Govt: We’re not ashamed of Christmas cheer
A Labour MP’s attempt to criticise a Government department for presumed excessive festive spending backfired spectacularly earlier his week. Robert Neill, a minister in the Communities Department, highlighted the Government’s commitment to a Christian Christmas. He was responding to Caroline Flint, Labour’s Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary. She asked ‘how many Christmas parties and drinks receptions his Department plans to host in December 2010’. Robert Neill, MP for Bromley and Chislehurst, responded on behalf of the Secretary of State, Eric Pickles. He said: ‘As the Secretary of State indicated in his departmental press notice of 29 November 2010, the new Administration is committed to celebrating Christmas, including its Christian heritage. Ministers recognise that we live in frugal times due to the need to pay off the significant public deficit and national debt. But there is no need to play Scrooge. We should not allow politically correct Grinches to marginalise the importance of the birth of Christ.’
Pray: that the UK Government continues to ensure that Christianity is not marginalised. (Jn.1:17)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/govt-tells-labour-were-not-ashamed-of-christmas-cheer/
Eire - Policies forcibly separate families
The Government’s immigration policies are forcibly separating families of Irish children, and allow no mechanism to appeal, Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin Raymond Field has said. ‘Not only are parents forced to live in different countries but they must choose where and with whom their child will live,’ he notes. Bishop Field, chairman of the Irish Bishops’ Council for Justice and Peace, says: ‘Ireland is the only EU member state without primary legislation on family reunification for immigrants. In Ireland, in accord with EU law, a child is entitled to Irish citizenship if one parent is an Irish citizen or a legally resident immigrant. The other parent may be someone whose visa is expiring or whose asylum application has failed. However, despite a child’s rights as an Irish citizen, we are now seeing the deportation of a parent whose immigration status is irregular.’
Pray: that Eire’s immigration process will take into account the human tragedy of split families. (Isa. 63:8)
More: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0104/1224286701369.html
Abortion follows in the wake of contraception
There have been two important stories in recent days linking abortion and contraception. Firstly, among British women hundreds of women have become pregnant after a long-term contraceptive implant failed and subsequently went on to have abortions. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1344132/Contraceptive-implant-alert-Hundreds-women-pregnant-birth-control-fails.html?printingPage=true Secondly, a study of women in Spain has found that abortion rates and contraception rates rose in parallel between 1997 and 2007. Both stories need to be examined closely regarding the data used and the individual circumstances involved, but both stories provide evidence of the close association between contraception and abortion. The provision of contraception not only fails to prevent unplanned pregnancies but results in unborn children being victimised, to death as the unwelcome consequences of so-called contraceptive failure.
Pray: that abortion trends will not continue to grow as contraception failure increases. (Ps.139:15-16)
More: http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/2011/01/05/abortion-follows-in-the-wake-of-contraception/
Europe: Coptic churches report attack threats
Coptic Church leaders across Europe have revealed they have been the target of threats in the wake of the New Year's Day bomb attack in Egypt. (See World article) A priest in Paris has made a complaint to police which has led to an inquiry by the anti-terror squad, reports say. A senior official in the UK says threats have been ‘outlined’ against two churches, and a bishop in Germany has called for government protection. The security concerns in Europe come days before Coptic communities celebrate Christmas on 7 January. Girguis Lucas, a priest at the Coptic Church of St Mary and St Mark in Paris, told AFP news agency that a member of his congregation had spoken of internet threats ‘from Islamic mujahideen who announced more attacks in Europe and especially in France and mentioned our church’. Bishop Anba Damian told German radio that his community had been warned by police about online threats by Islamists.
Pray: against these attacks on the Coptic Church as they celebrate Christmas and that God would confuse the enemy. (Ps.60:11)
