Scientology: Questions about religion, the state and marriage

by | Dec 12, 2013

Commenting on the UK Supreme Court’s ruling that Scientology is a religion in R (Hodkin & Anor) v Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages [2013] UKSC 77, Simon Barrow, co-director of the religion and society think-tank Ekklesia, said: “Even...

Ten steps towards improving human rights in Pakistan

by | Dec 12, 2013

In Ekklesia’s news briefing service, we reported this week on renewed calls for an end to serious violations of human rights against religious minorities in Pakistan occasioned by the country’s notorious blasphemy law...

Petitioning to support Christians in Syria

by | Dec 10, 2013

The announcement of a 22 January 2014 date for the Geneva II talks on the future of Syria is a ray of hope in the darkness that came immediately after an Open Doors Pray for Syria event in Oxford – and gave added impetus to our Save Syria campaign. The announcement of...

The ‘perfect host’ and the true word of welcome

by | Dec 9, 2013

Yesterday I received an email from John Lewis inviting me to “be the perfect host this Christmas”. This would apparently be facilitated by the purchase of “cookware” and “serveware” which would enable me to “cook with ease from morning to night.” Yesterday I...

The WCA is not fit for purpose

by | Dec 9, 2013

Commenting on the publication of People’s review of the WCA: further evidence (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/19621 ), Simon Barrow, co-director of the beliefs and values think-tank Ekklesia, said: “The accumulating research evidence for the hugely...