Survey reveals voting priorities of Christians
A new survey of voters who identify as Christian has revealed some of the issues most likely to influence their votes in the General Election. The poll found that 90 per cent of Christians believe a party’s ‘commitment to protecting freedom of conscience’ is important. It also revealed that 81 per cent of Christians think that Britain ‘seems to be going in the wrong direction morally’. More than 60 per cent of respondents agreed that it is ‘harder to be a Christian in Britain today’ than it was in 2010 at the last General Election. More than a third agreed with the statement: ‘I would have considered voting Conservative but gay marriage has put me off doing so’. And almost 80 per cent thought that David Cameron was wrong to say that gay marriage was ‘among his proudest achievements in 2014’. 40 per cent said a party leader having a ‘personal Christian faith’ would influence their vote, rising to nearly 50 per cent when applied to their local candidate.
'Naive' churches are a soft touch for paedophiles, experts claim
Churches are still viewed as a ‘soft touch’ by paedophiles hunting for victims, despite tighter child-protection measures after a series of abuse scandals, one of Britain’s leading experts on the issue has warned. Justin Humphreys, the head of safeguarding at the Churches’ Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS) said convicted paedophiles often seek out places of worship on their release because of members’ belief in forgiveness. Although churches now routinely carry out criminal-record checks for volunteer positions such as Sunday school teachers, Mr Humphreys said they are ‘undoubtedly’ still missing out on large numbers of people who pose a threat to children, but have never previously been caught. Churches of all denominations are still guilty of ‘naivety’ on the issue of sexual abuse despite the revelations, he added. A recent random survey by the CCPAS found no examples of churches carrying out the level of full scrutiny in application processes that it recommends.
Most UK mission agencies will disappear by 2050, warns former Wycliffe director
In a blog post entitled Mission Agencies 2050, the former executive director of Wycliffe UK, Eddie Arthur, compared declining church attendance in the UK since 1970 with the sharp rise in the number of mission agencies coming into existence during the same period. There are more and more agencies seeking support from a shrinking constituency. This is not sustainable even in the short to mid-term, much less by 2050.’ He added: ‘It isn't rocket science to suggest that the number of mission agencies based in the UK will decline drastically over the next 35 years.’ Most agencies will go by 2050. The demographics are against us. ‘Arthur suggested that too many agencies were trying to do the same sort of thing, that they should refocus on supporting indigenous Christians and that they should prepare for radical change. ‘The hardest thing in the Christian world is to stop doing something,’ he said.
UK one of world's least religious countries
The UK is among the least religious countries in the world, according to a new survey. In a global ranking of 65 countries, the UK came six places from last, with 30% of the population calling themselves religious. While 53% of people said they were not religious, only 13% said they were a convinced atheist and the remainder did not know how to define themselves. This compares with 94% of people in Thailand and 93% of people in Armenia, Bangladesh, Georgia and Morocco who said they were religious. Jean-Marc Leger, president of Win/Gallup International, said that globally an average of two-thirds of people still consider themselves religious. ‘Religion continues to dominate our everyday lives,’ he said. ‘Furthermore, with the trend of an increasingly religious youth globally, we can assume that the number of people who consider themselves religious will only continue to increase.’
