Key Quotes for 2005

A world perspective in bite-size chunks
Showing page 29 of 38

1... 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 ...38


Last update: Wednesday 25th March
 
Far fewer households in the UK now own Bibles than was the case fifty years ago, according to a new poll carried out by ICM Research.In 1954 90% of all adults owned a Bible, a figure now reduced to 65%. Conversely, belief in the paranormal is on the increase, with 42% of people claiming to believe in ghosts, a 10% rise over half a century.
Religion/SpiritualityChristian Herald – 27th November 2004
 
Christian and Muslim leaders in the Netherlands have called for calm amidst heightened tensions after the funeral of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, killed by an alleged Islamic extremist. 'The violence, the aggression must stop', said Jan-Gerd Heetderks, president of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. 'And that goes for people who get the idea that they should damage Muslim mosques or schools, too.' His plea was echoed by a prominent Islamic leader. 'This is a negative spiral that's threatening to turn into attack and counter attack,' said Mohammed Sini, the head of a national Muslim organisation, Citizens and Islam. 'There's a risk that we'll have an unbridgeable "us and them" opposition between parts of the population and that's something that can't happen.' The Netherlands population of 16m people includes some 900,000 Muslims.
Religious PersecutionReform – December 2004
 
Alcohol Concern has attacked as "extraordinary" the Governments proposal to hand the lead role in tackling binge drinking to a lobbying group set up and funded by the drinks industry. The plan, contained in last week's public health White Paper, states that the Department of Health will "work in partnership with the Portman Group to develop a new and strengthened information campaign to tackle the problems of binge drinking"..Richard Phillips, acting chief executive of Alcohol Concern said "We broadly welcome the public health White Paper, but singling out the Portman Group is deeply worrying because there is a clear conflict of interest there.The drinks industry makes its profit by selling drinks, and the best way to reduce harm caused by alcohol is to get people to drink less. So the idea that the industry should be entrusted with that task is extraordinary."
PoliticsThird Sector – 24th November 2004
 
Evangelicals ranked issues like abortion, stem cell research and gay marriage as more important for voters than even Iraq, and George Bush was the clear favourite on such issues of personal morality. According to the poll, 22% of the electorate said "moral values" were the issues that mattered most in how they voted, compared with 20% who cited the economy, 19% who cited terrorism and just 15% who said Iraq, was the key issue.Two-thirds of voters who attend religious services regularly (once a week or more) backed Bush rather than Kerry and they make up 40% of the electorate. Those who never attend services, in contrast, backed the Democrats by the same margin, but they make up only 15% of the electorate.
PoliticsJoy – December 2004
 
Over one million children in Britain live in bad housing - enough to fill the cities of Edinburgh, Bath and Manchester.Homelessness among families has increased by 17% since 1997.More than half a million families in Britain live in officially overcrowded housing.One in 12 children in Britain are more likely to develop diseases such as bronchitis, TB or asthma because of bad housing.The number of children who could be losing out on a proper education because they live in bad housing would fill 33,000 classrooms.Homeless children miss out on a quarter of their schooling.One local authority estimated that 400 children were not going to school because of their housing problems.
Social IssuesThe Baptist Times – 25th November 2004
 
In Manchester, 400 people sat down to dinner at the Old Trafford football stadium and heard Tim Howard, Manchester United's goalkeeper, talk about his life as a Christian. He said, 'My faith and my relationship with God is far more important to me than football. It plays a part in my profession; it plays a part in my marriage, in my friendships. Playing at Old Trafford can be a pressure cooker, so it helps in my career in terms of staying humble and being grounded. I think we all search for meaning. I think we all search for peace and we certainly search for contentment. The 6ft 3in goalkeeper recommended the Alpha course, saying. 'It's a great opportunity for people who don't really know much about Christianity to come into a setting that isn't threatening. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in exploring what life is really about.
What famous people sayAlpha News – November 2004
 
British film star Paddy Considine went on an Alpha course to research his role as a Christian in the autumn released film Dead Man's Shoes and 'found God', according to The Guardian newspaper. Mr Considine was quoted as saying, 'I did a lot of research.I went on an Alpha Course and I befriended some local Christians. I just found them to be the most open people. They'd be there reading their Bibles and breaking out into song.I believe in God, but I'm not sure I could fly the flag like them. But after the Alpha course - yeah, I felt more that he was there.
What famous people sayAlpha News – November 2004
 
Nearly six million people used the BBC's radio web sites in October, listening to more than 10 million hours of radio via the Internet and generating almost 160,000,000 page impressions, new figures reveal.
MediaThe Radio Magazine – 27th November 2004
 
Aid agencies and Christian charities responded with urgency to the disaster that hit countries round the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day.In the first 24 hours after lines for donating were opened, more than £5 million were raised through the Disaster Emergency Committee, a network of 12 aid agencies. At the time of writing, the overall figure had risen to £76 million. Chancellor Gordon Brown is also calling for a suspension of the debt of the countries affected.
Social IssuesThe Church Of England Newspaper – 7th January 2005
 
Hormoz Shariat, co-founding pastor of the Iranian Christian Church in San Jose, California, and founder of International Antioch Ministries, which has broadcast Iranian Christian TV since 2002 notes, that ICTV's live, 'prime time' pastoral call-in show has been "the catalyst" for more than 50,000 conversions of Muslims worldwide. "One time we had 30 people listening in on a single phone call and all came to Jesus through our show.
Religion/SpiritualityDirection – December 2004
 
We live in an age where, thanks to medical and dietary advances, we are living longer. For instance, in 1996 there were just 5,523 people aged 100 or over in England and Wales. It is estimated that in 2036 there will be 39,000 in this age group, and 95,000 by 2066. More generally, there are already 10.8 million people of pensionable age in the UK (2001 Census), and this is expected to increase to 11.9 million in 2011 and 13.1 million by 2021.
The ElderlyDirection – December 2004
 
The signing in Rome of the EU Constitution by My Blair and the 24 other heads of government of member states of the European Union on 29th October 2004, in the same hall where the Treaty of Rome was signed on 25th March 1957, was unconstitutional. Her Majesty's Government having signed the Constitutional Treaty when Britain already has a unique and great Constitution still in force - will now seek to force this alien written constitution through Parliament before holding a referendum.
PoliticsCrown and Commonwealth – Winter 2004
 
Britain's suicide rate has fallen to its lowest level since the Second World War and is now one of the lowest in the Western world, figures to be published today show. Suicides and unexplained deaths dropped to a rate of 84 per million last year, lower than the United States and bettered only by Greece, Italy and Portugal in Europe..In Britain, one of the most dramatic falls is in suicide among women aged 45 to 75, which now stand at one-third of the level in the 1960s.
Social IssuesThe Independent – 29th October 2004
 
Atheism and minority faiths such as Baha'I and Zoroastrianism should be taught alongside Christianity in schools, the first national guidelines on religious education say..The other five major religions - Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism - should all be studied by pupils by age 14, the guidelines say. But they should also study "other religious traditions" such as Baha'I, Jainism and Zoroastrianism and "secular philosophies such as humanism".
EducationThe Independent – 29th October 2004
 
Children who start nursery school by the age of two are up to a year ahead in maths and English when they begin full-time schooling, a major research project, published yesterday shows..The only drawback to an early start was that youngsters sent to day nurseries before the age of two were more likely to show signs of antisocial behaviour towards their teacher - 7.1% of the cohort compared with 6.8% of those who stayed at home. However, they were more sociable with their classmates.
EducationThe Independent – 26th November 2004
 
Showing page 29 of 38

1... 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 ...38