politics & policy
We need more love for our politicians
David Burrowes
Date posted: 29 Nov 2024
Politics at least for the last eight years has been a tale of the unexpected, but what has sadly but not surprisingly been consistent has been the low view the public have for politicians.
In the league table of who you trust, politicians are always in the relegation zone, and this is matched by the growing disinterest and disdain for politics. But Christians, we have to do better and be distinctive in our view of politics, particularly when our politicians let us down.
A Conservative election view: Building on the past
David Burrowes
Date posted: 1 Jul 2024
As a Christian Conservative I have a realistic view of politics and the role of the state, which leans on the fundamental Biblical understanding of a fallen humanity (Gen. 3) in need of Christ’s redemption.
Conservatives do not use a blank canvas to paint a plan to fit in with the needs of a modern age, nor do we seek to impose an ideological blueprint on society, and certainly not misuse a Biblical one. Rather, Conservatism is the idea that we can build on what needs conserving from the past.
Kemi Badenoch ‘understands Christian values’
Emily Pollok
Date posted: 2 Dec 2024
David Burrowes, former Tory MP and Co-Director of the Conservative Christian Fellowship, says new party leader Kemi Badenoch understands the importance of Christian values.
‘Kemi Badenoch has grown up in a Christian household and knows about the importance of Christian values as the foundation of family and community life,’ he said. ‘CCF looks forward to helping her renewal of Conservatism by listening to Britain’s faith communities about what the previous government got wrong and what we need to do to put it right.’
news in brief
Felix Ngole
Felix Ngole is taking legal action against a health and wellbeing charity after claiming his job offer as a mental health support worker was withdrawn after discovering his Christian beliefs on marriage.
With the support of the Christian Legal Centre, Ngole is suing Touchstone Support Leeds for religious discrimination. The case was being heard at an employment tribunal in Leeds at the start of April. A ruling has yet to be handed down. In 2019, the Court of Appeal allowed Ngole’s appeal against a ruling that his removal from a university social work course was lawful, after comments made on social media in support of traditional Biblical teaching on marriage.
Eighty enjoy boost in Birmingham
Roland Burrows
Date posted: 1 May 2024
The 14th Birmingham Conference arranged by the committee of Christian Worship was held in March at Ebenezer Chapel, Old Hill, West Midlands.
Up to 80 people attended the conference, where several speakers spoke on a wide range of Scriptures.
Ofsted - 'not in my youth camp'
David Burrowes
Date posted: 1 Feb 2016
In a letter published in the Telegraph in January, Christian MP David Burrowes responds to the apparent intention of Ofsted to insist on the registration of Church youth groups.
'Last week Open Doors published their World Watch List of the persecution of Christians by country. Christians are all too aware of the increasing threats to religious freedom from militant Islam. So the Government's plan to tackle radicalisation is welcome. However, it is both ironic and wrong to catch Christian groups in a blanket requirement for registration and inspection of "out of school" education of more than 6 to 8 hours a week.
Marriage goes missing
Conservative Home
Date posted: 1 May 2017
Christian Conservative MP David Burrowes
raised concerns in April that the government
is not focussing enough on supporting marriage in its efforts to tackle UK poverty.
Writing
in
an
article
for
the
blog
Conservative Home, Mr Burrowes claimed
that the government’s new ‘Improving Lives:
Helping Workless Families’ policy paper is
more meaningful than Brexit ‘for the lives
lost to worklessness, addiction, family breakdown, debt and homelessness’.
Sunday is saved once again
EN
Date posted: 1 Apr 2016
David Burrowes MP described the 9 March Commons vote on the Sunday Trading Bill as ‘a relief ’. The result of 317 to 286 saw the plans to open up shops for longer on Sundays defeated as he led a cross-party ‘unholy alliance’ who united around a concern to keep Sunday special.
David Burrowes said to en: ‘One of the key concerns in the debate was the way the Government tried to introduce the law change. It was tacked onto the Enterprise Bill at a late stage of the Commons proceedings. The impact assessment and significantly the family impact (which was largely negative) was only published hours before the debate. The Government tried to broker a late concession by proposing a pilot scheme but their amendment was not allowed.
LONDON’S QUESTIONS OF LIFE
Naresh Mistry
Date posted: 1 Mar 2016
With 140,000 people working and 40,000 living in London’s Canary Wharf, how are they going to hear the gospel?
It was this challenge that occupied the thoughts and prayers of working Christians and members of St Peter’s Barge as they met to hear Rico Tice explain the vision for ‘Questions of Life’ (www.questionsoflife.org.uk). This outreach aims to give everyone in the Wharf a chance to engage with the gospel – specifically through a week of talks arranged for 14-20 March.
news in brief
Bite-sized Bible
Paul Minter, from Bexhill, has produced a mock-up of a Bible (currently unpublished), divided into five easy-to-read sections to help people access it more easily, it was reported in May. ‘I got the idea of producing the Bible in five paperback natural sections: the Law with 187 chapters, the History 249 chapters, Poetry 243 chapters, the Prophets 250 chapters, and New Testament with 260 chapters’. Paul, a carer for disabled and autistic children, added he was ‘passionate’ about getting people reading the Bible daily for the rest of their lives.
Bible Society’s Newswatch (Bexhill Observer)
Not aggressive?
Atheist scientist Richard Dawkins denied in May that he is too aggressive in his views, and instead called on atheists to ‘take on some of the gentle decency of the Church of England’. He critiqued the problem of being labelled racist when one criticises Islam, condemning the persecution faced by many who choose to renounce Islam. ‘In the case of immigrants from Syria and Iraq I would like to see special preference given to apostates, people who have given up Islam. They are in particular danger’, said Dawkins.
Refugee commitment
EN
Date posted: 1 Mar 2016
The International Development Committee report at the end of January found that 90% of Syrian refugees are not in camps, including some of the most vulnerable people such as religious minorities.
David Burrowes MP called on the Government to respond concerning unaccompanied minors. ‘Many people, particularly Christians, will not go to the camps, because they fear double persecution there. They seek refuge through churches and other communities and are dispersed. They are not being registered and we need to recognise that they are among the most vulnerable groups. We need to ensure that the relocation programme involves Christians as well as others.’
LWC: live, pray, hope
Jane McNabb
Date posted: 1 Dec 2013
‘How are we as God’s people to respond to
the reality of living in a hostile world?’ was
the question posed at this year’s London
Women’s Convention on October 19.
Lizzy Smallwood turned to the Book of
Daniel, from which the gathering learned that
like him we are to live uncompromising lives,
pray faithfully and put our hope in God’s
promises as we wait for our own return home.
Sinister semantics
The Christian Institute
Date posted: 1 Apr 2014
Westminster MPs backed changes to a raft of centuries-old laws on March 5.
A committee of MPs approved new rules to go alongside the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act, proposing changes such as replacing the term ‘widow’ with ‘woman whose deceased spouse was a man’ or ‘that person’s surviving spouse’ in some instances. Under the rules, other Acts were excluded from the remit of same-sex marriage, so that a gay King’s ‘husband’ is prevented from becoming Queen.