The Government’s new Energy Bill must prioritise low carbon power; say five of Britain’s major Churches.

In a statement published in today’s Financial Times, the United Reformed Church, the Baptist Union of Great Britain, Church of Scotland, Methodist Church and Quakers join other major organisations in calling on the Government to make Britain a low-carbon economy.

The full statement reads:

“The Energy Bill represents a major opportunity to put the UK firmly on track to becoming a world leading low-carbon economy, boost employment and show genuine leadership in the fight against dangerous climate change. Our organisations jointly call on Members of Parliament to seize this unique opportunity to commit the UK in the Energy Bill to have a near carbon free power sector by 2030, in line with the recommendations of the Committee on Climate Change.

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Yesterday – Sunday 17 February – Greenock West United Reformed church celebrated its third “Dinosaur Sunday” science and faith event. The idea behind this popular annual event is to   draw attention to the compatibility and mutual enrichment of faith and evolutionary science. Yesterday’s church goers were treated to a richly illustrated presentation from younger worshippers in the morning service, and a talk from the Revd Dr Mark Harris of the Science & Religion Masters Programme of Edinburgh University’s Department of Divinity in the evening, which took the congregation into “mind-stretching realms of cosmology and the close relationships between faith and science.”

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Four British Churches, including the United Reformed Church, have criticised the Government’s proposals for a new way of measuring child poverty in the UK.

The Baptist Union of Great Britain, Church of Scotland, Methodist Church and United Reformed Church have accused the Government’s consultation on the proposals of being "confused" and "surprisingly badly evidenced".

“Child poverty is an unacceptable injustice,” said Paul Morrison, Public Issues Policy Adviser for the Methodist Church. “While we applaud the Government’s commitment to eradicating child poverty in the UK, the proposed new measure is fatally flawed. It is a confusion of targets, measures and, most disturbingly, the Government’s beliefs about what causes poverty, backed by very little solid evidence.”

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This Valentine’s Day Matt Stone, a minister in the Norwich area group of United Reformed Churches, considers the place of love in all of our lives – and shows that it’s not the number of Valentine cards on our mantelpiece that counts, but rather the quality of the loving relationships we have with our partners, our families, our friends – and Jesus.

“Everybody wants to be loved. It’s a universal human need. Singers sing about it. Writers write about it. Painters paint about it. It’s not money, but love, that makes the world go round.

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