill. “Going down the pathway of euthanasia is literally a way to death, not to life for our society – and it will bring great harm to Tasmania,” he told the local media.
Religion/SpiritualityChurch of England- May 2009
 
Almost half of all Christians in the UK have never been mocked, excluded or reprimanded for their faith, according to a poll commissioned by the Sunday Telegraph. Of the 512 Christians interviewed from a range of churches, 5% believed they have missed out on promotion because of their faith and 44% said they had been mocked. 10% had been rejected by family and 6% have been rebuked at work for sharing their faith. 47% experienced no such thing.
Religion/SpiritualityThird Way- June 2009
 
Christians are being increasingly sidelined and discriminated against in the UK, a high-profile Westminster conference has concluded. Hosted by some of the country’s leading Christian luminaries the meeting called for UK Christians to defend their rights and stand up to persecution. Entitled ‘Persecution of Christians in the UK’ the conference was attended by Baroness Cox, the Bishop of Manchester and Yaqub Masih, secretary general of the Asian Christian Fellowship. Dominic Grieve QC, MP, was present along with fellow MPs Paul Goodman and Gary Streeter among others. Canon Yaqub Masih said: “Christians in this country are being sidelined and discriminated and even some pastors have been threatened and beaten, because of preaching the gospel. I believe it is time for Christians to raise out voices and stand up for our rights and values, which are being sacrificed in the name of political correctness.”
Religion/SpiritualityChurch of England- June 2009
 
A new report compiled by independent Christian production company Whistling Frog has claimed that on-air spiritual content is at an all-time low with just 18 commercial stations broadcasting a regular religious programme. The team at Whistling Fog asked religious producers and presenters across the country to update them on the current situation in their towns and cities. The regional breakdown of the 18 stations is by no means an even split across the country. The majority of religious shows are in Scotland – 10 out of the 18. There are six remaining in England and two in Northern Ireland.
Religion/SpiritualityThe Weekly Radio Magazine- June 2009
 
The two most famous migrants in the Church have delivered staunch defences of what it means to be English, and the role of Christianity in that identity. Although the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Nazir Ali, has recently announced his resignation, an article by him in the Sunday Telegraph demonstrated he is in tune with the Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu, who gave a speech on Englishness at the Sunday Times Literary Festival in Oxford, where he called for St George’s Day to be made a public holiday.
Religion/SpiritualityThe Church of England – April 2009
 
Students from a Cambridge college will no longer say a traditional grace before dinner. The all-female Newnham College, founded in 1871, has scrapped the Latin verse to reflect its multi-faith make-up. It will be replaced by a secular verse in Latin. The grace commonly used in recently years was developed by Jocelyn Toynbee, the late art historian and honorary college fellow. Diners thanked ‘Jesum Christum dominium’ which translated as ‘Jesus Christ our Lord’ before formal dinners held once a week during term time.
While there is no set grace at the college, Dr Terri Apter, the senior tutor, said most of those used referred to a deity. Dr Apter said the person presiding over dinner would decide what grace to use but students’ wishes would be considered.
Religion/SpiritualitySalvationist- May 2009
 
A call by the Irish Senator Feargal Quinn for the European Union to fix the date of Easter to better accommodate business and tourism has been dismissed by a leading church historian. Dr Salvador Ryan, Professor of Ecclesiastical History at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, said Easter was not a date to be ‘shoe-horned into line with modern commercial realities’. Easter currently falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon of Spring Equinox.
Religion/SpiritualitySalvationist– April 2009
 
Media interest in the work of Charles Darwin has overlooked the truth about his scientific theory and his personal faith, says Alister McGrath, Professor of Theology, Ministry and Education at King’s College London. Delivering the Eric Abbott Memorial Lecture in Westminster Abbey, he said: “It is a myth that Darwin caused a crisis of faith in Victorian England. It is not true that he faced opposition from the Church of England.”
Paying tribute to Darwin’s ‘deep commitment to finding truth through observation’, Professor McGrath asked: “Did Darwin’s findings turn him into an atheistic crusader? No they didn’t.” The implication was that Darwinism is being hijacked by today’s crusaders. “Darwin did not consider his theory on natural selection as the only explanation. He saw it as the best explanation."
Religion/SpiritualityThe War Cry- May 2009
 
The monks at St Hugh’s Charterhouse, Parkminster – the only working Carthusian monastery in England – have broken their 900-year silence. The members of this religious order live a completely enclosed existence and spend their days alone in their cells, gathering only for Mass and vespers each day and to chant by candlelight from midnight to 3am. The Independent quoted the monastery’s prior saying that he wanted to share something of the monks’ otherwise hidden life by making a CD.
Religion/SpiritualityThe War Cry– May 2009
 
A Ugandan Anglican priest who in 1992 became the first African Christian leader to announce that he was HIV positive, was awarded the 26th annual Niwano Peace Prize in Tokyo. The Rev Canon Gideon Byamugisha was honoured by the Niwano Peace Foundation for his work in promoting Aids awareness in Africa. The Primate of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai, Archbishop Makoto Uematsu accepted the award on behalf of Canon Byamugisha, who was advised against travel to Japan due to the H1N1 flu alert.
Religion/SpiritualityThe Church of England– May 2009
 
A Muslim will control the BBC’s religious broadcasting, the corporation has announced. Aaqil Ahmed has been appointed to the new joint role of Head of Religion & Ethics and Commissioning Editor for Religion TV. Mr Ahmed is currently Commissioning Editor for Religion and Multicultural at Channel 4. Recent programmes he has commissioned include Christianity: A History, The Qur’an and the Bafta-Award winning Saving Africa’s Witch Children. These programmes have been attacked in some quarters for dumbing down religion, as Mr Ahmed’s dedication to serving the nation’s Christian majority has been questioned. Christian Concern for our Nation conducted a campaign to put pressure on MPs to force the BBC to appoint a Christian.
Religion/SpiritualityThe Church of England– May 2009
 
The Jedi religion seems to have transferred from the world of Star Wars to the real world, first as a prank, now perhaps as something more serious. The idea appears to have originated with viral emails that circulated in several countries taking consensus in 2001. The emails claimed – falsely – that if enough people told census takers their religion was Jedi, the government would be forced to acknowledge it as an official religion. The greatest conversion rate was in England AND Wales where 390,127 (0.27%) reckoned to be Jedis, more than the number of Sikhs.
Religion/SpiritualityThird Way– June 2009
 
Anti-Christian remarks by one of Coronation Street’s major characters have sparked scores of complaints. ITV were contacted by around 100 viewers following the assertion by Ken Barlow that Christianity was a ‘superstition’. Barlow, played by William Roache, is the longest-running charater in the soap, having appeared in the first episode in 1960. The charater also critised his grandson Simon’s school for teaching creationism... and accused Christians of targeting vulnerable people... Ofcom, the broadcasting watchdog, also received a number of complaints. An ITV spokesman responded by saying ‘Coronation Street is a soap opera set in modern society and therefore represents views from all sides of the religious spectrum’.
Religion/SpiritualityThe Salvationist- 2 May 2009
 
The BBC Director-General, Mark Thompson, last year suggested that the media should treat Islam more sensitively than Christianity. Recently (The BBC) sacked its head of religious programmes, Methodist preacher Michael Wakelin. The emergence of a Muslim as a frontrunner to succeed him, along with the recent appointment of a Sikh to produce, Songs of Praise has deepened fears within the church that Christianity is being sidelined.
Religion/SpiritualityEvangelicals Now - May 2009
 
A bus advertisement saying ‘There is a God’ has drawn the fourth highest number of complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority. The Christian Party advert counters one by the British Humanist Association saying: ‘There is probably no God’. Despite 1.045 complaints, ten times as many as for the humanist advert, the ASA said the poster was electioneering and outside its control. (The Times)
Religion/SpiritualitySalvationist - 21 March 2009
 
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