More cash is welcome - but not the whole answer

The Chancellor, Gordon Brown, delivered his 11th (and probably his last) Budget today.  It contained very little that was of surprise - mroe investment in environmental initiatives, harsher penalties against heavier polluters, and greater investment in schools and hospitals.  It is good to see that the importance of caring for our planet and providing better public services were high on the agenda.

I was also very pleased to note the extra investment that was pledged to help tackle child poverty, through education, training and family tax allowances and benefits.  There will also be new funding for community organisations and a drive to increase take-up of the Gift Aid scheme.

There is a growing recognition that poverty is still a harsh reality for many children in Britain, not just in terms of money or possessions, but poverty of aspiration, of identity, or civic poverty.

While extra money will help to tackle all these, a cash injection on its own is just not enough.  We need a new, more participative approach to citizenship and community.  The government needs to recognise the role of the church and other faith groups in building a better world, while the church needs to re-capture it vision as an agency for social change.

I've explored these thoughts in more detail here.

I'd love to know what you think....

The SORs: make up your own mind!

The final vote on the Sexual Orientation Regulations will be taken in the House of Lords tomorrow night (Wednesday, 21st March).  Because of the way the legislative process has worked in this instance, the regulations can only be accepted or rejected in their entirety, not amended in any way.  The SORs have caused great controversy and been subject to strong opposition from some parts of the media.

It remains to be seen which way the vote will go, but many Christians are still confused and concerned about how they might be affected if the legislation is passed.  Faithworks has previously engaged with this issue, and back in January we presented an alternative Christian viewpoint, welcoming the regulations as a way of ensuring goods and services are delivered inclusively and in non-discriminatory ways.  We stand by what we have said.

Today we have issued a guidance document that answers some of the questions that are still concerning many Christians in the UK, such as:
- will my vicar be forced to bless same-sex partnerships?
- will my church have to let out its hall to a group promoting homosexual practice?
You can view this document by clicking here, and you are welcome to forward this document to others concerned if you feel that would be helpful.

We are confident that the SORs will not pose a threat to distinctive Christian identity.

But don't just take our word for it!  The guidance document also has links to the legislation itself, as well as to other government documents summarising what the implications for faith groups will be.

Please do read this information for yourself, and let me know what you think....

Are Christians the victims of discrimination?

This was the question that I was asked to answer on The Heaven and Earth Show on BBC1 last Sunday, 18th March.  It is my view that discrimination against faith groups does exist in the UK, and so consequently, Christians are sometimes the victims of discrimination.

However, there can be a number of reasons for this.  Sometimes, it may be that the services that we are offering are not of a high enough standard, particularly when it comes to issues around funding.  Or, it might be that we are perceived to be a soft target because Christianity is understood to be the majority religion in the UK.  It could also be that people misunderstand what being a Christian really means - they think that all we are interested in is converting people, and do not understand that we care about serving people holistically because it is the right thing to do.  It has to be said, regretfully, that the Church has not always helped itself at changing this misunderstanding.

Discrimination always springs from prejudice, and prejudice always springs from ignorance.  A lot of wider British society is ignorant about what it actually means to have a Christian faith, which often leads to them caricaturing us.

So how do we solve this problem?  I think that we need to address the issue of faith as a motivation for what we do.  This means that government needs to understand what it really means to be a "Christian" project - that we can and do deliver services without trying to force everyone to become Christians.  But it also means that we must live this out, and be non-prejudicial and non-discriminatory in the way that we ourselves work.

The world around us is shifting, and we are moving from a place of privilege to the margins of society, which I believe is a more authentic, although more difficult, place of spirituality and service.  The issues at stake are our understanding of Christian identity, equality, influence, conscience and diversity.  If you would like to read my thoughts on this in detail, please click here.

I would love to hear your views on this - please let me know what you think.

Faith-based Adoption Agencies: government decision does not pose a threat to faith groups

Tony Blair announced on Monday (29th January 2007) that faith-based adoption agencies will not have special exemptions from the new Sexual Orientation Regulations, but that they will have a "transition period" of 21 months before the SORs come fully into force at the end of 2008.  He also paid tribute to the work of agencies motivated by religious faith, and stated that it wsa important to ensure that the expertise and services of these groups was not lost.

Read the full statement here.

Much of the mainstream media has potrayed this as a defeat for the Church.  We strongly believe this is not the case.  The next 21 months will bring the opportunity for all faith-based organisations delivering public services to think about our distinctives, and about our relationship with the state. 

We believe that people have been having the wrong debate, using the wrong language, about the wrong issues.  People are confused about the role of institutional Church, the role of religions and the contributions of faith-based providers.  They are all different and we need this national debate and a new Framework for Faith as a way forward to help people come to terms with these, without discriminating against any population groups.

Faithworks will continue to engage in dialogue with government and churches to help broker a way forward.  I would love to hear your views on this.

A Framework for Faith

I have followed the discussions and comments between Catholic Adoption Agencies and Government Figures over the weekend in relation to the Sexual Orientation Regulations. I have today posted a response we have made on the Faithworks website at www.faithworks.info/latestnews and would be happy to make comment on it here as the debate continues. You will see it is both a maintaining of the Distinctive Position we have held on this issue and a pragamtic attempt to help and support practitioners and activists on the ground through the establishment of a new and innovative way forward. It is time for a new Framewrok for Faith.