BRIEFING
Christian campaigners call on HSBC to put people and planet first
CHRISTIAN campaigning organisation, JustMoney Movement, is attending HSBC’s AGM in London today (Friday 3 May), calling on the bank to take urgent action on the global plastics crisis. The AGM is taking place at InterContinental London O2, where the bank’s board and...
Sudan ‘a forgotten conflict with no winners’
BISHOP Paul Swarbrick, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference’s Lead Bishop for Africa, and Bishop Nick Baines, the Church of England’s Lead Bishop for Foreign Affairs, have issued a joint statement on the conflict in Sudan, saying the war is “a forgotten conflict with no...
UK government policies harming health and cutting lives short
THE leading global expert on health inequalities and Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity (IHE), Professor Sir Michael Marmot, has written a damning letter to party leaders and MPs across the country, after a new UCL IHE report confirmed that UK government...
Dividend payouts rise 14 times faster than workers’ pay
GLOBAL dividend payments to shareholders grew an average of 14 times faster than worker pay across 31 countries, which together account for 81 per cent of global GDP, over the last three years, analysis from Oxfam reveals. In the UK, accounting for inflation,...
Extreme heat forces closure of all schools in Bangladesh
EXTREME heat has forced the closure of all schools in Bangladesh as temperatures soared to 42°C (108 °F), 16 degrees more than the annual average, says Save the Children. Thirty three million children are affected. This is the second consecutive year that Bangladesh...
COMMENTARY
The traumatic identity of the Armenian Genocide
MANY decades ago, when my bones were less creaky and when I was a happy-go-lucky young lad with hardly any serious responsibilities, I used to sit next to my maternal grandfather and listen intently to his nostalgic stories. I was very fond of my granddad – médzbaba...
Threatened with resurrection
Luke 24. 36b – 58; Acts 3. 12-19; Psalm 4. “They were startled and terrified… Jesus said to them, why are you frightened and why do doubts arise in your hearts?” AT THE VERY core of Christian believing is the conviction that – despite persistent appearances to the...
The two child limit: a cruel and unfair false economy
EVERY CHILD born in the UK, whatever their circumstances, is a member of our society. Society has a choice – we can do our best to support and nurture those children, to help them grow into healthy, happy adults, or we can turn our backs on them, allow them to...
Scotland, gender reform and law: difference and common ground
ISSUES around gender identity, wider equality, law and policy have been much in the news recently. A Scottish government attempt to overturn the UK government veto of a bill to make it easier to change legal gender failed. But Scotland’s leaders are pressing ahead...
Can we dare to hope when it comes to Israel-Palestine?
I DECIDED several weeks ago that it was time to write another article for Ekklesia, following a long absence from its web pages. Ekklesia published my second book in 2019, and may hopefully be able to produce an edited and updated second edition in the near future. So...
MEDIA
UPDATES
Gaza news updates and truth-sourcing
IT HAS long been said that truth is the first casualty in war. In the age of digital technology, social media, AI and deepfakes, that awful reality has been turbo-charged. The continuing bombardment and assault on Gaza and the Russian invasion of Ukraine are prime...
Stations of the Cross for Gaza
WE ARE grateful to our friends at Christians for Palestine for producing a moving set of meditations and prayers for Gaza, using the traditional form of the Stations of the Cross, which depict Jesus's path to crucifixion. In commending these reflections we remember...
Confronting Christian Zionism and advocating for peace and justice
JOIN the Rev Dr Munther Isaac for a thought-provoking online conversation (6:30pm UK time, Sunday 4th February) on combatting Christians Zionism and empowering people of faith to advocate for Palestinian liberation. This will be an insightful discussion, shedding...