Interfaith:   Home  /  Archive for May 2008

May 30, 2008

600 bishops to demonstrate on streets of London

by David Masters

The Archbishop of Canterbury is to be joined by over 600 other archbishops and bishops in a demonstration against poverty in July this year.
Rowan Williams has called for Anglican bishops and other faith leaders to unite for an unprecedented march against poverty through the streets of London.
The Church of England hopes that the march will […]



May 23, 2008

Britain Goes Ahead With Hybrid Embryo Research

by Rohan Parker

Earlier this week, British MPs voted on a Bill which would decide the fate of hybrid embryo research in the UK.
In an almost two-to-one vote, the exact numbers being 336 to 176, the amendment was downed, and the decision was made that this type of research could continue.
The world is taking a very close […]



May 22, 2008

Yorkshire vicar gets Playboy rage

by David Masters

Yorkshire vicar Tim Jones found himself raging with fury when, in a local store, he saw stationery branded with the Playboy logo targeted at children.
Stationery bearing the logo of pornography brand Playboy was on sale alongside Winnie-The-Pooh folders and Mickey Mouse pencils.
This made Revd Jones, 40, so angry that he decided to throw all the […]



May 21, 2008

British Baptists to apologise for slave trade

by David Masters

A delegation of British Baptists will be travelling to Jamaica tomorrow to offer an in-person apology for the slave trade.
The members of the delegation will be worshipping in the Jamaican Baptist churches, and visiting sites historic to the slave trade.
The official apology will be made during morning worship on Sunday, at which point a plaque […]



May 16, 2008

Religious Education contravenes children’s human rights

by David Masters

A committee of MPs has released a report contending that forcing school children to engage in religious acts of worship and religious education classes could constitute a breach of their human rights.
The report from the cross-party joint committee on human rights states that any child of ’sufficient maturity, intelligence and understanding’ should have the right […]



May 15, 2008

Pro-Kurdish retired Imam jailed in Turkey

by David Masters

A retired Imam in Turkey has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for engaging in propaganda activity.
Islamic preacher Muhittin Eryilmaz was sentenced by a court in Diyarbakir, a town in the south east of Turkey, for his part in a pro-Kurdish protest.
Eryilmaz joined members of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party as […]



May 12, 2008

Church disputes falling attendance figures

by David Masters

Statistics released by Christian Research have been subject to fierce criticism from the Church of England.
The statistics, published by Christian Research in the Religious Trends magazine, predict that by 2050 weekly church attendance could drop from current figures of just under one million, to around 899,000.
If current trends of decline continue, 4,000 […]



Welcome INN To Sue Parks Department

by Rohan Parker

During the late afternoon of the 7th of February this year, a religious group titled Welcome INN - Interfaith Need Network - were trying to hand out food to the homeless in a state park, just as they had done at the same location the two previous nights.
This night, however, they were not allowed […]



May 9, 2008

Muslim Prisoner Claims Degradation

by Rachael Grant

After a Muslim man has claimed that he has been degraded in Whitemoor Prison, Cambridgeshire, UK, female officers have been prevented from attending while male inmates are strip-searched.
The prisoner reported to the Muslim News that he felt oppressed and provoked on a daily basis at the prison, and that he was forced to strip […]



Muslim convert turns back to Buddhism

by David Masters

An Islamic court in Malaysia has allowed a Muslim convert to renounce her conversion.
Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah, 39, converted to Islam in 1998 because she wanted to marry an Iranian.
However, he left her a few months into the marriage, and she claims that she has never been a practising Muslim.
Minority religious groups […]