Thousands celebrate Eid al Adha
Muslims across the UK have celebrated Eid al Adha, marking the end of the Hajj, with family gatherings and large social events where thousands of Muslims gather for prayer and festivities, including thousands at Platt Fields, Manchester, 4,000 at a sports centre in Belfast, thousands more at Sefton Park in Liverpool and Lewsey Park in Luton. The Times has a picture gallery of Eid al Adha celebrations around the world. Eid al-Adha means “Feast of the Sacrifice” and commemorates the story of Abraham who was willing to sacrifice his son as God commanded, but at the last moment an angel appeared and then a ram, which was killed instead. It brings to an end the period of Dhu al-Hijja, the time of the Hajj when Muslims often fast and give to good causes. Sweet food is prepared and families gather together.
Seven dead after Hindu festival procession caught overhead electricity lines
Seven people died and 18 were injured in a Hindu festival procession in the Indian town of Kumarghat, near Bangladesh, when a carnival chariot touched overhead electricity lines causing electric shocks. The Ulto Rath procession commemorates the journey of the Hindu god Jagannath and his two sibling deities Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra, and takes place one week after the Rath Yatra festival. Emergency services were called and took the injured to a nearby hospital, where six are critically ill.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints introduce mandatory DBS checks
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United Kingdom is introducing DBS checks for anyone working with children or vulnerable adults. The Religion News Service reports that this follows a campaign by Sara Delaney, an English church member and retired social worker. The report says she was surprised when the Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse was told there had only been 16 recorded allegations of sexual abuse within the church over the previous ten years, because she had heard of more. She gathered supporters and started campaigning for better safeguarding procedures with a podcast, meetings with MPs, presentations and eventually letters to all the church’s bishops, which eventually led to the change, set out in a letter to all male leaders of the church in the Europe north area. RNS story is here.
Christian school told to urgently review “unmoderated Christian” curriculum
Bournemouth Christian School, with a roll of 23 children, has been judged inadequate in an Ofsted inspection, for teaching a curriculum through an “unmoderated Christian world view”. The report said children’s understanding is “impeded by treating Biblical interpretation as fact in subjects such as science or history”. It said teachers do not support pupils to analyse and evaluate texts. The school has been told to urgently review the curriculum alongside remedying other concerns set out in the report.
Call for faith groups to be more involved in social prescribing
FaithAction, an organisation co-ordinating the work of faith groups on the front line in society, is calling for better engagement with faith groups in “social prescribing”, where people are offered social and emotional support. Often this is via GPs but it can be offered through a range of other services. FaithAction has produced a report on its work with 25 faith and community organisations involved with social prescribing schemes. It concludes that faith groups can help reach communities that can benefit most and should be better represented in social prescribing initiatives. Full report here
Swedish Embassy in Baghdad stormed in protest at Quran burning
Iraqi protesters stormed Sweden’s embassy in Baghdad in protest at the burning of the Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm. They were followers of the Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr, carrying leaflets saying “Our constitution is the Quran” and waving flags of his militia, the Mahdi Army. The protest only lasted 15 minutes but the embassy was evacuated as security forces stepped in. The Associated Press reports that some of the protesters also burned rainbow flags, a symbol of LGBTQ+ pride.
A 500 year old prayer book returns to Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds
A rare missal, a book setting out liturgy for the Catholic mass, has been returned in digital form to Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds, where it was used by monks more than 500 years ago. The Yorkshire Post says the Missale ad usum Cistercienci was printed in Paris in 1516 and contains notes and passages the monks wrote by hand. Leeds Central Library bought it in 1901 but it was rediscovered among the book stacks, by librarian Philip Wilde and is being made available in digital copies for visitors to the abbey. The missal itself is on display at Leeds Central Library for the next two weeks.
Medieval Lord Mayor’s chapel in Bristol now in Cathedral’s care
Bristol Cathedral has taken back the care of a medieval chapel nearby, which was sold off by Henry VIII at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries. It stands on a street surrounded by shops and cafes, but inside is magnificently preserved with a fan-vaulted ceiling and an ornate Spanish tiled floor. The chapel is Grade I-listed, owned by the city council and is the Lord Mayor’s chapel. But the Cathedral is now its custodian and it will be open to the public on three days a week, with visitors charged entry fees. Guardian story with pics here
Indian consultant sets record for most visits to places of worship in a month
Education consultant Shashank Sharma, based in Delhi, has gone into the Guinness World Records for visiting the most places of worship by anyone in a month. The Religion News Service says his 76 visits made in June last year included Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples, Sikh gurdwaras, mosques and churches, as well as a Baha’i place of worship. He is Hindu and told RNS he had never encountered a negative reaction as he visited other places of worship, in fact a visit to a mosque in Delhi, where he was the only person present, was overwhelming – “a touching experience”. He sees his project as a “small step toward spreading the message of communal harmony”.
