The church is running out of justifications for the various anomalies it clings onto, and it is just a matter of time before they go completely, says Jonathan Bartley. We cannot proclaim the message of God's liberating future by clinging to the past.

Church leaders and journalists have little idea of the pressures that each other face, according to German Lutheran Bishop Margot Kässmann, who has called for a new understanding.

The Economist magazine, a highly influential English-language international weekly, has come out in favour of the disestablishment of the Church of England and a clearer distinction between religion and governance.