Key Quotes for 2009

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Last update: Wednesday 25th March




A senior Labour MP revealed yesterday that he voluntarily paid back almost £15,000 of tax-payer funded expenses last year. Former party chairman Ian McCartney said he handed back the cash paid for furnishing his second home after rules were tightened last year. Mr McCartney represents the Makerfield constituency in Wigan.
Politics	The Sentinel– 18 May 2009



Aid agencies have welcomed the end of fighting in Sri Lanka, but warn that the humanitarian crisis created by the conflict is far from over. “Now that the Sri Lankan government has won the war, they must ensure that they win the peace. The priority now is to help those who have had to flee their homes to rebuild their lives,” said Robin Greenwood, director of Christian Aid’s Asia division.
World Issues	Christianity- May 2009



A Staffordshire MP who is the fifth highest claimer of expenses in the Commons has told The Sentinel that all her money has been spent legitimately. Charlotte Atkins, MP for the Staffordshire Moorlands, claimed £443,244 in expenses in four years. Mrs Atkins, who lives in Leek, says all the cash is spent on running her constituency office and paying her four researchers. She added: “I know the public currently regards MPs as a scourge but I believe my record speaks for itself. I am a hardworking MP.”
Politics	The Sentinel– 18 May 2009



Christians are being urged to invite people back to church in September, after a campaign last year saw congregations across the country swell by 40,000. Back to Church Sunday is an initiative to encourage churchgoers to invite someone back to church who no longer attends. Launched in 2004 by one Anglican Church in Manchester, it has since been taken up across thousands of churches. Planned for September 27th this year, it is set to be one of the largest coordinated Anglican events shared across denominations in recent history.
Church	Christianity- May 2009



The two most famous migrants in the Church have delivered staunch defences of what it means to be English, and the role of Christianity in that identity. Although the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Nazir Ali, has recently announced his resignation, an article by him in the Sunday Telegraph demonstrated he is in tune with the Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu, who gave a speech on Englishness at the Sunday Times Literary Festival in Oxford, where he called for St George’s Day to be made a public holiday.
Religion/Spirituality	The Church of England – April 2009



The recession has caused three quarters of UK adults to rethink their core values and reconsider the meaning of life, but hardly any have turned to the church, according to Christian Research. In a survey of more than 2,000 adults, 70 per cent said they were searching for meaning because of the credit crunch, or worries about personal finances or job security, but just three per cent had said they had considered going to church.
Money	Christianity- May 2009



The level of drunkenness in young people could fall if adults took a more disciplined attitude to alcohol, the Bishop of Chelmsford has warned. The bishop, the Rt Rev John Gladwin, said at question time in the House of Lords that “there is some evidence to suggest that the worst problems of alcohol consumption are among the adult middle classes." He added: “We could help young people by having a slightly more disciplined approach to alcohol in the adult community”.
Social Issues	The Church of England– April 2009



Students from a Cambridge college will no longer say a traditional grace before dinner. The all-female Newnham College, founded in 1871, has scrapped the Latin verse to reflect its multi-faith make-up. It will be replaced by a secular verse in Latin. The grace commonly used in recently years was developed by Jocelyn Toynbee, the late art historian and honorary college fellow. Diners thanked ‘Jesum Christum dominium’ which translated as ‘Jesus Christ our Lord’ before formal dinners held once a week during term time. While there is no set grace at the college, Dr Terri Apter, the senior tutor, said most of those used referred to a deity. Dr Apter said the person presiding over dinner would decide what grace to use but students’ wishes would be considered.
Religion/Spirituality	Salvationist- May 2009



Human rights organisation Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has welcomed a decision by Kazakhstan’s Constitutional Council to reject a restrictive draft law that would threaten further to regulate freedom of religion and belief. The decision was announced after the council found the law to be unconstitutional with ‘the rights and freedoms stipulated’ and ‘symptomatic of a lack of respect for the rule of law in Kazakhstan’, said CSW’s advocacy director Alexa Papadouris. The announcement follows lobbying from CSW and other human rights organisations. Ms Papadouris said: ‘It is imperative that the international community now call on the authorities in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to ensure their treatment of religious communities accords with international standards of freedom of religion and belief’.
Religious Persecution	Salvationist– April 2009



The Government must do more during the present financial crisis to help charities operating in developing countries, Christian Aid director Dr Daleep Mukarji has warned. The message was delivered amid revelations that the plummeting value of the sterling has cost Christian Aid 25 per cent of the value of its money, leaving it approximately £15 million out of pocket. This is because the charity pays for all its offices, staff and partners abroad. Christian Aid has now been forced to review its domestic activities and cut funding for a number of its international projects, although it is actively seeking alternative sources of finance, explained Dr Mukarji.
World Issues	Salvationist- May 2009



A call by the Irish Senator Feargal Quinn for the European Union to fix the date of Easter to better accommodate business and tourism has been dismissed by a leading church historian. Dr Salvador Ryan, Professor of Ecclesiastical History at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, said Easter was not a date to be ‘shoe-horned into line with modern commercial realities’. Easter currently falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon of Spring Equinox.
Religion/Spirituality	Salvationist– April 2009



Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has called into question the ‘moral authority’ of Parliament following the MPs’ expenses debacle. He said: “It’s clear that the public at large are scandalised by the way MPs have firstly policed their expenses and allowances, and then we discover there have been widespread abuses of the system they themselves have put in place. It is not a defence to say you have broken no rules because what many of them have done is to milk the system for all it’s worth. When this is public money, it is a betrayal of trust…”
Politics	Salvationist- May 2009



A nuclear free world will only be realised once the United Nations is strengthened, says the former Bishop of Oxford. Lord Harris of Pentregarth also told a House of Lords debate on nuclear proliferation that the UK should axe its Trident deterrent. He told peers that a world without nuclear weapons would, “need much stronger international arrangements to resolve disputes without recourse to war.”
World Issues	The Church of England– April 2009



The Bishop of Bradford fears the recession will lead to cuts in initiatives intended to help poor children. Bishop David James, in his maiden speech to the House of Lords, said that he welcomed the reduction in recent years of child poverty numbers and the heavy investment in school buildings. However, he highlighted a Joseph Rowntree Foundation report that said the recession will not greatly affect the number of poor children, but more will be in ‘severe poverty’. “If these levels of poverty become embedded in the fabric of our society, this will be extremely costly for the country in future because it will affect these children for the whole of their lives.” He said.
Young People	Salvationist- May 2009



Following the BBC’s decision to dismiss its former head of Religion and Ethics the Church of England has said it will keep a close watch on the corporation over the coming months. Mr Wakelin, a Methodist Preacher, was forced to reapply for his job after a department reshuffle but failed to secure it a second time. The Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, the Bishop of Manchester and a senior Church of England spokesman on broadcasting and communications said, “The BBC has assured us that these changes will strengthen their religious output. We very much hope this is the case and we will be monitoring the situation closely. Last week’s decision follows hotly on the heels of the recent appointment of a Sikh to produce Songs of Praise.
Media	The Church of England– April 2009

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