UK & Ireland in Brief

Pro-life charity LIFE welcomed the announcement in early April that it would receive a government grant to help vulnerable women in crisis.

LIFE said that the £250,000 sum would be used to develop services including housing, practical help, non-directive counselling and life-skills training for pregnant and homeless women. But the charity faced criticism from campaigners and politicians, because the money was raised by tax on women’s sanitary products. They argued that the group shouldn’t receive the grant as it campaigns against abortion.

The High Court ruled on 30 March against a man seeking to change the law on assisted suicide.

Noel Conway, 67, wants doctors to help him commit suicide because of his terminal illness. Pro-life group Care Not Killing welcomed the court’s decision: ‘The current laws on assisted suicide … are simple and clear. They exist to protect those who are sick, elderly, depressed, or disabled from feeling obliged to end their lives.’

HSBC announced in late March that it is to offer ‘gender-neutral’ options for filling out forms, so as not to offend those who do not identify as their birth sex.

The bank will offer ten titles that are ‘gender-neutral’ in addition to the standard titles. The titles include Ind, short for ‘individual’, Mre, which is short for ‘mystery’ and Pr which means ‘person’. Christian Concern’s Andrea Williams described the new options as a ‘denial of reality’ that will ‘confuse people’.

Five leading Christian Charities are calling on churches to play a major role in the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness and its first monthly focus on older people.

The charities, which include Pilgrim Friend Society and the Bible Reading Fellowship, want to mobilise Christians to help themselves and others around them to become part of the solution, whether through talking to a neighbour, visiting an old friend, or just making time for people they meet.

London is now ‘Londonistan’ as there are 423 new mosques and 500 closed churches, an Italian journalist and author claimed in April.

Writing for international policy think tank Gatestone Institute, Giulio Meotti highlighted growing numbers of people attending Muslim prayers in Britain; churches being turned into private homes in London; more Sharia courts and universities advancing Islamic law. Mr Meotti also raised concerns about British personalities such as judge Sir James Munby, who are ‘opening the door to introduce Sharia’.

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams listed same-sex marriage as a ‘key issue’ in late March, despite widespread opposition.

Referring to ‘fundamentalist bigots’ and homophobia during a meeting in Enniskillen, Adams said ‘what’s going to break them is equality’ and posed the question: ‘Who could be afraid of equality?’ Mr Adams accused rival politicians of failing to engage with key issues including gay marriage, saying: ‘This is unacceptable’.

The John Owen Centre at London Seminary (JOC) announced in April the establishment of a Doctoral Study Centre affiliated with Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, USA (PRTS).

The partnership came in response to an increase in pastors, churches and academics studying Puritan and other Reformed writings. The Doctoral Study Centre will provide access for those studying at London Seminary to the resources of PRTS.