Christian Tory MP Mark Pritchard has urged ministers in the UK Government to speak to their Israeli counterparts about reducing the number of attacks on Christian religious sites in Israel. He spoke out just months after the Church of the Multiplication on the Sea of Galilee was victim to an arson attack. Shortly after the blaze, Bishop Declan Lang said, ‘Attacking, desecrating and damaging any church or house of worship anywhere in the world is an inexcusable act. This is more so in the Holy Land that is home to followers of the three monotheistic traditions.’ There have been a number of attacks on Christian sites in recent years as well as a rise in anti-Christian graffiti.
The Government’s counter-extremism strategy could seriously backfire and damage the values it is intending to uphold, a range of critics have warned. A senior police chief, a national newspaper and a legal commentator have all highlighted flaws in the strategy, which includes controversial Extremism Disruption Orders (EDOs). Concerns have been raised that the terms for the orders are being ‘far too broadly drawn’. Writing for the Guardian online, legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg noted that according to the Government, extremism is the vocal and active opposition to values such as the rule of law. But he said expressing ideas that offend is an ‘essential part’ of our fundamental values. Rozenberg also criticised part of the strategy which proposes an extremism community trigger, whereby anyone will be able to complain about extremism to the local council or the police. This might mean the police turning up at a street preacher’s home to question them.
The head of Ofsted reports that employers are offering poor-quality, low-level apprenticeships that are wasting public funds and abusing the trust placed in them by the Government and apprentices. Retail and care workers are particularly likely to be signed up for low-level apprenticeships that do not provide them with sufficient training, stretch them, or improve their skills. Instead, they are frequently being used as a means of accrediting existing low-level skills, like making coffee and cleaning floors. In a major report published this week, Ofsted concludes that many courses are failing to give learners the skills and knowledge employers are looking for, or add value to the economy. Some interviewed for the report were not even aware that they were on an apprenticeship programme. The Government intends to deliver three million apprenticeships over the next five years, but poor-quality courses have devalued the brand.
Wilberforce Academy
23 Oct 2015
Every year Christian Concern runs an academy for young people called the Wilberforce Academy, named after the famous reformer William Wilberforce. It’s a four-day residential course to train and equip the invited students on what it means to proclaim Christ in public life. It is the academy’s desire to raise up the next generation of Christian leaders to take a bold stand for Christ within their spheres of influence. Just as God blessed Wilberforce and his fellow reformers it is hoped that God will mightily use those being trained. The course has proved very popular, with great potential impact on our nation, and Christian Concern is now developing a network to encourage Wilberforce graduates to build relationships and connect for the future. They have a passion to serve Jesus in law, politics, education, media, arts and business; please pray for them.
Slavery in the United Kingdom
23 Oct 2015
Last Friday, the country’s first anti-slavery commissioner spoke out against the treatment of modern-day slavery victims by the UK authorities. Kevin Hyland said officers don’t know how to handle victims and there could be as many as 13,000 here, but the way they’re received by authorities is morally unacceptable. He plans to train forces to react better when they discover victims (predominantly from Albania, Nigeria and Vietnam). Human trafficking has an annual trade of $32 billion and trafficking is not in any way removed from us. It’s close. It happens where we live, in the nice quiet towns and villages or amid the buzz and loudness of big cities. God cares deeply for humanity and is constantly moved to action. We have the opportunity to intervene proactively in the lives of those who are bound by fear, who have no freedom and who see no way out.
Prayer for steelworkers
23 Oct 2015
Revd Peter Vickers, a chaplain working at a Tata Steel site where 900 jobs are being axed, is asking Christians to pray for those facing uncertainty, saying, ‘You've got fear of what is going to happen; you've got people feeling anger because others should have done something to stop the situation; then there's the whole worry about their future. Pray for those on the journey of uncertainty - the number given is 900 but that doesn't mean that 900 will walk away without a job. Pray that they can keep a calm head as they look for other employment. Pray also for the emotional ripple effect that Scunthorpe itself will feel. Pray for those with power to make decisions; there are an awful lot of people feeling powerless, and they need to know that those people will use their power wisely.’
Germany: anti-migrant protests and violence
23 Oct 2015
Every Monday evening thousands gather in front of Dresden’s Opera House carrying German flags and singing nationalist songs. One protester said he fears German traditions are being eroded by Muslims. Elsewhere violent attacks and hate speeches are exploding against asylum seekers. Der Spiegel reported a threefold increase in attacks compared to the same period last year. Last Friday night about a thousand people demonstrated in Heidenau against an expected arrival of refugees. The police intervened with tear gas grenades. The refugees are creating a kind of German martial law, where it has been necessary to use schools, gymnasiums and campsites as temporary accommodation centres. The attacks against refugee centres in Germany are so strong that Google deleted a map showing their locations, fearing hate crimes. On Wednesday a converted Christian migrant in a refugee centre was severely beaten up by an Afghan man, who declared that his conversion to Christianity was ‘a sin’.
Viktor Orban urged European leaders to change their immigration policies and involve voters in a debate about the continent's future; otherwise they face a political crisis. Hungary built a steel fence along its borders with Serbia and Croatia that was meant to turn migrants back from Europe, not divert them along a different path to Germany. Orban articulated his party's hard line against the tide of immigrants on state television. He said that European leaders had no mandate to let hundreds of thousands of migrants enter the EU with little or no control and destabilise Europe, saying, ‘We need to start the debate about the future of our continent honestly, without the muzzle of political correctness, without pretence, talking straight. The further migrants travel from their troubled countries, the more difficult it will be for them to return. They must remain in their region and humane conditions must be created for them there.’