I58-Network

The Church of Scotland has put forward proposals which would see its St Andrew Press arm run by an established religious publishing house.

The Church of Scotland has put forward proposals which would see its St Andrew Press arm run by an established religious publishing house.

Under the plans, St Andrew Press would be operated by Hymns Ancient and Modern, but, says the Kirk, would "retain its own unique identity in Scottish publishing."

The move comes after considerable concern about the future of the Church of Scotland's publishing arm in the light of the Presbyterian denomination's need to address a substantial financial deficit of £1.2 million.

It had been proposed that the St Andrew Press would be axed, with the loss of ten jobs. Nine redundancies have already been implemented. But the move caused furore both inside and outside the church.

The former Bishop of Edinburgh and Primus of the Scottsh Episcopal Church, Richard Holloway, said it looked as if the Kirk was “pulling up the drawbridge”.

Meanwhile, John Brown, the brother of the former Prime Minister and a lay member of the Church of Scotland’s Publishing Committee, which has the 50-year-old publishing house, resigned in May 2010 over the issue.

At the Kirk's General Assembly, the Rev Mark Johnstone, convener of the Mission and Discipleship Council, had said the Church subsidised the St Andrew Press by £163,000 1n 2009.

Between 2005 and 2009 the cost to the denomination was £696,000, and it was expected to lose £130,000 in the next two years.

Under the new proposals, which require to be approved by the Kirk’s Council of Assembly in September 2010, the Church would continue to publish a range of material aimed at the market in Scotland and overseas.

Hymns Ancient and Modern already runs the publishing arm of the Church of England and is a charitable organisation with an international reputation and an annual turnover of almost £6 million.

As of 2001, Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd has been operating as a group with 54 staff in East Anglia and London. Its two subsidiaries are SCM-Canterbury Press Ltd for book publishing, and G.J.Palmer & Sons Ltd for newspapers and agency advertising.

Mr Johnstone commented: “These proposals would place St Andrew Press with an established publisher in the religious market and open up new markets for our books and our authors here in Scotland, in the UK and in all major international markets."

He continued: “With the full weight of this successful company behind us we would be able to provide better service and support to our authors while retaining the knowledge and expertise of staff."

“Importantly, control of what St Andrew Press publishes would remain with the Church of Scotland,” Mr Johnstone added.

The Kirk had considered three bids for St Andrew Press, which was reduced to just one member of staff following this year’s General Assembly. The bid from Hymns Ancient and Modern was felt by the Mission and Discipleship Council to be the best option and a final decision will be made by the Council of Assembly.

The plan is that the Church will receive a share of sales from books published under the St Andrew Press brand and hold none of the costs associated with running such a company.

Mr Johnstone claimed today: “This is a win win situation for the Church as we get to retain our valuable St Andrew Press brand, increase our market reach and raise money for the Church, all at no cost to us.”

Dominic Vaughan, the Group Chief Executive of Hymns Ancient and Modern said: “The Trustees of Hymns Ancient and Modern are delighted to be given the opportunity to pursue a successful relationship with the Church of Scotland and to be associated with such a great publishing house as St Andrew Press.”

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Greenbelt 2010 (http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/festival/), backed by global development agency Christian Aid and a range of other organisations, is expected to attract some 21,000 people from 27-30 August at Cheltenham Racecourse.

The increase in the number of people coming to stay in Britain is due to a significant rise in international students, new ONS data shows.

Net UK migration figures, published by the Office for National Statistics today, shows that the increase last year in the number of people coming to live in Britain is due to a significant rise in international students, together with a decline in the number of Britons going to live abroad for 12 months or more.

Overseas student figures went up 35 per cent, with 362,015 tier four visas issued under the points-based system as compared with 2008.

Colleges and universities, and the economy as a whole, are reaping a massive £2 billion revenue from the growth in international students (more when indirect benefits are included) - though educationalists point out that this needs to be considered in relation to a larger debate about the structure, funding and access for both domestic and overseas students in higher education.

The overall ONS figures showed that incomers, compared with those moving abroad, increased by 33,000 from the previous 2008 total of 163,000.

The quarterly immigration and asylum statistics for the 12 months to June 2010 show sharp falls in the number people coming to work in Britain under the points-based immigration system.

The number of temporary employment visas fell by 17 per cent to 66,495.

There were half the number of Eastern European arrivals as compared to 2008, and the number of people coming to work in Britain has continued to fall during the economic downturn.

The statistics also show a further fall in the number of asylum seekers coming to Britain, down from 25,930 in 2008 to 24,485 - with government and courts taking an increasingly punitive attitude to people seeking refuge in the UK.

Meanwhile, anti-immigration lobby groups like Migration Watch, tabloid newspapers and conservative politicians have all sought to interpret the figures negatively - claiming that the overall increase in net migration represents a continuing crisis.

But pro-migrant groups say that continuing 'immigration panic' in the media is based on prejudice, misunderstanding and misinformation on issues like employment and migration.

An Institute for Public Policy Research report earlier this year concluded that on the best available UK micro-economic evidence of the effects of migration on employment, in line with research in other OECD countries, there were limited effects either way.

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A public service strike is hurting hospital patients and students, and the government and unions should act to end it, says the Archbishop of Cape Town.

South Africa’s public service strike is hurting hospital patients and students, and the government and unions should act to end it, says the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town.

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba has called for essential staff in institutions such as hospitals to return to work immediately - writes Munyaradzi Makoni for ENI.

"Our country is facing a huge crisis at this moment," the archbishop said in Cape Town. "Striking essential public service employees and educators are, however unintentionally, causing much anguish and even physical suffering."

The Star newspaper reported on 19 August 2010 that six people, including two infants, died as militant strikers blockaded the Natalspruit Hospital in Ekurhuleni near Johannesburg, and striking public servants pledged to shut down government institutions.

Hundreds of dancing protesters were reported to have blocked entrances at the Natalspruit, Chris Hani Baragwanath, Helen Joseph and Weskoppies hospitals near Johannesburg.

Eleven nurses and two doctors at the hospitals attended to about 500 patients with security guards left to look after more than 20 babies, who had not been fed for nearly the entire day. The army was understood to be preparing to bring in its doctors and nurses.

In a message to the strikers, who are demanding a 10 per cent pay hike, Makgoba said, "We understand your plight and your rights to seek justice in terms of fair and adequate salaries and other benefits, especially in the face of corruption by some government officials.

"However, the present strikes are creating suffering - for patients in hospitals, especially those who are seriously ill; for out-patients no longer able to receive much needed medication; for students, who are working hard to prepare for matric examinations; and for learners who are trying to develop a culture of education."

The archbishop added, "These strikes are doing a great deal of harm to our country - and this is something we cannot afford to continue."

[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Conference of European Churches.]

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The government could be acting illegally if it uses DNA testing to investigate the country of origin of asylum seekers, a Scottish human rights activist says.

The UK Government could be acting illegally if it uses DNA testing to try to determine the country of origin of asylum seekers, a leading Scottish human rights campaigner says.

Professor Alan Miller, chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, and a top human rights lawyer, said moves to use DNA testing as a permanent part of the asylum application process could be contested in the European Court of Human Rights - reports the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (http://www.scvo.org.uk/).

Professor Miller was speaking at a Scottish Festival of Politics event that debated the legal and moral basis for a recent six month UK Border Agency (UKBA) pilot that used DNA testing in cases where an asylum seeker’s country of origin was in doubt.

The controversial UKBA Human Providence Pilot was aimed at addressing alleged problems of African asylum seekers claiming to come from war-torn Somalia because they were more likely to have their application approved.

However, it was amended at the last minute after an outcry from human rights bodies and scientists who claimed that it wasn’t possible to accurately determine a person’s country of origin from their DNA.

Testing did go ahead but the UKBA argued that it would not be used to determine a person’s right to asylum.

UK Immigration minister Damien Green, who is carrying out a review of the asylum process, has not yet indicated whether the controversial move will be rolled out permanently.

“If the government wants to legislate and put this into the asylum system they are on very, very shaky ground and they would be very susceptible to [being] challenged in the European Court of Human Rights,” said Miller at the event organised by the British Council and the Economic and Social Research Council Genomics Forum.

“A court under international human rights law, of which the UK is a signatory, faced with having to decide if the extraction of DNA from an individual was legal, has three tests to apply: legality, justification and whether it is proportionate, which is critically close to the heart of this matter.”

“The first question I would ask as a human rights lawyer is ‘What are the relevant and sufficient reasons for this DNA being taken?’ and then ‘Does it conclusively determine whether this person is bogus or genuine?’. If it doesn’t, then the state’s going to find it very difficult to justify why they are interfering with someone’s personal life and privacy in such a far reaching way."

Professor Miller was joined at the event by Dr Bruce Durie, course director of genealogical studies at the University of Strathclyde, and Gary Christie policy and research manager, at the Scottish Refugee Council.

The Scottish Refugee Council has campaigned strongly against the use of DNA testing as part of the asylum process. It argues that the move indicates the government’s desire to reduce asylum applications at the expense of a fair and just asylum system.

Speaking of the UKBA pilot, Christie said: “There was a major outcry when this was introduced, so they changed the pilot around slightly and said that testing for ethnicity and nationality was not going to have an impact on somebody’s claim.

“However, there was still concern that the fact that someone might refuse to have their DNA taken could potentially impact on their credibility.

“This is now within the scope of the UK Government’s asylum review and we would hope that it is something the new government will decide to bin.”

With acknowledgments to SCVO

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The Disasters Emergency Committee in the UK is encouraging corporate donations as part of its drive to raise money for flood-stricken Pakistan.

The Disasters Emergency Committee in the UK is encouraging corporate donations as part of its drive to raise money for flood-stricken Pakistan.

The consortium of aid agencies today announced that their appeal for people affected by the Pakistan monsoon has now raised £37 million, including a donation of £1 million from Deloitte, the business advisory firm.

DEC Chief Executive Brendan Gormley commented: “We are extremely grateful to the UK public for their continuing generosity and to Deloitte for their exceptional corporate donation. The money that is coming in is still urgently needed by our members who have already helped 800,000 people but are struggling to help many more."

He continued: “Although the majority of our funds are provided by individual members of the public, corporate and community support is also incredibly important. As well as making corporate donations, many companies have given their support to staff fundraising activities or matched individual donations made by employees. We would encourage others to follow their lead.”

John Connolly, Deloitte senior partner and CEO, added: "The profound crisis facing Pakistan, the dreadful human impact of the devastating floods, have touched everyone at Deloitte. We want to show our support for the aid effort in a really meaningful way."

“We believe this is the right thing to do in the face of such an immense humanitarian crisis, especially given the many close connections between people in the UK and the people of Pakistan," said Connolly.

The disaster has already claimed the lives of 1,500 people and directly affected over 17 million people, with millions more threatened.

The Disasters Emergency Committee consists of Action Aid, Age UK, British Red Cross, CAFOD, CARE International UK, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision.

To make a donation to the DEC Pakistan Floods Appeal call the 24 hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, visit http://www.dec.org.uk or donate over the counter at any post office or high street bank, or send a cheque. You can also donate £5 by texting the word GIVE to 70707

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The World Council of Churches is sending an international delegation to visit the Indigenous Peoples in the Northern Territory of Australia.

The World Council of Churches is sending an international delegation to visit the Indigenous Peoples in the Northern Territory of Australia from 12 -17 September 2010.

The visit is in response to an invitation extended by the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) to shed light on the human rights situation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and to show solidarity with the Indigenous people who feel their voices are not heard.

Living Letters are small ecumenical teams which visit a country to listen, learn, share approaches and help to confront challenges in order to overcome violence, promote and pray for peace. Living Letters visits are part of the WCC Decade to Overcome Violence.

The invitation to the WCC was extended following a forum held in 2009 by the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ecumenical Commission (NATSIEC) of the NCCA.

The visit will focus on concerns that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Peoples have with regard to the 2007 “Northern Territory Emergency Response” –locally known as the “Intervention”.

A similar WCC delegation visited the region in 1981. At that time, the delegation listened to the cries of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples due to poverty, powerlessness and injustice with regard to questions of land rights, mining, the legal system, housing, education, health and unemployment.

The 1990 WCC consultation in Darwin (Australia) on “Land is our life”, as well as the subsequent statement on “Land and Indigenous Peoples: Move Beyond Words” by the WCC Assembly in Canberra, 1991, are important milestones of the ecumenical journey of Indigenous Peoples.

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More on WCC wrk with Indigenous Peoples: http://tinyurl.com/367uoq6

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Quality school Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) is vital to help combat the alarming rise in STIs among the young, says inclusive schools campaign Accord.

Quality school Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) is vital to combat the alarming rise in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among young people, says the chair of the inclusive schools campaign Accord.

Figures released yesterday by the Health Protection Agency (HPS) have shown that rates of STIs increased again in 2009, continuing the steady rise over the last decade.

STIs were highest among young adults, with two thirds of new diagnoses in women under 25, and half of new STI diagnoses in men aged under 25.

Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, chair of the Accord Coalition commented: "At the moment the education system fails many children by requiring that they are only taught about the basic biological aspects of sex, contraception and sexually transmitted infections in secondary school science lessons. It is little wonder therefore, that the UK has growing rates of STIs and the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Western Europe."

He continued: "Good age appropriate Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) seeks to do many things, including to give children the tools to be clear about personal boundaries, to resist pressure assertively, to seek help when they need it and to challenge misleading and inappropriate messages. However, it is also known to reduce unwanted pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted infections, and the HPA’s latest figures only reinforce the pressing need for better SRE in our schools."

Dr Romain added: "Personal, Social, Health and Economic edcuation, which includes SRE, should be made compulsory throughout key stages one to four in all state maintained schools and the Government should use the opportunity provided by its forthcoming National Curriculum review to enact this."

"Current SRE provision in the UK lags behind that of many developed countries and our failure to ensure that schools provide thorough, accurate and balanced SRE places our children’s health and wellbeing at risk. All children in all state maintained schools should have an entitlement to high standard SRE, regardless of which school they attend," he concluded.

The Accord Coalition (www.accordcoalition.org.uk/) was launched in September 2008 to bring together religious and non-religious organisations and individuals campaigning for an end to discrimination in school staffing and admissions.

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Tasers are becoming an increasingly prominent tool in the arsenal of police in Nottinghamshire and elsewhere. This should raise important questions, regardless of whether you accept the anarchist critique of the police as a tool of state control, view them as a necessary evil or actually regard the boys in blue as good for society. However, these questions do not seem to be asked. Despite a number of high profile incidents when tasers have been deployed, we continue to creep towards a situation where police are routinely armed without any public debate on whether this is actually what we want or not.

Georgia death-row inmate Troy Anthony Davis is back on track for execution, despite doubts about his guilt raised during a June evidentiary hearing.

Amnesty International today (25 August 2010) expressed deep concern that a federal district court decision puts Georgia death-row inmate Troy Anthony Davis back on track for execution, despite doubts about his guilt that were raised during a June evidentiary hearing. Judge William T. Moore, Jr. ruled that while executing an innocent person would violate the United States Constitution, Davis did not meet the extraordinarily high legal bar to prove his innocence.

Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said: "There must surely be significant doubt about someone's guilt when witnesses are recanting testimony and saying that someone else committed the crime.

"The bar for proving Troy Davis's innocence was set incredibly high, yet there is still far too much room for doubt. This decision puts Troy at risk of execution and like all death penalty cases, any doubt will become meaningless once his life has been taken."

Amnesty International representatives attended the hearing in Savannah, Georgia. The organisation noted that evidence continues to cast doubt over the case:

-Four witnesses admitted in court that they lied at trial when they implicated Troy Davis and that they did not know who shot Officer Mark MacPhail.

- Four witnesses implicated another man as the one who killed the officer – including a man who says he saw the shooting and could clearly identify the alternative suspect, who is a family member.

- Three original state witnesses described police coercion during questioning, including one man who was 16 years old at the time of the murder and was questioned by several police officers without his parents or other adults present.

Since the launch of its February 2007 report, "Where Is the Justice for Me? The Case of Troy Davis, Facing Execution in Georgia", Amnesty International has campaigned intensively for a new evidentiary hearing or trial and clemency for Davis, collecting hundreds of thousands of clemency petition signatures and letters from across the United States and around the world. To date, internationally known figures including Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and the former US President Jimmy Carter have all joined the call for clemency, as well as lawmakers from within and outside of Georgia.

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US church development agency executives have told the world not to forget Haiti, which is still recovering from a devastating earthquake.

US church development agency executives have told the world not to forget Haiti, which is still recovering from a devastating earthquake.

Pictures of the devastation are distressing, but seeing earthquake-ravaged Haiti in person is far worse than the Rev Rafael Malpica Padilla had magined. "It is overwhelming," said Malpica Padilla, executive director for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) Global Mission.

As he described the piles of rubble where buildings once stood, and trash that has accumulated and continues to pile up in Haiti, Malpica Padilla told the ELCA News Service on 24 August that the process of cleaning up will be "a major affair."

Finding solutions for permanent housing for the more than 1 million people displaced from their homes and living in make-shift camps is also "a massive undertaking," he said.

During his 22-25 August 2010 trip to Haiti, Malpica Padilla and two other ELCA Global Mission colleagues are meeting with Haitians to hear their stories. A woman from Carrefour, Haiti, told Malpica Padilla that what "we need in this community is work, people who will trust us and give us a chance to rebuild our lives."

Carrefour is an area where the ELCA is supporting the work of the Lutheran Church in Haiti in providing shelter materials, distributing food and water, and addressing sanitation issues needed for daily living, safety and security, said Malpica Padilla.

He said the ELCA is also exploring opportunities to build "permanent houses in several communities in collaboration with The Lutheran World Federation and possibly with Church World Service."

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is based in Geneva, and Church World Service (CWS) in New York. The ELCA is a member of the LWF and participates in the work of CWS.

"When I met with members of the community, I told them that I would not take care of them but seek to empower the community. We need to move beyond the 'assistance approach' in relief and development to empowering people, so they can do their work. (Residents) need to claim ownership. Then together we can transform communities," said Malpica Padilla. He said relief and rebuilding efforts must be "complementary, focused and urgent."

In a meeting with Haiti's chief economic advisor to the prime minister, Malpica Padilla said the ELCA's work in Haiti must complement others there. "There are tasks that the (Haitian people) should do, what the church will do, and what the government has to do," he said. Together "we can develop an integrated process to accomplish goals."

The second component in rebuilding is impact, said Malpica Padilla. "We do not want to be spread too thin by building here and there. We need to focus our efforts in the restoration of communities."

"We need to be urgent. Rebuilding should have happened yesterday, not for our sake but for the sake of people who remain displaced from their homes, who are without work and who have nothing," he stressed.

At the heart of recovery and rebuilding is "internal solidarity," he continued. "When the earthquake happened, people found themselves with dead loved ones and nowhere to go. Survivors turned to one another and offered help. What little they had, they shared and worked on together. We need to build on that, especially agencies and organisations coming from the outside. The resilience of the Haitian people gives me hope in the midst of many challenges."

Members of the ELCA have contributed more than US$12.2 million in gifts to support disaster relief efforts in Haiti.

Information about ELCA Global Mission is at http://www.ELCA.org/globalmission and Haiti earthquake relief at http://www.ELCA.org/Our-Faith-In-Action/Responding-to-the-World/Disaster... on the ELCA's website.

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New analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows that the coalition's budget has hit the poorest families the hardest, especially those with children.

Research commissioned by the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows that the coalition government’s emergency budget has hit families with children the hardest. Poorest families are set to lose most.

The research, published this morning (25 August) calls into question the government's repeated commitments to “fairness”. The End Child Poverty campaign described the findings as “shocking”.

It contradicts the claim of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne that “the people at the bottom of the income scale will pay proportionately less than the people at the top”.

The research differs from the Treasury’s own modelling in several ways. It takes into account the impact of all the budget’s changes up to 2014. It analyses the June 2010 budget changes separately from those announced previously. And it includes changes to Housing Benefit and Disability Living Allowance.

The researchers, James Browne and Peter Levell, conclude that “the measures announced in the June 2010 budget are regressive as they hit the poorest more than the seventh, eighth and ninth deciles in cash, let alone percentage, terms”.

They say that families with children lose more than pensioners or other household types in all except the top three income groups. In addition, the poorest families with children lose more than any other group.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, claimed last month that the budget would have “no negative impact on measured child poverty”.

But the new analysis suggests that as a result of the changes announced in the June budget, families in the bottom income decile are set to lose over five per cent of their income, compared to less than one per cent for non-pensioner households without children in the top decile.

“The coalition has committed to ending child poverty by 2020, but its cuts are hitting the poorest families hardest,” said Fiona Weir of the End Child Poverty campaign, “It’s not fair that children should have to pay for the cuts and shocking that the poorest families are bearing the brunt of them”.

She added, “The coalition must re-consider its cuts, including changes to Housing Benefit and uprating benefits. The spending review will need to show clearly how the government will deliver on the commitment to ending child poverty, ensuring that cuts fall on those most able to pay”.

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The United Nations (UN) has been urged by Amnesty International not to reply on data supplied by oil companies when assessing the causes of oil spills.

The United Nations (UN) has been urged not to reply on data supplied by oil companies when assessing the causes of oil spills.

Amnesty International expressed concern today (24 August) after comments by a senior UN official investigating oil-impacted sites in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta.
 
A United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) official is reported to have said that 90 per cent of oil spills in Ogoniland were due to sabotage and criminal activity, and just 10 per cent due to equipment failure and negligence by companies such as Shell.

Amnesty International questioned the credibility of these figures, saying they are produced by Nigerian regulatory agencies that are known to depend heavily on the oil companies themselves when it comes to spill investigations.

“Relying on these figures would be a serious misjudgement, with potentially significant ramifications for those living in the Niger Delta,” said Audrey Gaughran, Director of Amnesty International’s Global Thematic Issues Programme.

She added, “UNEP must be aware that the figures have been strongly challenged for years by environmental groups and communities. They are totally lacking in credibility.”

Between 1989 and 1994, Shell estimated that only 28 per cent of oil spilt in the Niger Delta was caused by sabotage. In 2007, Shell's estimate had risen to 70 per cent and the figure now given by Shell has increased to more than 90 per cent.

Amnesty International say that they have repeatedly asked Shell to produce evidence to support these figures, but the company has failed to do so.
 
“The people of the Niger Delta have been lied to and denied justice for decades,” said Gaughran, “The issue of oil spill causation is sensitive. If UNEP is going to comment on the cause of oil spills it should do so only on the basis of hard and credible evidence, not figures that are a source of conflict.”

In June 2009, an Amnesty International report on the impacts of oil pollution on human rights concluded that the oil spill investigation system in the Niger Delta was totally lacking in independence, and was inadequate to determine the proportion of oil spills caused by sabotage, as opposed to equipment failure. Amnesty found that in many cases oil companies have significant influence on determining the cause of a spill.

The report documented examples of cases in which Shell claimed the cause of a spill was sabotage, but the claim was subsequently questioned by other investigations or the courts.
 
Amnesty International has called for independent oversight of the oil industry in the Niger Delta, including disclosure of all relevant information on the causes of oil pollution.

“While sabotage and vandalism are serious problems, there is no evidence to support the figures offered by oil companies and the Nigerian government agencies,” said Gaughran.

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Micah Challenge UK is encouraging Christians in Britian to get on board with an anti-poverty action pledge, following the example of public figures.

Micah Challenge UK is encouraging Christians in Britian to get on board with an anti-poverty action pledge, following the example of public figures.

The Archbishop of York has promised to launch a global charity for those in need, the Chief Executive of aid agency Tearfund has promised to inspire his children afresh about world poverty and Andy Flannagan, songwriter and Director of the Christian Socialist Movement, has promised to be part of changing the global economic system.

These are just a few of the promises being made at the request of Micah Challenge to help end world poverty and "to remind our leaders that, ten years into a fifteen year commitment to halve global poverty, it’s time to act," says the campaign.

‘What’s Your Promise?’ is part of the Micah 2010 campaign being mobilised by Micah Challenge around the world. The promises of Christians, around the globe, will be brought together on Sunday 10th October (10.10.10) when over 100 million people worldwide will stand united in prayer and commitment to a life that remembers those in poverty.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has spoken out strongly in support of the Micah 2010 campaign.

He declared: “When God tells us to remember the poor he is not simply asking us to give them a thought from time to time. Remembrance in the Bible is a very real and active thing… So in this crucial year when the Millennium Development Goals are very much on our minds, when we need to think and pray harder than ever to see what can be achieved by 2015, our remembrance must be a renewal of relationship.”

The UK Director of Micah Challenge, Andy Clasper, said, “We are asking people to make a promise to live in a way that remembers those in poverty and to start by making a promise in one area of their life. I have been encouraged that even those who have been involved with these issues for many years are thinking and living differently as a result of making their promise.”

So far hundreds of people have promised to waste less, to shop with the poor in mind, to campaign and speak out, to educate and influence others, to give more of their time and their money, to reduce their carbon footprint and to pray diligently for those in need.

Christians in the public eye have made their own very personal promises as part of the campaign and to set the ball rolling. The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has promised to make a difference to those in poverty by launching his charity ACTS435 around the world. He said, “It is important churches help those in need in practical ways.”

The Anglican Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard, has promised to keep the Millennium Development Goals as the touchstone of his concern for those trapped in poverty. He said, “I hope many in the Diocese of Oxford will join me in making this promise and then keeping it.”

Andy Flannagan has made the bold promise to be part of changing the global economic system. He commented, “I feel it is easy to just hand over cash to mend what is broken, but what is more important is tracking back to improve the structures so that new victims don’t go on being made.”

Matthew Frost, Chief Executive of Christian relief and development agency Tearfund, has promised to encourage his children, as they grow up, to have a greater hunger to act justly and love mercy in the context of world poverty.

Many Christians are already seeing their lives changed as a result of their promise, says Micah Challenge UK. Caroline Williams promised to alter the way she shops so that she now always asks the question, “Does this item help or hurt the poor?” The 40-year-old from St Albans commented, “I’ve started to put this into action. During a cycle ride from Whitehaven to Tynemouth in July I bought fair-trade coffee and orange juice along the way. I celebrated in Tynemouth with a bar of Cadbury’s fair-trade chocolate and then bought a fair-trade latte from Starbucks at Newcastle station.”

The campaign has been welcomed by Stephen Timms, MP for East Ham and Labour’s Vice Chair for Faith Groups. He commented: “ UK churches have consistently – and successfully – campaigned for Britain to be at the forefront of tackling poverty around the world. Government has been profoundly influenced – in fact, Britain ’s whole political culture has been uplifted because so many individual Christians have gone out of their way to take part in campaigning.”

Micah Challenge is a global movement reminding political leaders of 189 nations about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) crucial promises made to halve extreme poverty by 2015.

More information at: www.micahchallenge.org.uk

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Churches’ attitudes and responses to racism today will come under scrutiny at a conference organized by global church groups this week.

Churches’ attitudes and responses to racism today will come under scrutiny at a conference, organised by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in partnership with the United Church of Christ (UCC) and the Dutch missionary and diaconal agency, Kerk in Actie, in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 26-29 August 2010.

While the struggle against racism has been a formative and highly visible priority for the ecumenical movement, beginning with the US Civil Rights movement and then South African apartheid, there are now diverging views as to the role churches should play in combating racism that operates in many subtle ways.

While some say the work on racism is mostly done, others say it is time for the churches and ecumenical organisations to re-engage with racism and other forms of discrimination and exclusion.

Increasing tensions and fragmentation caused by large scale migration, economic disempowerment of many marginalised communities and the continued practice of caste-based discrimination that involves about 250 million Dalits in South Asia and elsewhere, all point to the fact that the instruments of discrimination are not the same as they were 40 years ago.

Today racism is a global phenomenon touching the lives of many vulnerable communities with the combined challenges of poverty, injustice, violation of human rights and violence, both direct and structural.

“Exposing and challenging racism is a way of affirming human dignity, striving for social justice and celebrating diversity,” said the Rev Dr Deenabandhu Manchala, WCC programme executive for Justice and Inclusive Communities and one of the organisers of the conference.

The Cleveland conference, which is a follow-up to a 2009 conference, commemorating 40 years of WCC work under the Programme to Combat Racism, has two foci, he said.

First, the theological basis for churches’ continued engagement with initiatives and struggles that confront racism and related forms of discrimination will be explored. The conference will ask why the churches should be involved and what they would lose if they gave up on their involvement.

The second focus is to reflect on the concept of just peace from the perspective of those struggling against the violent cultures of racism and casteism. This reflection will contribute to the drafting of the Declaration on Just Peace that the WCC sponsored International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC), in Kingston, Jamaica, in May 2011, is expected to issue.

“The ultimate objective of this theological reflection is to see how best the churches can be, and promote, just and inclusive communities in a world that is increasingly disempowering and excluding many,” Manchala said.

Participants in the conference will be coming from most WCC member churches in the United States and Canada, from churches in Brazil, Peru, Nicaragua, Europe, Africa and India.

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Cairn Energy has announced the first discovery of oil in Arctic waters. Environmental commentators have warned of an "Arctic oil rush".

Environmental commentators have reacted with alarm to the news that Cairn Energy has made the first discovery of oil in Arctic waters. Greenpeace have warned of the danger of an “Arctic oil rush”.

Cairn Energy, based in Edinburgh, made the announcement this morning (24 August), although rumours have been circulating for several days.

The Greenpeace protest ship Esperanza has arrived at the scene of the find yesterday. It is reported to be positioned within sight of the two rigs that Cairn is operating in the area.

Cairn Chief Executive Bill Gammell said, "I am encouraged that we have early indications of a working hydrocarbon system with our first well in Greenland, confirming our belief in the exploration potential”.

But Greenpeace activist Leila Deen described the report as “grave news”.

Speaking from the Esperanza, she said “An oil strike off the coast of Greenland would spark an Arctic oil rush, threatening this fragile environment and our chances of beating climate change”.

The area to the west of Disko Island, where the find was made, is known as “Iceberg Alley” due to the plentiful icebergs and tough conditions. This has deterred oil companies from attempting exploration there in recent years, but the world's oil giants are watching the Cairn project with great interest.

If the Edinburgh-based company has struck oil, analysts expect a new Arctic oil rush, with Exxon, Chevron and other energy giants already buying up licenses to drill in the area and making preparations to move in.

The wells being drilled by Cairn are at a depth of 300-500 metres, while the moratorium introduced by US President Barak Obama after the Deepwater Horizon disaster applies to wells deeper than 152 metres.

Greenpeace says that Cairn has refused to publish a comprehensive plan for how it would deal with a spill from the platform, and has just 14 vessels capable of reacting to a spill. BP's response in the Gulf of Mexico required more than 6,500 vessels.

The environmental NGO adds that a blowout in a scenario where a relief well cannot be completed in the same drilling season could lead to oil gushing until at least next spring, with spilt oil becoming trapped under sheets of thick ice.

"By drilling for oil in ever more dangerous, difficult-to-reach places the oil companies are taking us in the wrong direction,” insisted Deen, “If a spill happened here this pristine area would face an environmental catastrophe. The BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico showed what can happen when they drill in deep and remote places."

She insisted, “We have to go beyond oil by investing in clean technologies and deploying them as soon as possible”.

Cairn Energy's headquarters were yesterday targeted by activists from the Camp for Climate Action, who staged an imitation “oil spill” outside the company's offices as one of a series of peaceful protests in Edinburgh.

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The annual Greenbelt festival of arts, debate and social justice is showing the institutional churches the way forward in a post-Christendom era, says the religion and society think-tank Ekklesia.

India’s Environment Minister has blocked Vedanta Resources’ controversial plan to mine bauxite on the sacred hills of the Dongria Kondh tribe.

A tribe in India has won a stunning victory over one of the world’s biggest mining companies. In an extraordinary move, India’s Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has blocked Vedanta Resources’ controversial plan to mine bauxite on the sacred hills of the Dongria Kondh tribe.

Mr Ramesh said Vedanta has shown a ’shocking’ and ‘blatant disregard for the rights of the tribal groups’. The Minister has also questioned the legality of the massive refinery Vedanta has already built below the hills.

The news is a crushing defeat for Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal , Vedanta’s majority owner and founder.

In recent years, the project has come under unprecedented attack. The Norwegian and British governments, the Church of England, organisations such as Survival, and even the insurance giant Aviva, have all criticised the company and its ethics.

Survival has been in the forefront of a global campaign against the mine for several years. Survival recruited celebrities such as Michael Palin and Joanna Lumley to champion the tribe’s cause; its supporters have written over 10,000 protest letters to the Indian government, and more than 600,000 people have watched Survival’s film ‘Mine’. The tribe’s plight even came to the attention of ‘Avatar’ director James Cameron, and the Dongria became known as the ‘real Avatar tribe’.

The struggle has pitted the 8,000-strong tribe, nearly all of them illiterate, against the might of an $8 billion company and its founder, himself worth some $6 billion. The Dongria Kondh have mounted numerous protests, and two of their leaders were abducted and beaten before being released, in an atmosphere of increasing violence.

In recent days, an inquiry panel set up by Minister Ramesh recommended the mine be blocked, saying that Vedanta had acted illegally and with ‘total contempt for the law’.

Survival campaigner Dr Jo Woodman, who experienced first-hand the atmosphere of intimidation in the Dongria’s hills, said today, ‘This is a victory nobody would have believed possible. The Dongria’s campaign became a litmus test of whether a small, marginalised tribe could stand up to a massive multinational company with an army of lobbyists and PR firms and the ear of government. Incredibly, the Dongria’s courage and tenacity, allied with the support of many people in India, and Survival’s supporters around the world, have triumphed.’

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘The era when mining companies could get away with destroying those in their path with impunity is thankfully drawing to a close, though it remains significant that Vedanta fought for its plans to the end, repeatedly denying everything the tribespeople said. The concerned public must remain vigilant about these so-called development projects – companies simply cannot be trusted voluntarily to abide by human rights standards, particularly when dealing with tribal peoples who can’t know what they’re up against.’

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Debt activists have said that they fear the aid to Pakistan will be dwarfed by its debt repayments and issued a warning over new loans.

Debt activists have said that they fear the aid to Pakistan will be dwarfed by its debt repayments and issued a warning over new loans.

Anti-poverty campaigners yesterday called on governments and international institutions to effect an immediate freeze on Pakistan's debt repayments, expressing fears that the country's annual $3 billion repayments would dwarf current levels of emergency aid. In addition they urged a debt audit followed by a cancellation of some of the debts.

They also expressed concern that international institutions like the World Bank had promised nearly $3 billion in new loans to Pakistan to withstand the disaster, rather than giving grant-aid. Jubilee Debt Campaign says this will only add to Pakistan's enormous and unsustainable $49 billion debt.

Pakistan's debt repayments already amount to three times what the government spends on healthcare - in a country where 38 per cent of under five-year-olds are underweight, only 54 per cent of people are literate, and 60 per cent live below the poverty line. The United Nations says it has only raised 70 per cent of the $460 million called for in emergency aid by the institution. But even this amount will be dwarfed by debt repayments unless serious relief is instituted.

Longer term, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank recently announced loans of $900 million and $2 billion respectively. Campaigners say grants, rather than loans, are essential if countries like Pakistan are ever to develop the means to withstand such disasters in future.

Pakistan's debt rose rapidly under the military regime of General Musharraf (2001-8) from $32 to nearly $50 billion. Campaigners point out that the vast majority of Pakistan's loans were run up under military governments, many offering little benefit to ordinary people.

Pakistani groups like CADTM-Pakistan have long called for an audit of the debts, saying it is unjust for the poor of Pakistan to repay reckless loans that borrowers should never have lent. The group is currently calling on their government to repudiate its debts on the basis of a 'state of necessity'.

Nick Dearden, Director of Jubilee Debt Campaign said: "It is nothing short of criminal that a country as poor as Pakistan is bled of resources every year to repay borrowers who extended unjust loans to that country over decades. It is vital that desperately needed emergency aid is not effectively swallowed up in debt repayments and a freeze on such payments must be called immediately.

"But the international community also needs to accept responsibility for the poverty of Pakistan. If Pakistan is to build up the infrastructure to withstand such appalling disasters in future, it must be freed from its debt trap. A debt audit is needed - and those debts found to be unjust and unbeneficial must be cancelled immediately to give the country a fresh start. Most certainly supposedly anti-poverty institutions like the World Bank should not be making Pakistan’s debts even worse."

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The Church of England has praised the religious programming offered by some of the BBC’s radio stations, while calling for a Religion Editor.

The Church of England has praised the religious programming offered by some of the BBC’s radio stations, while calling for a Religion Editor to work across the corporation’s news and current affairs output "to strengthen further its role in boosting religious literacy as a key tool for understanding today’s world."

In a response to a consultation being held by the BBC Trust as part of its review of Radio 3, Radio 4 and Radio 7, the Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, Bishop of Manchester and the Church of England’s lead spokesman on communications, says that Radio 4 transmits more than the required number of hours of religious programming, and warmly welcomes the Corporation’s commitment to high quality radio that explores ethical and religious themes.

“The BBC stations under review broadcast an unparalleled range and depth of religious programming which deserves grateful acknowledgement by all those concerned with increasing mutual understanding between people of all faiths and none,” argues the submission.

Programmes such as Daily Service, Choral Evensong, Sunday, Moral Maze and Something Understood, and award-winning one-off documentaries like Twin Sisters, Two Faiths are all highlighted as helping present “an authentic portrayal of Christian worship [alongside] in-depth discussions and explorations of religious and ethical themes”.

To build on this through the breadth of the stations’ output and beyond, the response calls for the creation of the post of BBC Religion Editor to cover radio, TV and online news output, arguing that there is “no logical distinction between the genre of arts, science and business and that of religion, the landscape of which likewise demands a ‘trusted guide’ for both internal and external stakeholders”.

The response continues: “We urge the Trust and Executive to give serious consideration to this proposal; one that is intended as much for the benefit of people of no particular faith as for those of faith.”

The Church’s submission also suggests that the future for a rebranded BBC Radio 7 relies on a clear identity as an enhancement of Radio 4’s output: “We could envisage, and we would welcome, a station that included extended interviews with key public figures, and that had more freedom to experiment with the opportunities for interaction with audiences afforded by new media. Religious content would form a natural ingredient in a fresh station devoted to ‘going deeper’ into the nation’s psyche.”

The response reflects the tone of ‘critical friendship’ towards mainstream broadcasters set by the General Synod’s debate on the subject of religious broadcasting in February this year. Following its debate, the Synod resolved to “express its deep concern about the overall reduction in religious broadcasting across British television in recent years, and call upon mainstream broadcasters to nurture and develop the expertise to create and commission high quality religious content across the full range of their output, particularly material that imaginatively marks major festivals and portrays acts of worship”.

The Church of England’s full submission to the BBC Trust review of BBC Radio 3, 4 and 7 can be found here: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/info/papers/bbctrustradio.rtf

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