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Book review: Jesus in Town
Elizabeth Mednick, the author, is well qualified to tell this story, as she is married to Michael, the instigator of Barking Churches Unite and a pioneer of inter-church cooperation in the boroughs of east London. The book begins with short biographical sketches of the author and her husband, and…
Graham Hedges
Creation care: being good stewards of God’s gift
The photo of Greenland’s melting ice has hit headlines. The pack of dogs were seemingly walking on water as their usual frozen paths are now covered in a layer of melting ice. This is a result of Greenland experiencing unusually high temperatures for this time of year, which could have a lasting…
Changes to gender recognition in Scotland challenged by the Evangelical Alliance
The Evangelical Alliance has called on the Scottish government to provide greater clarity in their planned reform of the Gender Recognition Act. The changes announced reduce the period someone has to have lived in their new gender from the current two years, to six months, with three of those as a…
The hope of nations
The ordeal of this humble farm labourer with four children began a decade ago, in June 2009, with an argument over a bucket of water, which was deemed unclean by a group of Muslim women after Asia drank from it. In the row that ensued Asia was accused of making offensive remarks about Muhammad, the…
Dr David Landrum
Free to disagree
So, as we explore freedom in this edition, and I, more specifically, consider freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, I’d like us to revisit this hot topic and think about how discussion of these values has informed policy in the past few years, where these discussions might be going wrong,…
John Coleby
Inspiring choice
Unlike opt-out provisions available to parents who do not want their children to attend Religious Education lessons, the new Relationships Education curriculum will be compulsory for all children in primary and secondary school in England and Relationships and Sex Education will now have a diluted…
Peter Mitchell
The word that brings freedom
This was the first verse from the Bible that Afaafa* had ever read. As a Kenyan Muslim who had been through madrassa and had been taught Islamic teaching, she had refused even to touch a Bible. She had planned to convert her Christian friends to Islam, but one of them challenged her to read the…
Jeremy Weightman
Men without bars
The ‘stirring’, if you like, happened while Ralph listened to a presentation by Catherine Rohr, founder and CEO of a Texas-based charity set up to support people in prison. Having spotted the untapped potential of inmates, she spoke about initiatives that could help prisoners choose an honest…
Naomi Osinnowo
Evangelical Alliance concerned at Court’s intervention in abortion case
On Friday, a UK Judge ruled that an abortion should be carried out on a Catholic woman in her twenties who suffers from a moderate to severe learning disability. This despite the fact that the women herself wanted to continue with the pregnancy and was supported by her mother and social worker.…
Generous freedom
The spoils of this war would have established Abram as an undisputed king. He already had the command of 300 men at his disposal and now he had won the wealth of the five richest cities in the region. In the Valley of Kings, the indebted King of Sodom met Abram to plead for mercy and the scraps of…
Jo Frost
Why SENT is exactly what your community needs
But, have you ever looked at your local Christian community and asked yourself, “Are there Christians here leading in in their workplaces or communities?” In churches up and down the UK, there are leaders in every sector of society, whether that’s in healthcare, arts and media, business, law,…
Take a godly look at the brain
Many people, regardless of their beliefs about God, perceive prayer to be a useful religious activity. But what happens in the brain when people pray? In recent years, this discipline of the devout has been studied closely by neuroscientists. Professor Andrew Newberg, the director of research at…
Sharon Dirckx
The church and women (’s football)
Sure, a few early adopters may have been watching the Lionesses for years, following the ins and outs of the women’s league with the same dedication as the millions who follow men’s football. At a guess, a good number of readers are in the same boat as me. Watching the England ladies play up a…
Alexandra Davis
Speaking about the value of life in a confused society
It would seem as though we are not as comfortable with the continued normalisation of ending life before birth as is often portrayed. More than 100,000 people have signed a petition to protest a court’s judgment to end a pregnancy through force of law. Fortunately, the Court of Appeal has…
Danny Webster