King Charles visits new Sikh gurdwara in Luton
King Charles has visited the newly built Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Luton, meeting the volunteers who run the Luton Sikh soup kitchen, which provides vegetarian hot meals every day of the year for the community. He wore a turban as a mark of respect, shared the folded hands greeting “Sat Siri Akal” and was given a shawl to wear as he sat in the prayer room. He also met volunteers who run the Sikh school and spoke to students learning Punjabi and traditional music. Luton Today reported that he was greeted by Professor Gurch Randhawa, deputy lieutenant and director of the Institute for Health Research at Bedfordshire University, who said: “He was so much more human than I imagined and showed a genuine interest in everything he saw.” The visit was part of a day of engagements for the King in Luton, marred when an egg was thrown at him. A man has been arrested.
Appeal to improve data collection on the British Sikh population
Sikh MP Preet Kaur is seeking a change in the way data about the Sikh population is captured in the census and by other public bodies. The census found 524,000 Sikhs ticked the Sikh box under the question “What is your religion?”, but she says this fails to capture non-religious or non-practising Sikhs. In an open letter to the Office of National Statistics, she says that 100,000 people ticked “Sikh” in answer to the ethnicity question on the census and it is not clear if they are additional or duplicates. She says that apart from the census, most data identifies the Sikh population through the ethnicity question and she is asking for greater clarity all round, in order to target appropriate help for education, welfare and health issues. Full letter on Twitter here
Concern over securing church schools’ religious character as Schools Bill is dropped
The government is to drop the schools bill, which would have made every school part of an academy trust, created a register of children not in the education system and closed illegal religious schools. The bill had run into fierce opposition especially over the academy plans, but the Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, told the education committee on Wednesday that many objectives could be achieved without further legislation. Nigel Genders, the Church of England’s chief education officer, told the Church Times he was disappointed that work to ensure aspects of the religious character of church schools, such as RE, collective worship, governance, and land, will not now be secured on a statutory basis, but work will continue to ensure this happens in other ways. Humanists UK had campaigned to close illegal religious schools and said failure to legislate will destroy the lives of many extremely vulnerable children.
Christian moral defence of policy to send asylum seekers to Rwanda
Three religious leaders have written a series of essays for the centre right think tank Policy Exchange, supporting the idea of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda. The Rev Prof Nigel Biggar, former bishop Dr Michael Nazir Ali and Catholic philosopher John Finnis have produced From the Channel to Rwanda, days before a Lords debate on the issue. John Finnis said there was nothing unethical or morally dubious about the policy. Nigel Biggar said it was not enough to hurry from moral principle to judgment without taking into account details and circumstances. Dr Michael Nazir Ali said it could deter asylum seekers from making dangerous sea journeys. The Telegraph has picked up the story here
Baptist preacher wins Georgia senate seat for the Democrats
Baptist preacher Raphael Warnock has won the Georgia senate seat for the Democrats, after a runoff election, following an inconclusive result in November. He is a southern Baptist preacher, whose Atlanta church was once led by civil rights leader Martin Luther King. A discussion on America’s National Public Radio explores the religious dimensions of the election between Raphael Warnock and the Republican’s candidate, the former NFL superstar Herschel Walker, noting how the election “pits the Black church’s legacy of social justice against the white conservative evangelical vote”. Warnock’s election secures the Senate for the Democrats.
Hindu leader’s appeal to say prayers in parliament is rebuffed
Rajan Zed, president of Universal Society of Hinduism, from Nevada, says he has written to the Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle and Lords Speaker Lord McFall asking to deliver a Hindu opening prayer in each of the Houses of Parliament. The request has been turned down, which Rajan Zed said was a case of blatant unfairness, exclusionary attitude and discrimination. Prayers are usually said in the Lords by a bishop or in the Commons by the speaker’s chaplain. Rajan Zed read a prayer in the US Senate which was interrupted by Christian hecklers in 2007. A week ago, he protested at a ballet due to be staged in Cardiff, on the ground it was orientalist, which resulted in the company agreeing to find an alternative piece.
New EU envoy for freedom of religion or belief
The European Union has appointed Belgian diplomat Baron Frans van Daele as the new special envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU. The role had been vacant for a year and there was pressure for it to be filled so that the cause was always part of human rights initiatives. Baron van Daele joined the Belgian diplomatic service in 1971 and has served in the EU, USA and with Nato.
Fundamentalist Mormon sect leader with 20 wives due to appear in court
The Associated Press reports that court documents reveal the leader of a small polygamous group on the Arizona-Utah border had taken at least 20 wives, most of them minors, and punished followers who did not treat him as a prophet. Samuel Bateman, 46, has pleaded not guilty to child abuse charges and federal charges of tampering with evidence, a case scheduled for January. Two of his wives appeared in court yesterday charged with kidnapping and impeding a foreseeable prosecution after eight girls associated with the group fled from state foster care. AP reports that Bateman was a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, until he left in recent years and started his own small offshoot group. Polygamy is a legacy of the early teachings of the mainstream church, but it abandoned the practice in 1890 and now strictly prohibits it.
