Truro Cathedral launches worldwide children’s song to save the planet
Truro Cathedral choristers have published Gee Seven, a song about saving the planet, prompted by the G7 summit due to be held in Cornwall in June. With words by Sir Tim Rice and music from Peter Hobbs, the girls and boys aged between eight and 18 launched the song on Spotify and YouTube on Friday. The song is part of a project to encourage children round the world to sing it online, coming together to sing for the G7 leaders next month, via the Goonhilly Earth Station. In an expansive film with polar bears, planets, stars, sea and Cornish mines, the robed choir stand in the cathedral singing words pointing to the magical prime number seven, whose presence runs through nature and science. It ends with a challenge: “Let nation speak to nation / Don’t let the others down / Don’t forget the not so fortunate / Or we’ll run you out of town.”
Minister wants to see innovative and collaborative relationships between state and faith groups
The faith minister, Lord Greenhalgh, in an interview to FaithAction, an organisation which encourages faith groups to engage on the front line showing social concern. He said it had been “a very difficult year, but also a very enriching year” as he witnessed the “marvellous” work of faith groups helping deal with the impact of Covid and offering premises as vaccination centres. They were a force for good, he said. He had also been impressed by the action of faith groups offering hot food and caring for stranded lorry drivers on the M20, “loving their neighbour”. He wanted to see the relationship between state and faith groups reset, to be positive, innovative and involve collaboration between faith groups. In an emotional answer, he revealed that his mother died of Covid, and her Catholic faith and desire to see the best in people had given him the conviction to do the right thing in public life. His grandparents were Methodists but the family had been on a journey arriving at Catholicism.
Pope joins world leaders appealing for vaccine equity
World leaders including the Pope have suggested a process to speed up vaccine distribution. The Pope backed President Joe Biden’s call for patent protection to be lifted to allow vaccines to be made more easily. Both recorded messages for the Vax Live event where celebrities called for vaccine equity. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has also called for countries to stop banning export of vaccines if needed elsewhere. The World Health Organisation says nearly a dozen countries — many of them in Africa — are still waiting to get Covid-19 vaccines. They include Chad, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Eritrea and Tanzania. It says Africa accounts for only one per cent of the vaccines administered worldwide.
Religious affiliation affects take up of Covid-19 vaccine in Britain
Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics continue to show BAME groups have a worse Covid vaccine take-up than white adults. The stats show a clear differentiation by religious affiliation as well as socioeconomic group. The lowest rates are among those who identified as Muslim (78.8 per cent) and Buddhist (83.3 per cent), but after adjustment the ONS said those identifying as Sikh and Hindu had a higher probability of being vaccinated than those in the Christian group. The study of vaccinations for over-50s between December 2020 and 12 April this year shows for those identifying as White British, 93.7 per cent of people have had their first jab. That drops to 66.8 per cent for people from a black Caribbean background, 71.2 per cent for black African, and 78.4 per cent for those identifying as Pakistani.
Schoolgirls killed in atrocity at Shia Muslim neighbourhood in Kabul
Fifty people, many of them girls aged 11 to 15, have been killed in Kabul when a girls’ school was bombed in the mainly Shia Muslim neighbourhood of Dasht-e-Barchi. Families had complained that the government has failed to protect them from repeated attacks because of their faith. In the past three years, the Associated Press reports, 34 people, mainly students, were killed in another school attack, 24 were killed at a wrestling club, 24 killed at a maternity hospital, and 30 at a tutoring centre. Most of the attacks were claimed by the Islamic State affiliate operating in Afghanistan. There are fears that violence could escalate as the US and Nato troops complete their withdrawal. The Pope prayed for the victims on Sunday, saying: “May God give Afghanistan peace.”
Hundreds injured at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem
Violence at the Al-Aqsa mosque complex in Jerusalem’s Old City has led to hundreds of injuries since trouble flared on Friday night. More than 160 Palestinians and six Israeli police officers have been hurt after police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades as Palestinians threw stones and bottles. The Al-Aqsa mosque is one of Islam’s most revered locations and a holy site for Jews, sitting on Temple Mount. Trouble flared after prayers on a sacred night in Ramadan, amid tension over the threatened eviction of Palestinians from land claimed by Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem. There have been international calls for calm.
Church of England guidance to be issued on memorials linked to slavery
The Church of England will issue guidance this week on how churches and cathedrals should deal with monuments containing historical references to slavery and colonialism, The Observer reports. The guidance is expected to say that ignoring this is not an option, and actions may include removal, relocation or alteration of plaques and monuments, and the addition of contextual information. Decisions will be taken locally. The guidance follows a review called for by the church after Sir Edward Colston’statue was toppled and thrown into Bristol harbour.
Young curate in social media storm appointed to first job
The Rev Jarel Robinson-Brown, whose tweet that the “cult of Captain Tom is a cult of white British nationalism”, caused a backlash, is to join the staff at St Botolph’s in London as an assistant curate. He apologised for the tweet but received racist and homophobic abuse on social media, condemned by the bishop. The Diocese of London’s robust response was itself investigated and changes have been promised. St Botolph without Aldgate tweeted that the church was looking forward to his arrival in July.
Private school chaplain launches legal action in row over ‘LGBT ideology‘
The chaplain at Trent College, an independent school in Derbyshire, was reported to Prevent, sacked, re-instated and then made redundant after telling students they were free to question LGBT ideology, when the school introduced an LGBT+ inclusive curriculum. Dr Bernard Randall, former Trinity College Cambridge chaplain, told the Telegraph that he was a victim of the “Church of Postmodernism” and has launched a legal battle over his treatment, claiming that the ideology of gender politics is in competition with Christian values. “It is an ersatz religion, complete with burning heretics,” Dr Randall said. His case is being taken forward by Christian Concern.
18-30s in love with idea of marriage
A poll of 2,000 people aged between 18 and 30 has found that 86 per cent of unmarried women and 80 per cent of unmarried men want to get married at some point in their life. The poll was commissioned by the Marriage Foundation, which seeks to reduce the numbers of people drawn into the family justice system. Its research director, Harry Benson, said the results debunk the myth that young people reject commitment and shun traditional institutions. The foundation wants the government to do more to support married couples
