Campaign launched to open British mosques to women
Around one third of British mosques have no space for women to pray and now a network of women has come together to challenge the status quo and campaign for change. They have produced a report “My British Mosque” detailing the extent of the problem and outlining discrimination against women, which they hope will be a catalyst for action to change. The report found that 59 per cent of survey respondents had female friends or family members unfairly or negatively treated in a mosque. 96 per cent did not believe there was any basis in Islamic law to stop women from attending the mosque to pray or to be excluded from management boards. The group is led by the “Open My Mosque” campaign co-founded by Julie Siddiqi MBE, who said the problem had been known about for years but more needed to be done to effect change. High-powered Muslim women were invited to the launch in parliament, including Baroness Sayeeda Warsi who advised a compelling argument was required and an “all faiths approach” to equality in places of worship. Special guest, the Anglican Bishop of Croydon, Rosemarie Mallett, said from what she had heard, the status quo was not good enough and needed to change: “This is not a faith issue, it’s a power issue”, she said. The report outlines five needs that must be met to ensure equality and the meeting ended with a rallying call for grass roots action to take forward the campaign. Our report is here. Hyphen Online report is here
Former students say prayer ban school made being Muslim seem toxic
BBC London has spoken to two former students of the Michaela School in Brent, north London, which has been taken to court for banning prayers. The former students told the reporter that the school made being Muslim seem toxic and evil. One said she felt like the school had stripped her and other students of her Islamic identity. In January, a pupil took a case to the High Court over the school’s prayer ban saying it was discriminatory. Judgment is expected at a later date. The school has not responded to the BBC report.
Bishop calls for public debate on prisons saying the system “makes no sense”
The Bishop of Gloucester, Rachel Treweek, has spoken of her intention to raise the issue of an ever-expanding prison population, as the general election approaches. In an article on the Diocese of Gloucester website , she says “the prison population is approaching 90,000 underpinned by a rhetoric across the political spectrum of ‘being tough on crime’. The common narrative is that locking more people up and for longer will result in stronger and safer communities. The evidence does not support this, and rates of reoffending are prolific”. The bishop says that prison costs in the region of £50k per person per year, and the social and economic cost of reoffending is estimated at £18 billion per annum, “thus our current system makes no sense, even if you only care about money. It is not prisons which need expanding but rather our imaginations and public understanding”. As the Anglican bishop for prisons in England and Wales, she hopes it will be possible in this election year “to create a groundswell across a diversity of media outlets and public figures willing to influence the debate”.
In a change of business, the Lords will debate the Rwanda bill today, day two of the report stage. CofE bishops are expected to continue speaking against the policy of removing asylum seekers to Rwanda.
CofE leadership is destroying “Jekyll and Hyde” church
Madeline Grant, assistant comment editor and parliamentary sketchwriter for The Telegraph, slams the Church of England leadership for “destroying the CoE I love”. She describes it as two institutions: “the Rev Dr Jekyll of parish volunteers and clergy, and the Rev Mr Hyde at the top”. She compares the recent job ad for a “deconstructing whiteness” officer and the announcement of a £1 billion reparation fund for historic slavery, to the local stories of churches closing, dwindling congregations and too few clergy. She says: “I delight in none of these things, because I love the CofE”. Her article is here
100 Tibetan Buddhist monks detained after protests in Sichuan province
Christian Solidarity Worldwide says the Chinese government has reportedly detained more than 1,000 Tibetans amid protests over a dam project that would force two villages to relocate and destroy six Buddhist monasteries in southwestern China’s Sichuan Province. Those detained include more than 100 Buddhist monks from monasteries in Yena and Wonto, which date back to the 13th century. Radio Free Asia reports stories that detainees are being deprived of food and violently beaten by police. Telegraph report here
Politicians in Corfu banned from communion over support for same sex marriage
Greek Orthodox authorities in Corfu have imposed a communion ban on two local politicians who backed a new law allowing same-sex civil marriage. They said the men had made “the deepest spiritual and moral error” in voting for the law, which was approved with cross-party support on 15 February. Greece was the first Orthodox Christian country to legalize same-sex marriage. A church statement said: “For us, these two (local) lawmakers cannot consider themselves active members of the Church,” adding that they should be excluded from communion, abstain from any church events and not be accorded formal honours by church functionaries at official events or parish gatherings. Associated Press report here
New Mormon temple in Sutton Coldfield
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has announced that a new temple will be built in Sutton Coldfield, the first temple in Britain for almost 30 years. The others are near Lingfield, Surrey, and Chorley, Lancashire. After a temple has been dedicated, entrance is reserved for members of the church who take part in ceremonies such as weddings, full immersion baptism, baptism on behalf of the dead and “endowment ceremonies”, where people covenant to God in hope of blessings. The LDS church, also known as the Mormon church, was begun in the UK in 1837, by the work of two missionaries in Preston and has expanded to nearly 187,000 members in more than 315 congregations.
Liberty University fined $14 million for handling of sex abuse cases
Liberty University, the US Christian institution founded by evangelist Jerry Falwell, has agreed to pay an unprecedented $14 million fine for its failure to disclose information about crimes and its treatment of sexual assault survivors. It follows an investigation by the US Department of Education into cases from 2016-23 which found misclassification or underreporting of sexually based cases including rape, and a culture of silence where sexual assaults went unreported. AP reports that Liberty settled a civil lawsuit filed by 12 women in 2022, who accused it of fostering an unsafe environment and mishandling cases of sexual assault and harassment. Liberty acknowledged past problems but said it had been subject to unfair treatment by the Department and had invested £10 million in improvements to the system. Three years ago, the university’s president Jerry Falwell Jr resigned after he posted a provocative photo of himself online and his wife’s affair became public. He and the university have since filed lawsuits against each other.
