HATE CRIME DOUBLES
Hate Crime has more than doubled in England and Wales in six years. 103,379 such crimes were recorded in 2018-19, with almost 10% religiously [...]
Freedom of Religion or Belief
International Freedom of Religion or Belief day (27 Oct 2019) highlights 83% of the world’s population live in countries where religious freedom is threatened. [...]
Fact Sheets
FACT SHEETS
Church of England glossary
Key words, titles and explanations to understand the C of E
By Tim Wyatt
PEOPLE
- The Church of England believes in the “threefold order of ministry”, which […]
Hate Crime Against Faith Groups in The UK
Detailed look at Home Office hate crime figures for 2018-19
ENGLAND AND WALES
Hate crime is defined as “any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim […]
“The re-emergence of religion in the public square is one of the biggest and most significant paradigm shifts of recent times.”
GRAHAM WARD
Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford
There are 7.5 billion people in the world and an estimated 85% identify with a religious group. The biggest religion is Christianity, accounting for about one-third of the earth’s population. The next is Islam whose adherents make up about one-quarter of the world’s inhabitants. There are about one billion Hindus, 500 million Buddhists, 14 million Jews and many smaller faith groups http://www.pewforum.org/.
Understanding religion and belief is and will remain central to public life and debate, however significant the growth of secularism. Tens of millions of people in the UK continue to identify with a religious faith and we all have frequent encounters with people of all faiths and beliefs. Religious literacy is essential to understanding the world in which we live and our daily interactions across all levels of society, in the public, private and voluntary sectors.
The media plays a key role in developing and enhancing this understanding. The Religion Media Centre has no editorial line nor does it promote any one religion, or religious belief in general. Instead, it exists to provide accurate, timely and relevant information to the media, enabling the public to be better informed and promoting decision-making based on fact, not prejudice or stereotypes.
Religion and Media festival
Exploring Belief, the second Religion and Media festival, was held at the JW3 Centre in north London on 30 April 2019. The keynote speaker, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, said: “The media has not covered religion as well as it might; not given it space, time or quality of knowledge that it should have done. And yet religion is essential in understanding what is going on in the world.” An audience of media professionals, academics, faith representatives and others, listened as the theme was picked up with panel discussions on how religion is understood; the stories still waiting to be told; and the impact of social media on the transmission of religion. Punchy, provocative polemics included the story of a young Jamaican Muslim rapper, Tanya Muneera Williams, who was spat on and abused by a gang. How has the media, she asked, contributed to the normalisation of hate? Read a full report of the festival here
The Church of Scotland has suspended Rev Richard Cameron, the priest who heckled Jeremy Corbyn, while it carries out an enquiry into the incident and "subsequent complaints about his social media use"
https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1194584990203269122
It was a real pleasure to talk with journalists at the @NUJ_LFB London Freelance branch last night. Thanks for inviting us, and thanks to @RelMedCentre for including me in the mix. https://twitter.com/fmarchese_uk/status/1193990001865965579
