Ukraine news
President Biden meets NATO leaders in Brussels as NATO says four new battlegroups will be sent to Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania; 100,000 people in Mariupol are said to be without food and water; US source say Ukraine’s counter-offensive near Kyiv has pushed back Russian forces
Orthodox leaders join condemnation of Russia’s action in Ukraine
Metropolitan Ioseb , an Orthodox church leader in Georgia, has said that any Patriarch or Bishop who supports Russia’s actions is a heretic and has nothing to do with Orthodoxy. In his Sunday sermon, he said that he was ashamed of people, including clergy, who say that Ukraine is being punished because it is a sinful country. “How can a clergyman justify the killing of children or the death of another man?” he asked. If the war was a pursuit of “Holy Russia”, there was nothing holy about razing Ukraine to the ground. His remarks were reported by The “Ecclesiastical News of Georgia” via the Orthodox Times
Metropolitan Iobi of Urbnisi and Ruisi, also from the Georgian Orthodox Church, questioned the true faith of the Russians. Speaking yesterday he said we are on the verge of a third world war. “Russia is an orthodox country. And yes, it may be, but its leadership is not orthodox”.
Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine, who leads the Ukrainian Orthodox church pointing towards Constantinople, presided at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Kyiv yesterday. Prayers were said for the soldiers defending Ukraine and for the people and those who have died. In addition, Metropolitan Epifaniy prayed for “the liberation of Ukraine from the invasion of foreign forces”.
Other news
Christian charity warns people will fall into serious debt despite spring statement
Christians Against Poverty has criticised the spring statement by the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, saying it failed to create financial security for low income families. In the statement, he laid out measures to address the cost of living rise, with prices going up 6.2 per cent in the past year. He cut fuel duty by 5p, raised the threshold at which people start paying National Insurance, and pledged to cut the basic rate of income tax before the next general election. CAP said he should have done more, such as upgrading benefits by 7 per cent, cancelling the freeze on Local Housing Allowance to reflect rising rent costs and ensuring the social security system is linked to real costs. It says the announcements ignored people in the toughest situations and warned that many more people will continue to fall into serious problem debt.
We’re young, woke and Christian: hear our voices
Young Christians who feel marginalised, not listened to, powerless, and even oppressed within the church, have been given a voice in a new explosive book. In Young, Woke and Christian: Words from a Missing Generation, 15 authors address “woke” issues, ranging from climate change and purity culture to racism and food poverty, with views that they say put them on the boundaries of church life. In a Religion Media Centre briefing, they shared their frustration at the church’s inability to change and spoke of “transgressive” action instead of dialogue to provoke conversations leading to change. Anna Twomlow, a seventh-generation Methodist, said food poverty should not exist and called on the church to encourage protest, large-scale systematic change which recognises that the issues that create food poverty are based on inequalities. View the briefing on our YouTube channel here and read our report of the briefing here.
Brian Houston, founder and leader of Hillsong church, resigns
Brian Houston has resigned as global senior pastor of Hillsong Church after an investigation into inappropriate behaviour around women. He was facing two allegations of misconduct, involving sending inappropriate text messages to a member of staff and entering the hotel room of a woman while drunk. He was already on leave preparing to fight a court case, accused of covering up the historic child abuse of his father. Hillsong’s board issued a statement yesterday saying it accepted the resignation and was committed to an independent review of governance structure and processes. It was grateful for all that Brian Houston and his wife Bobbie had done to start the church in Sydney which grew to churches in 25 countries.
Memorial to slave trader at Jesus College Cambridge must remain in place
An application from Jesus College Cambridge to remove a memorial to a slave trader from its chapel has been refused. A consistory (church) court ordered the memorial to 17th-century benefactor Tobias Rustat, with links to the slave trade, should remain, saying there was “a false narrative” about the scale of his financial rewards from slavery. Removal would cause “considerable or notable harm to the significance of the chapel as a building of special architectural or historic interest”. Judgment via Law and Religion UK here.
Black church leaders join criticism of Child Q strip search
The National Church Leaders Forum, representing Britain’s black Christian community, has voiced disdain, shock and outrage at the treatment of “Child Q”, a 15 year old black schoolgirl who was strip searched by police in Hackney, on suspicion of possessing marijuana. It says the response was incomprehensible, disproportionate and harmful and it was inexcusable that the child’s request for her mother to be present was totally ignored. The Forum is calling for those responsible from the school and the police to be suspended pending a full investigation and for the law to be changed preventing a child being strip-searched unless their parents or guardians are present and agreeable. The girl is suing the Metropolitan Police – no drugs were found. The Local Child Safeguarding Review found that “racism (whether deliberate or not) was likely to have been an influencing factor in the decision to undertake a strip search”.
Australian Christian college staff could be fired for being openly gay
Teachers at Citipointe Christian College in Brisbane have been asked to sign contracts which said they could be sacked for being openly gay. The contracts came to light one month after the school asked families to sign documents saying gay acts are immoral and transgender students would only be known by their biological sex. The resulting disquiet led to the principal standing down and the contracts were withdrawn. The Guardian quotes Queensland’s attorney general saying it was appalling to see “these awful and damaging clauses in the employment contracts”. The school says the staff contracts are under review.
Hijab wearing barrister becomes QC
Sultana Tafadar, a criminal barrister, has become the second hijab wearing barrister to become a Queen’s Counsel. She told the Press Association that her appointment could help hijab-wearing women’s dreams of reaching the heights of the profession “become a reality”. The first woman wearing a hijab to have taken silk was Shaheed Fatima QC in 2016.
