'Our courts are not Christian' judge says
COURTS in the UK are not Christian, Sir James Munby, a senior
judge and President of the Family Division, told the Law Society on
Tuesday. "Although historically this country is part of the
Christian West and, although it has an Established Church which is
Christian, we sit as secular judges serving a multicultural
community of many faiths, sworn to do justice 'to all manner of
people'," he said.
On Wednesday, Ian Jones, a barrister at Holbrook Chambers,
Leicester, said: "There is no such thing as a morally neutral
system of law. Creating or acquiescing in a system in which
religion is marginalised is itself a 'moral' position. And if the
practices of different religions are to get 'equal respect' so long
as they are not 'immoral' or 'pernicious', how is that judgement to
be made by any society without an underlying shared value
system?"
McCulloch honoured for anti-homophobia work
The Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch, a former Bishop of Manchester, was
awarded the Alan Turing Award for this "significant contributions
towards the fight against homophobia", by the Lesbian and Gay
Foundation this month.
Court of Appeal hears Sunday-working appeal
A CARE-WORKER from South London who resigned from her post after
being forced to work on Sundays took her case to the Court of
Appeal last wek, writes Gavin Drake. The worker, Celestina
Mba, was challenging earlier rulings that she was not entitled to
protection because sabbath rest was not a "core" belief shared by
other Christians (
News, 11 January).
Welby's 2063 church
THE Church in 2063, as envisioned by the Archbishop of
Canterbury last week, would be led by "Archbishop Jo", have
evangelism as its top priority, and see churches planted in
deprived areas. The Archbishop was speaking at HOPE 2014, a
gathering of 100 Christian leaders at Lambeth Palace on Thursday of
last week. He wanted to see a "risk-taking Church" that showed that
"there was no part of the world that we were not prepared to
go."
Representative named
The last of the eight women clergy elected to be representatives
to attend the House of Bishops has been named. The Dean of Women in
Ministry in the diocese of Chester, the Revd Libby Lane, will
represent the North-West region. The other seven were named last
month. The eight will take up their positions on 1 December.