churches election bulletin
issue 2 - march 2010
Although the date of the General Election is still unknown the closer we get to the poll the more likely it seems that May 6th will be chosen as the date when we can all cast our vote. The churches have produced a range of exciting election materials to help keep you informed and engaged as the General Election campaign moves into a higher gear.
Churches election website
The Churches Together in Britain and Ireland election website is a resource for all the churches. Exciting new resources available this month include a useful new download General Election 2010 - A Theology, a paper by Rt Revd Dr Laurie Green, Bishop of Bradwell which looks at the theology of engaging in elections and criteria that can be applied when deciding how to vote.
The different subject pages of Faith in Politics are now also available as web pages. You are welcome to reproduce material from these, but it would be helpful if you could say "reproduced from Churches Together in Britainand Ireland web resources".
Hold a church hustings
The online Hustings registration system and database, where you can advertise your meeting or see what is happening in your constituency, is now working, with plenty of events already entered. To search for a Hustings in your constituency, please go to www.ctbi.org.uk/428. If you are interested in organising a Hustings, please register your details at www.ctbi.org.uk/444.
URC "green church" is feted by politicians
Redland Park United Reformed Church in Bristol has such strong eco-credentials that politicians are flocking there to see how it's done.
The church's reputation for good green deeds began a year ago, when it installed 48 solar panels on its southfacing roof. The measure made the church Bristol's biggest micro-generation site, producing enough power for much of the church's lighting or, over the year, to boil around 200,000 kettles.
Local MPs Stephen Williams and Kerry McCarthy climbed the roof to inspect the technology. Then, earlier this month, came the call from energy and climate minister Ed Miliband. "The caretaker came and said, ‘we've got the government on the phone for you," says minister the Revd Douglas Burnett. "It was Ed Miliband's PA. She said, ‘Ed's in Bristol tomorrow. Can he come and see you?"
The Church has also received a congratulatory letter from the Prime Minister during an Operation Noah event.
For more information about Redland Park Church, see the church website.
Choosing the Common Good
Choosing the Common Good is the latest report by the Roman Catholic Church. It presents some of the underlying principles and values by which we seek to construct a just and civil society. In this report the Bishops of England and Wales present some of the key themes of Catholic Social Teaching in the light of some of its recent developments and of the changed conditions in contemporary Britain.
Two events are anticipated in the publication of Choosing the Common Good. The forthcoming General Election and the anticipated visit of Pope Benedict XVI in the autumn.
Nick Clegg MP launches Salvation Army Social Justice Lectures
'Giving each child a fair chance'
The importance of education and creating fairness in British society were set out by Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg in a speech to The Salvation Army. Speaking on the 1st March at the church and charity's UK and Ireland Territorial Headquarters in London to an invited audience of 150 leaders and innovators from the third sector and Salvation Army leaders, staff and service users, Nick Clegg MP set out the importance of early years education in tacking inequality and called for parents and schools to work together to ensure children get the best possible start in life.
The Liberal Democrat Leader was launching the first in a series of Social Justice Lectures with senior politicians from across the political spectrum hosted by The Salvation Army. The next Salvation Army Social Justice event will take place on the 23rd of April, when Secretary of State for Communities John Denham MP will speak at a Salvation Army centre in Southampton.
You can watch the video of the Nick Clegg Social Justice on YouTube.
Now is the Time
Baroness Shirley Williams is warning that the proliferation of nuclear weapons is one of the greatest threats to the survival of humankind. The Prime Minister's advisor on nuclear proliferation made the statement just days after the White House indicated plans for ‘dramatic reductions' in the nuclear arsenal of the United States of America.
Baroness Williams was endorsing a campaign by an alliance of nine UK Churches, which calls on the British Government to make a commitment to achieving a world free of nuclear weapons, building a safer future for all. The Churches' campaign, entitled Now is the Time, joins the World Council of Churches and others in pressing for governments to put all bomb-grade material under international control and commit to making the use and possession of nuclear weapons illegal through a new Nuclear Weapons Convention. They are asking people to sign an online petition expressing support for these aims.
World Wide Web
A wide range of resources have been produced for the General Election by Churches and Christian Charities:
Baptist Union of Great Britain
Bible Society's take on faith and politics on the Susa site
Help persuade your Parliamentary candidates to sign the Sanctuary Pledge
Does your MP back the Robin Hood Tax on bankers to raise money for the poor?
For further information please e-mail.
