Fourth attack on Jewish community in north London
Police are investigating the fourth attack on the Jewish community in north London in less than a month. On Saturday night, a bottle with accelerant was thrown into the medical room of Kenton United synagogue, near Brent. Police officers noticed a damaged window, saw smoke inside and called the fire brigade. No-one was injured and there was only minor smoke damage. Late on Friday night, there was an attempt to set a bottle of flammable liquid on fire outside the former offices of the Jewish charity, Jewish Futures, in Hendon. Last Wednesday there was a similar attack on the Jewish Reform synagogue in Finchley, with minor damage and no injury. And last month, four ambulances operated by a Jewish charity were set on fire outside a synagogue in Golders Green. In this northern region of London, there is a large Jewish community, equivalent to around a fifth of the UK Jewish population. Counter terrorism police are investigating and there have been arrests for three of the four incidents. Police say that most of the attacks have been claimed by Ashab al‑Yamin, the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, which has also admitted responsibility for several incidents on Jewish targets across Europe. The Chief Rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, said this is a dangerous moment for society: “A sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community of the UK is gathering momentum. This sustained attack on our community’s ability to worship and live in safety is an attack on the values that bind us all together”.
Starmer ‘is not a prophet, just a man doing his best’
The vice-chair of Christians On The Left, Methodist minister the Rev Andy Fitchet has defended Sir Keir Starmer over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the United States. Sir Keir said he had not been informed that Mandelson had failed security vetting. On finding out, he was furious and the chief civil servant at the Foreign Office, Sir Oliver Robbins, was sacked. Andy Fitchet told Premier Christian News that Starmer couldn’t have possibly known what he wasn’t told. He said: “He’s not a prophet, he’s just a man doing his best”.
Pope says his call for peace is not an attempt to debate Trump
Pope Leo has made it clear that his repeated calls for peace and harmony while on the 11 day visit to Africa, are not a response to recent attacks on him by Donald Trump. His speeches have included condemnation of corruption, war and the global arms trade, and in Cameroon, he said that the world “is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants”. Speaking to reporters on the plane from Cameroon to Angola, Pope Leo said that address had been written two weeks ago, but media reports wrongly suggested it was a response to Trump. The Pope said a debate with the president was “not my interest at all.” Crux Now report here.
Professor: ‘Theology becoming mainstream currency of ideas’ in world affairs
Prof Anna Rowlands from Durham University and a member of the Vatican department on Human Development, told the Sunday programme on BBC Radio 4, that the Pope’s message of peace and unity in a divided world was cutting through. She said he had not achieved much mainstream coverage until the headlines of recent days. Trump’s intervention, discussion over a just war, and JD Vance’s references to the Augustinian “order of love” meant that “we are in a moment when theology is becoming a mainstream currency of ideas again and it’s being co-opted. And Pope Leo is saying don’t co-opt God for your cause”.
Peace, poverty and justice – themes for Pope’s 11 day journey to Africa
Just before leaving Cameroon, the Pope presided over a mass attended by 200,000 people at Yaoundé-Ville Airport and urged the faithful to confront issues connected to poverty and justice. Later, he said Cameroon was a nation with great wealth and great opportunity, but also unequal distribution of wealth. He told reporters: “The joy of the people was absolutely fantastic” and he emphasised the importance of his meeting with imams in Cameroon, to promote dialogue, fraternity, acceptance and peacebuilding for people of all faiths. His next destination was Angola, where he visited the Marian shrine of Mama Muxima, attracting thousands of pilgrims each year. He called on young people to help build a world free from war, injustice, poverty and corruption. He welcomed the ceasefire in Lebanon and called for peace in Ukraine. Today is day eight of his 11 day trip. He is due in Equatorial Guinea tomorrow, his final destination on the journey.
Donald Trump to take part in public Bible reading event
Donald Trump will participate in a week-long public Bible reading event this week called “America Reads the Bible”, aimed at rediscovering the foundation of America by “calling people back to daily Bible reading for the well-being of the country” as it celebrates its 250th anniversary. He will join the ranks of around 500 political leaders, pastors and celebrities, who will gather at the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC, reading out the Bible in 12 hour sessions. The event is organised by Bunni Pound, a former political adviser who founded Christians Engaged and is involved with the Family Policy Alliance Foundation. Trump will read from 2 Chronicles 7:11-22, describing God’s appearance to Solomon, when he promised: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land”, a significant verse in Trump’s presidency. CNN reports that in 2016, Billy Graham’s daughter said this scripture referred to Trump’s victory, and in the insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January, Couy Griffin of “Cowboys for Trump,” read out the verse to the crowd.
Launch of research into Muslim converts in Britain
The Ayaan Institute is launching an investigation into why Britons are converting to Islam, and why many disappear from community life. There is no reliable data set on how many people are converting to Islam in Britain, and estimates vary between 30,000 to more than 150,000. The team is inviting mosques, charities, and support groups working with converts to contribute anonymised data in a “whole-of-community” census approach. The research director at the Ayaan Institute, Yahya Birt, said: “We know more about convert reoffending rates in the prison system than we do about convert success in family life. The public narrative is stuck on fear or fascination. We want to move to evidence. Why do some converts thrive, while others experience isolation, homelessness, or complete disengagement from religious support networks?” The co-researcher, sociologist, Dr Will Barylo, said: “This is not a security study. It is a social study about identity, belonging, and institutional failure. If a convert walks away from the Muslim community, we want to know why – not to judge them, but to fix what is broken.” The research will be conducted in partnership with the the Convert Muslim Foundation and Islamic Education and Research Academy.
Ukraine churches ‘subject to increasing Russia attacks‘
A Baptist minister and eight church members were killed when Russia bombed their church, the House of the Gospel Baptist church in Zaporizhzhia, during a prayer meeting last week. The Embassy of Ukraine in the US called it “a deliberate attack on people of faith.” The Baptist Press reports that Mission Eurasia, a Christian humanitarian organisation, said that churches serving communities are often targeted and congregants have been displaced. Colby Barrett, a US filmmaker who has produced a documentary on attacks against Christians in Ukraine, says Russia has increasingly attacked churches and humanitarian centres. He said last September there was a near miss, when two Russian drones narrowly missed a newly built mega church in Kyiv where hundreds of pastors from across Ukraine were meeting. They carried on and the service was held as normal. Mr Barrett said: “The resilience and faith of these folks is just mind blowing.”
Archbishop of Canterbury announces visits to five dioceses
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, will visit four dioceses this year to meet clergy and congregations in parishes, chaplaincies, schools, healthcare settings and church-run projects. She will go to Peterborough, Rochester, Leicester and Hereford. Worcester will follow in early 2027.
Bishop becomes co-chair of APPG for Safeguarding in Faith Communities
Bishop Joanne Grenfell, Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, is the new co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Safeguarding in Faith Communities. She has served as the lead safeguarding bishop for the Church of England for the past three years and took her seat in the Lords in February this year. The APPG was set up in 2021 to increase awareness of issues relating to safeguarding within faith settings and to provide an opportunity for faith communities to inform safeguarding discourse, share best practice and work together to create safer places.
Launch of new international safeguarding agency
Justin Humphreys, former CEO and Head of Safeguarding Development at the leading Christian safeguarding charity Thirtyone:eight, has launched an international consultancy, “Integra Safeguarding”. The aim is to use his 30 years of experience to help organisations create safer cultures. He said: “The sad reality is that people will be experiencing harm today, and they will experience harm tomorrow”, so organisations need to find new ways to create safer environments.
The priests who combine parish work with being a hairdresser, teacher and probation officer
The Church of England has produced a series of films with priests who combine their parish duties with secular careers. They include a full time hairdresser who says: “I can honestly say that I have more deeply spiritual conversations when people are sitting in my chair, than I ever do in church”; and the leader of a school academy in the Wirral who says his dual role “helps me to understand the society in which we live in a broader and deeper way.” Others combine the priesthood with being a data analyst, solicitor, vet, teaching assistant or doctor. Bishop Julie Conalty, who leads the Church of England’s 2,000+ self-supporting ministers, is a former probation officer who once combined her role as a priest. She says some people think of self-supporting priests as free labour, but this misses the distinctive nature of the ministry, bringing new perspectives, new opportunities to share the faith and, if they join as retirees, experience from long careers. The Bishop’s interview and series of films are here.
