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A thanksgiving service for the life and ministry of Mike Ovey took place on Monday afternoon, 13 March, at All Souls, Langham Place, in London.
A packed church of about 800 people joined Mike’s family, together with friends, colleagues, Oak Hill students and alumni, to pay tribute to Mike's exceptional gifts, which he offered in the service of the people of God, and to thank God for his life as a teacher, educator, and leader.
The Office of National Statistics has published new statistics on the number of marriages, both same- and opposite-sex, which occurred in England and Wales in 2014, the first year that same-sex marriages were legally recognised. The statistics have revealed that just 23 couples out of the 4,850 who had same-sex marriages, or just 0.47%, opted to have religious same-sex marriages. The British Humanist Association (BHA), which performs a very high number of same-sex wedding ceremonies and has been doing so for over five decades, has responded by saying that the Government should recognise that only by extending legal recognition to humanist ceremonies will same-sex couples be offered a meaningful choice of type of marriage.
There is no conflict between the "right to choose" and "the right to life" in the context of abortion, because the former includes the latter. If the state were ever to require a pregnant woman to undergo an abortion -- as China in effect did with its "one child" policy -- there would be a conflict. But in the United States, the right to choose includes the right to choose life rather than abortion. It also includes the right of women to choose abortion for themselves.
This Sunday, Conference will decide our party’s policy on state-funded faith schools – and in particular on whether schools should be able to select children on the basis of their religion or belief.
I would like to think this would be an uncontentious issue.
Surely we are defined as a party by our rejection of discrimination, and by our determination to oppose entrenched privilege and inequality.
Doctors in Newcastle have been granted permission to use the three-person baby fertility technique to prevent incurable genetic diseases being inherited by children.
The IVF method, in which babies are created with DNA from three people – the mother, father and a female donor – was approved as safe for clinical use in December.
The fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), issued its first licence for the procedure to the Newcastle Fertility Centre on Thursday.
More than two-thirds of children in poverty in the UK are in working families, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
This is more than ever before in figures going back 20 years - up from 43% in 1996-97 to the current 67%.
There are now four million children in poverty, the highest since the 2008 financial crash.
There is something very rotten in the State of Britain. I am talking about the insidious and largely unchallenged creep towards the legalisation of abortion to term. On Monday, Diana Johnson's radical Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Bill, which seeks to remove all legal restrictions on abortion, was passed in the House of Commons by 172 votes 142. Far from being progressive it couldn’t be more regressive.
The Guardian however announced it as a victory. For what I am not sure, but certainly not for civilised society. Its deceitful and sensationalist headline read, 'MPs win right to challenge Victorian law criminalising abortion'.
Same-sex marriage was pushed through the UK Parliament on a wave of fashionable opinion.
Endorsed wholeheartedly by the mainstream media, it was presented as a moral imperative and a harmless new piece of legislation.
However, for those who refused to accept the redefinition of marriage, the change was far from innocuous.
This list includes ten people, from various walks of life, who stood up against same-sex marriage – and were punished for expressing their views.
A road sign which appears to warn "beware of Jews" has appeared just yards from a synagogue in north London.
The sign depicts the silhouette of an orthodox Jewish man wearing a traditional Fedora hat and was spotted on a lamppost in Stamford Hill on Tuesday.
A member of a Jewish neighbourhood watch group saw the sign and reported it to police.
Church communities are being urged to address the issue of domestic abuse and raise awareness of its impact on adults and children.
The updated practice guidance and policy from the House of Bishops, published today by the Church of England, encourages churches to become places of safety where domestic abuse is taken seriously, survivors are believed and respected, and alleged or known perpetrators challenged. The updated document reflects legislative and other changes since the 2006 guidance*.
Under the policy, Church leaders and Officers working with children, young people and vulnerable adults will be expected to undergo domestic abuse training with the issue being raised in appropriate contexts within church life including youth groups, marriage preparation and ordinand training. They will also be expected to work closely with statutory and other specialist organisations.