The Church of England's general synod met in London this week.  It discussed the economic downturn and voted to ban clergy and staff from membership of the Far Right party the BNP.  It also looks set to support the rights of asylum seekers to work, when it discusses the issue tomorrow.
 
But it also emerged that the Church of England had finally sold its shares in Caterpillar, the company responsible for exporting bulldozers which destroy Palestinian homes, and killed one peace activist. The Church said it had done so for 'economic' (rather than ethical) reasons.  Campaigners suggested that perhaps it should also then sell its holdings in two mining companies - Xstrata and BHP Billiton - that were criticised in a report about mining in the Philippines this week, and backed by church leaders.  The Church had a holding worth �80 million in 2007.  In the last year however, the BHP shares have halved in value, and those in Xstrata have lost 80% of their value.
 
By way of contrast, a microfinance institution backed by other churches announced that it had increased its field investments by one third, reaching out to poor people often excluded by the commercial banking sector in spite of the global economic downturn.
 
Churches also welcomed the day of celebration dedicated to the achievements of scientist Charles Darwin during the year marking his 200th birthday and 150-year-old book on the theory of evolution. And the NHS reinstated a nurse who had been suspended for asking a patient whether she would like to be prayed for at the end of a home treatment session.  
 
Abroad, The United Church of Christ and its partners welcomed several policy and legislative decisions in support of justice issues made by US President Obama, and called for more.  UK Parliamentarians also said that the new Obama administration had a golden opportunity for a formal cessation of hostilities and normalisation of relations with North Korea.

But the Episcopal Conference of the Catholic Church in Kenya warned that more than ten million Kenyans are at immediate risk of hunger, because of mismanagement and corruption by the government.  Meanwhile the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance said it hoped the government of national unity would see the rule of law established in Zimbabwe along with the release all political prisoners.


For more on all these and other stories our News Briefing (http://ekklesia.co.uk/content/news/news.shtml) contains the full archive of daily UK and international news, including all those above, plus features and columns. The page also tells you how you can get Ekklesia's running news on your web site in seconds.