UCB Broadcast November 2006
Hello and welcome to the Parliamentary prayer update, my name is Gareth Wallace and I work in Westminster for the Evangelical Alliance Public Affairs Department.
Faith & Nation
The Evangelical Alliance launched The Faith & Nation report on 23 October. The launch, at 1 Whitehall Place in central London was attended by Press, MPs and Christian leaders.
The report represents three years work by an independent commission and engages with many of the challenges facing contemporary society. It makes recommendations about evangelical Christians’ roles on issues such as religious freedom, constitutional reform and education and faith schools, terrorism and debt-relief.
It supports a mandate for Christian to get involved in society in favour of peace, justice and the relief of poverty and suffering.
You can read the Faith & Nation Report as a pdf or order a hard copy at a cost of £10 inc post and packing by ringing the Evangelical Alliance office on 0207 207 2100
Please pray that the Faith and Nation report will help to stimulate debate and discussion in society about the important role that Christian faith plays in personal, community and public life.
Stop Climate Chaos ‘I count’ rally
A coalition of UK environment, development and women’s charities organised a demonstration in London on Saturday the 4th of November against climate change. The Stop Climate Chaos coalition includes several Christian charities notably Evangelical Alliance member charity Tearfund.
The ‘I count’ rally’s goal was to petition the Government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3% annually. The rally was timed to coincide with the United Nations summit on climate change to be held in Nairobi from the 6th to the 17th of November.
The rally organisers were expecting about 5000 to turn out but over 25000 people attended the event. The pre-rally church service in St Martin in the fields was packed out with standing room only. The Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones delivered a passionate appeal that we needed to act on Climate change ‘for Heaven’s sake’.
Action: Tearfund have extensive details of ways we can reduce our impact on the planet including a free booklet entitled For Tomorrow too. This free guide offers some practical suggestions to reduce your personal contribution to climate change: small changes that could help do the world some good as well as save you time, money and stress.
Please pray that our Government and political parties will seek to address the complex problems around the climate change issue.
Equality Bill Update
We are particularly concerned that whilst the British Govt has announced a delay in deciding what to do about the SOR in England and Wales, in Northern Ireland it appears that they are simply going to lay the regulations through orders in council during November, This mechanism does not allow for any debate at all.
Evangelical Alliance Northern Ireland has today issued a statement expressing deep concern about this contradictory situation and we are pressing the Government for explanations.
Evangelical Alliance supporters in Northern Ireland may wish to raise the issue with their MLAs and MPs Evangelical Alliance supporters in the rest of the UK may wish to write to their MP about this worrying development and seek clarification from the Government about their intentions with regards to the Sexual Orientation Regulations of the Discrimination Law Review.
Please pray that the Government will listen to Christian concern across all parts of the United Kingdom.
Asylum call for evidence
Does your church have stories on Asylum Conversion? The Evangelical Alliance is looking into the issue of asylum seekers' conversion to Christianity. We met with the Home Office back in 2004 regarding this matter. We do not have the capacity to take on individual cases but are keen to discuss with contacts in the Home Office the issues faced by asylum seekers who convert to Christianity in this country.
We are working with organisations that already do excellent work in this field and we are seeking to bring together Church leaders and charities in discussion with the Government.
This issue has previously attracted attention for the following reasons:
> there seems to be little knowledge about the Christian faith in the adjudication process and so unfair tests and questions are asked of asylum seekers to 'prove' that their faith is genuine;
> there seems to be patchy knowledge about countries of origin that asylum seekers are returned to and so the threat of persecution because of a conversion to Christianity in this country is often overlooked or understated;
> evidence provided by Christian pastors or ministers seems not to be taken fully into account in the appeal process.
We are interested to see if this is still a 'live' issue?
Do you know of any cases recently where people claiming asylum in this country, having converted to Christianity whilst in the UK, have been refused status and been sent back to face almost certain persecution?
Do you have any contacts that might be useful to us? If you think you might be able to help please contact the Evangelical Alliance public affairs team at pub-aff@eauk.org.
Queens Speech
The current Parliamentary session came to and end on Wednesday 8th November. MPs and members of the House of Lords will return to Parliament on Wednesday the 15 November for the Queen's Speech, which outlines the government's plans for new laws in the next session.
Please pray for wisdom and energy for MP’s as they embark upon another year of parliamentary business.
Pray that the legislation that the Government will propose will effectively address some of the issues our nation is facing.
Further Prayer and Action
For further insights on these and other issues The Evangelical Alliance Public Affairs department produces a monthly parliamentary magazine, PQ, and a monthly ‘Prayer and Campaigns’ action and prayer sheet. If you have any questions please e-mail the public affairs team at pub-aff@eauk.org
