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Below is a list of research papers, reports and other publications from Ekklesia dating back to 2004. Click on the title for more information on each publication, and a link through to the item itself where available. You might also like to sign up for our award winning weekly research bulletin which will ensure you are kept up-to-date with the very latest research from Ekklesia.

Research papers in the category Sex and Gender.

  • 01 Feb 2009
    Contrasting church attitudes on human rights for all

    Many faith communities are officially committed to human rights for all. Yet in practice, some of their leaders may be strongly opposed. Since 1948 Christians have played a significant role in extending personal and societal respect for human dignity. At the same time, church leaders have also questioned and denied rights-based precepts and practices in a number of instances. In this paper, Savitri Hensman traces these discontinuities while pointing to the substantial traditional theological and spiritual resources that can be deployed in producing and developing shared commitments to freedom and justice. The publication of this document coincides with the Primates of the Anglican Communion meeting in Egypt from 1-4 February 2009, the upcoming Church of England General Synod discussion on the Human Rights Act, the Convention on Modern Liberty in the UK, and recent comments on human rights from the Vatican, from Evangelicals and from the new Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Kyrill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad. In a church contexts, arguments about sexuality are significant because they highlight the extent to which protagonists are, or are not, willing to extend equal recognition and rights to those who are 'other', or with whose lifestyle they disagree.

  • 16 Jan 2009
    The Gaza conflict in context

    In this research essay, Professor Paul Rogers, Global Security Consultant to Oxford Research Group (ORG - http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk) analyses the background to the outbreak of violent hostilities in the Gaza strip. He looks beyond the current crisis to the likely larger ramifications of these events, arguing that prolonged use of extreme force will not achieve security for the region.

  • 04 Dec 2008
    A step forward in the faith schools debate

    An initial response to the Runnymede Trust's report, 'Right to Divide? Faith Schools and Community Cohesion'.

  • 20 Oct 2008
    Towards an economy worth believing in

    A paper summarising some recent interventions from faith bodies on the debate about economy, globally and locally. It also highlights the historic links between Christian thought/action and oikonomia (the management of the household), some different stances on markets, and Ekklesia's own research paper, Is God bankrupt? - a response to a British and Irish churches' report on 'prosperity with a purpose', published in 2005. A brief update has been included relating to the 2008 credit crunch / banking crisis.

  • 30 Aug 2008
    Changing faith schools for the better

    To coincide with Ekklesia's involvement as a founding member of the Accord coalition, this paper contains a cross-section of documents and media articles from Ekklesia and other sources (2205-2008) to resource the ongoing debate about the reform of faith schools. These cover a range of issues concerning current policies of – and towards – religiously sponsored state-funded schools, in the light of the principles and practice of fully-inclusive schooling. They remain the copyright of their originators and contain the original link. We begin with the Accord principles and the case for them; then four documents from the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) with whom we cooperated on their very helpful Faith Schools Position Paper; Populus polling data on the public and faith schools; then a selection of media articles and research (including LSE, Institute of Education and National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), in chronological order.