Toppling slave traders: we wouldn’t name a school after Jimmy Savile, would we?
By Lianne Kolirin, 16 June 2020 Statues, which have for decades, if not centuries, peered down silently on oblivious passers-by, have in recent days leapt to the top of the news agenda. Chief among them has been that of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston, which was toppled during a Black Lives Matter demonstration on 7 […]
Archbishops condemn West Bank annexation
By Lianne Kolirin, 16 June 2020 The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster have written to Israel’s ambassador to Britain to protest against Israel’s plan to annex West Bank territory next month. In a highly unusual move, the Most Rev Justin Welby has joined forces with Cardinal Vincent Nichols, head of the […]
Religion News 16 June
The Bishop of St Asaph, in north Wales, says the two statues of the explorer of Africa, Henry Morton Stanley, should be taken down. The Rt Rev Gregory Cameron told Premier Christian Radio that they were only put up in 2010 and 2011 and he had protested then. Stanley was born in Denbigh and travelled […]
Places of Worship Re-opening
By Lianne Kolirin Congregations have quietly celebrated the news today that places of worship in England have been allowed to reopen for private prayer. The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Cardinal Vin Nichols, leader of the Roman Catholic church in England and Wales, prayed together in Westminster Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, socially distanced, to […]
Unimpressed Catholics may hold key to Trump’s future
By Rosie Dawson, 15 June 2020 As Donald Trump’s poll ratings wobble all attention is focused on the white evangelical voters who delivered him the White House in the presidential election of 2016. But could it be the white Catholic vote which is decisive this time round? At the beginning of March, support for Donald […]
Religion News 15 June
Places of worship may open from now on. An earlier decision to allow this from Monday 15 June was suddenly changed to Saturday 13 June, in a government announcement on Friday morning. It took most churches by surprise and many stuck to their plans to open this week and beyond. Cardinal Vincent Nichols, leader of […]
How Faith Groups helped in Grenfell Aftermath
By Tim Wyatt, 12 June 2020 Sunday will mark the third anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire. The coronavirus pandemic and lockdown have forced the cancellation of many of the planned commemorations. In the place of the organised services and vigils, churches across London and further afield will instead ring their bells 72 times — […]
Thirty-six years on, Sikhs tell of their trauma at the 1984 Amritsar ‘Holocaust’
by Minreet Kaur The assault on the Golden Temple in Amritsar in June 1984, which led to thousands being killed, caused collective trauma in the Sikh community. About 250,000 Sikhs were living in the UK at this time. The event is commonly referred to as the third Sikh holocaust. Gurdwaras and organisations observe the anniversary […]
Religion News 12 June
The Sandford St Martin awards for excellence in religious broadcasting were announced last night in an online event, replacing the usual ceremony at Lambeth Palace. The Trust ‘promotes and rewards excellence in broadcasting that engages with religion, ethics or spirituality.’ The Sandford St Martin Trustees’ Award went to Stormzy, for ‘eloquently and articulately translating his […]
Religion News 11 June
Church of England bishops have ‘taken the knee’ in protest at racial injustice. The Bishops of Leicester, Coventry and Warwick have been pictured kneeling alongside their clergy and lay colleagues for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the length of time George Floyd was held to the ground by police in Minneapolis, before he died. Bishops […]
