|
joint
public issues newsletter 8
JOINT PUBLIC ISSUES
TEAM
Newsletter
8. October 2007
Party Conferences
Leaders from the Baptist Union, Methodist and
United Reformed Churches have been
part of a Free Church delegation, with the Salvation Army and the
Quakers, to the recent Party Conferences.
Each visit started with a breakfast with the Christian grouping from
that particular Party and continued with meetings with MPs, visits
to the exhibitions and opportunity to hear the debates. At the
Labour Conference, Revd Martyn Atkins, President of the Methodist
Conference, Revd Stephen Orchard, Moderator of the URC General
Assembly and Revd John Weaver, Vice President of the Baptist Union of
Great Britain, attended the Christian Socialist Movement
breakfast with the rest of the delegation. Jack Straw was the main
speaker and the delegation was encouraged by his evident commitment
to work to reduce income inequality in the UK. They had useful
meetings with a number of MPs, including Douglas Alexander,
Secretary of State for International Development, and Stephen Timms,
who is Minister for Competitiveness, but wanted to talk about his
role as Vice Chair of the Party with responsibility for faith
issues.
The importance of tackling poverty and supporting families were key
themes when Church leaders met with Conservative politicians in
Blackpool. Over 60 people attended the breakfast meeting hosted
jointly with the Conservative Christian Fellowship, and heard David
Liddington MP and Commissioner
Elizabeth Mattear, Moderator of the Free Churches Council, talk
about poverty. Both emphasised the role of the voluntary sector,
including churches, in supporting people in poverty.
The Conservative Policy Group on Social Justice, set up by David
Cameron and chaired by Iain Duncan Smith, has recommended supporting
couples, and particularly married couples, as a way of preventing
poverty. The delegation heard more about these proposals from Mr
Duncan Smith’s think tank, the Centre for Social Justice, and
discussed the Churches’ concern for people in poverty with the Party
Chairman, Caroline Spelman MP, and Shadow Regeneration Spokesman,
Alastair Burt MP.
The President of the Methodist Conference, Revd Dr Martyn Atkins,
was one of three speakers from the faith communities at the
Conservative Conference fringe event organised by Christian
Aid on climate change. The Revd Graham Sparkes, from the Baptist
Union of Great Britain, spoke at a similar event at the
Labour Conference.
At
the Liberal Democrat Conference in Brighton, Methodist MPs Alan
Beith and Andrew Stunnell were among politicians who discussed
current concerns with Free Church leaders. The delegation attended
a keynote immigration debate and, with the Liberal Democrat
Christian Forum, hosted a breakfast fringe meeting on the theme of
poverty in the UK with the Liberal Democrat Christian Forum.
New staff member of the
Joint Public Issues Team
Frank Kantor
has succeeded Stuart Dew as Secretary for
Church and Society in the United Reformed Church (Stuart has moved
to a new post as Press Officer for the URC).
Frank writes: ‘Greetings! It is a pleasure for me to introduce
myself to you as the new Secretary for Church and Society. I am
married to Valerie who is a midwife and we recently relocated to
London from South Africa related to family concerns. I have a long
background in Church and Society work in both the pre and post
apartheid era in South Africa and more recently have been involved
in running an advocacy
programme on the on-going human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
I
am looking forward to the challenges of my new position and to
engaging with you on the issues of concern for Church and Society in
the context of our rapidly
changing world, country and local communities’.
Gambling
Responding to the results of the Gambling Commission’s Prevalence Study published on 19 September, the Methodist Church
expressed relief that there has been no change in the number of
problem gamblers compared with the previous study in 1999 and the
number of people gambling is, if anything, slightly lower. Methodists have led the Churches in Britain in a campaign against
liberalising gambling opportunities and, together with The Salvation
Army and other partners, continue to keep the pressure on the
Government to ensure that this industry is closely regulated to minimise
the risk and harm it can pose to vulnerable people.
A
new comprehensive briefing paper, Against the odds …?, has
been prepared by the Joint Public Issues Team in conjunction with
the Salvation Army
www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/pi_againsttheodds_0807.pdf
Cluster bombs
On
the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Mine Ban Treaty, the Methodist Church,
the United Reformed
Church and the Baptist Union of Great Britain called upon the UK
Government to end the use of cluster bombs by UK forces. The
Churches are also asking the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband,
actively to support an international treaty to ban such weapons. Earlier this year, the Government committed to the Oslo Process, a
new international process to agree a treaty on cluster bombs, and
has withdrawn two types of cluster bombs from its
stockpiles.
The Churches have also published campaign information online at
www.jointpublicissues.org/clustermunitions
with advice on how you can take action, from emailing the Foreign
Secretary, writing to your MP, and encouraging others to be
involved.
Report on Assisted
Dying
A
version of the United Reformed Church report on Assisted
Dying, in a form easily usable by house groups and for private
study, is now available - free. The report to
General Assembly has been edited, put into a booklet, and
includes a study guide in seven sessions. Copies can be obtained
from the Church and Society office, United Reformed Church, Tavistock
Place, London WC1H 9RT (020 7916 8632;
church.society@urc.org.uk ).
‘Home: an epic journey
from slavery to promise’
- a new play based on the book of Exodus, performed in support of
Stop the Traffik by Christian professional theatre company, Rhema (www.rhematheatre.org). ‘Home’ is touring nationally until 9 December. If you are
interested in booking a performance for your church, please contact Rhema for further details:
admin@rhematheatre.org ;
0870 421 4565. Performances cost £420 plus travel expenses; Rhema
provides publicity
material and a guide on how to make the most of the event.
One World
Week
- ‘All Together Now’, 21-28 October Climate change is a key focus of
this year’s theme and the website:
www.oneworldweek.org is packed with a variety of resources,
including a worship anthology prepared by Jo Rathbone of
Eco-Congregation, links to related sites and ideas to help plan your
events. Flexibility is encouraged so don’t be constrained by these
dates! All One World Week’s resources are now web-based.
United Reformed
Church Peace Fellowship Annual Conference, 17 November ,
11.00 am - 4.00 pm at URC House, 86 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9RT. Speaker: Dr Karen Abi-Ezzi, from Lebanon, Co-Director of the
MA Peace Studies Course at Bradford University and regular
contributor to the Inter-Cultural Leadership School which promotes
greater understanding between young people from different ethnic
backgrounds in and around Bradford. For further details/to book,
contact Wendy Cooper:
wendy.cooper@urc.org.uk
020 7916 8632).
Promise! - multi-faith
service for World AIDS Day, 25 November ,
6.30 pm at Southwark Cathedral, London. Further details from Steve
Penrose:
steve@leat.org.uk
020 7793 0338
(Please let us know if
you are planning resources/events
for World AIDS Day; we will publicise details in the next
Newsletter).
Poverty and
Homelessness Action Week - ‘Opening Doors, Opening Hearts’, 23
January - 3 February 2008
Details of resources to order or download will be available
at:
www.housingjustice.org.uk/homelessness-sunday/index.htm
The
United Reformed
Church is distributing the flier in a mailing to all URC churches in
November.
|
