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| Issue: # 66 |
29 January 2010 |
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There's no such thing as a slow news week in the modern media environment, but some of them seem to go by much more rapidly than others.
Over the past seven days Ekklesia has been involved in reporting and participating in debates on the Equality Bill and the woeful reluctance of the churches; the place of bishops in the House of Lords; he latest statistics on Church attendance and decline; poverty and homelessness, and most recently Tony Blair's evidence at the Chilcot inquiry into the circumstances leading to the Iraq war.
Each of these issues is reflected in this week's research and comment bulletin - along with quotations on truth telling and compassion, a book looking at human displacement in a global era of dislocation, and the under-reported Kairos Palestine Document.
We also introduce a new feature, 'Update', which will do "what it says on the tin". The focus this time is on relief, reconstruction and beyond in Haiti, Holocaust and genocide remembrance, and Iraq. |
| Ekklesia works on a not-for-profit basis, and deliberately maintains its independence from large institutions and their funding. If you value this bulletin please consider making a donation to keep it going and support Ekklesia's work. You can do it through PayPal here |
| Church opposition to equality is counter-witness |
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By Savitri Hensman
The bishops' highly publicised defence of discrimination in the Equality bill damages the image of the church, says a Christian commentator who is also an expert in the area. Their political victory in the House of Lords this past week was a moral and spiritual defeat. Read the full article here |
| The mother of all democratic anomalies |
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By Jonathan Bartley
Arrangements which allow an undemocratic, external institution to parachute into Parliament their own appointees who can only be from one section of the country, of one gender, and from one particular strand of one religion - are the kind of thing bishops amongst others might condemn as profoundly unjust and corrupt in other parts of the world. Sadly, they are defended in the UK in the name of Christianity, says Ekklesia's co-director.
Read the full article here |
| Haiti reconstruction must be based on justice |
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By Juan Michel
Churches and church related organisations are mobilizing resources to bring immediate relief to the people of Port-au-Prince, says the World Council of Churches' communications officer. But equally importantly they are also advocating for the international community to waive Haiti's foreign debt while building a more, just sustainable future for the country.
Read the full article here |
| Quota |
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Sayings from the week and wisdom from the tradition
"Anyone who tells the truth cynically is lying."
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human."
- Henri Nouwen |
| Update |
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Genocide, Haiti, Iraq war inquiry
Ekklesia has published a range of news, features and blogs to mark International Holocaust Memorial Day 2010, including material on the Armenian genocide 1915-23. See our feed here. We have also continued to monitor and update on Haiti. And we have been following the Iraq enquiry closely. |
| Research Focus |
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Inequality in the UK
Startling statistics are revealing a dramatic level of inequality in the UK. A new report, An Anatomy of Economic Inequality in the UK, was commissioned by the Government and published on 27 January 2010. It shows that the richest 10 per cent of the population are now more than 100 times as wealthy as the poorest 10 per cent of society. Income inequality is at its highest level since soon after World War II and is higher than in other industrialised countries. The new report highlights particularly the lifelong negative impact on a child of being born poor and into a disadvantaged social class. Church Action on Poverty (CAP) is calling on Christians to demand that politicians make it a priority to close the gap between rich and poor.
This confirms what CAP, Ekklesia and others have been saying for some time. We also reported on rural poverty in 2008.
An Anatomy of Income Inequality in the UK was commissioned by Harriet Harman, Minister for Women and Equality, and produced by the National Equality Panel. It can be downloaded in full here (*.PDF Adobe Acrobat document). |
| Media and web debate |
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 Ekklesia in the news this week
Ekklesia works on a not-for-profit basis. Please support Ekklesia's work with the press and other media by donating through PayPal here |
| Event: Poverty and Homelessness Action Week |
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Church groups focussed on housing and poverty are inviting people to share, exchange and re-use what they have to combat the hardships of the economic downturn. As bankers across the world count their bonuses in hundreds of thousands, and work hard at the Davos summit to scupper regulatory plans, alternative economic ideas are published for Poverty & Homelessness Action Week 2010.
Poverty & Homelessness Action Week starts on Saturday 30 January, running through to Sunday 7 February, and includes both Homelessness Sunday and Poverty Action Sunday. The '12 Baskets' resource provides ideas for individuals and communities to respond to the recession by living more simply and sharing what they have more effectively.
The Poverty & Homelessness Action Week partners are: Church Action on Poverty, Housing Justice and Scottish Churches Housing Action.
Copies of '12 Baskets' can be downloaded here, in *.PDF Adobe Acrobat format
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| Thinking in Action |
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Kairos Palestine Document
A group of Palestinian Christians representing a variety of churches and church-related organisations have issued an animated, prayerful and strongly theological call for an end to occupation of Palestine by Israel. Entitled 'A Moment of Truth', the theological statement - which echoes influential documents issued in South Africa under apartheid, in Central America, in relation to Europe's place in the global economy, and in Zimbabwe - describes itself as "a word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering'. The word 'kairos' means "moment of decision and opportunity", and derives from biblical and secular Greek language. Ekklesia reported on the genesis of the KPD here and will be publishing further analysis of the response from the churches and others by our associate, Middle East expert Dr Michael Marten, who has been in Jerusalem recently, this weekend.
Read the whole document here: www.kairospalestine.ps |
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Reading Allowed |
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 Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement by Steven Bouma-Prediger and Brian J Walsh
This book goes far beyond covering the subject of homelessness as the social problem we all recognize in our cities. Mass emigrations, displaced families, and human alienation from the earth all mark our times. In critiquing contemporary North American culture, Steven Bouma-Prediger and Brian Walsh discuss various forms of homelessness in a global context. The authors discuss various forms of homelessness - socioeconomic, ecological, and psycho-spiritual - and creatively show how biblical attentiveness and radical Christian faith can help heal the profound dislocations in our societies.
(ISBN 0802846920, Eerdmans 2008, 361 pages) £16.99
For more information and to buy through Ekklesia online, click here | |
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