Archive for the ‘Moral & Ethical Issues’ Category
National Day of Prayer About Abortion
I’m going to be facilitating a day of prayer on October 27th, the anniversary of the passing of the Abortion Act in the United Kingdom. The day is organised nationally by Image is a Christian charity (registered charity number 1088573) concerned about abortion, euthanasia, human embryo experimentation and human cloning. They are evangelical and non-denominational, believing that every person is made in the image of God, with a life of value from conception to death.
They have a confidential helpline, open seven days a week, which provides help and support during pregnancy, after abortion and in cases of miscarriage. They also train counsellors to work in these areas, and offer help in setting up pregnancy centres. They seek to encourage churches and individual Christians to become involved in life issues. They provide speakers for Christian and non-Christian groups and conferences. They are particularly concerned to see young people reached with sex education within a moral framework. They publish a range of leaflets on abortion and teenage sexuality. They encourage regular prayer for life issues, publish a bi-monthly prayer letter, and organise a National Day of Prayer about abortion on October 27 each year.
The exact time and venue hasn’t yet been decided so I have started a mailing list so that I can email you when I have further details. You can subscribe to this mailing list using the form at the top right hand of my other web site.
I believe this is an important issue for all Christians to be concerned and pray for so please keep in touch and I will let you know more details nearer the time. If this is a new issue or you can’t quite understand it please do add a comment to this post and I’ll try to reply.
Boots plans to sell morning after pill on the internet
Britain’s largest chemist is planning to sell the morning-after pill over the internet, but critics have warned that the scheme is “grossly inappropriate”. Boots is planning to sell the controversial drug, usually sold under the brand name Levonelle, through a new website which enables people to buy certain medications without the need for a prescription. The morning-after pill can cause an early stage abortion, and Boots’ plan would allow anyone with access to a credit card to buy the drug. Critics are concerned that the plan will lead to young girls taking the drugs without any medical advice, and encourage the spread of sexually transmitted infections.
How much more irresponsible can society get? Read this article in full as it has devastating implications for our children. It also undermines the boundaries of family as it means that it is becoming increasingly harder to set moral standards for our children when big companies can undermine parental authority and communication in the name of commerce and gain.
You can read the full article here
I Was Recently Approached To Be Filmed For Channel 4′s 4Thought
I was recently approached by a media company called Waddell Media in Holywood, nr. Belfast who are Channel 4′s producing a series for Channel 4 called 4Thought. This series consists of short films focused on faith and religion, redolent of Thought for the Day, which feature diverse perspectives on questions around morality, religion and ethics. These short programmes transmit 365 days a year, straight after the Channel 4 News every evening. Each programme is approximately 2 minutes long, and features a single person speaking to camera. Each week, the programmes are linked by an underlying theme, related to news events, important anniversaries or religious ideas.
At the time of writing they are setting up a week of films where seven people will be exploring questions around the role of women within the Christian Church and other religious institutions. The springboard is the debate within the Anglican Church regarding women Bishops, and broadening this question to encompass other Christian Churches and also Islam, Hinduism, Judaism etc. The central question is whether women can be spiritual leaders and whether they can have authority over men in this regard.
I was rather chuffed to have been asked to appear on this but was disappointed to discover that they were looking for someone who was opposed to women leading in churches so I didn’t get to do it. Never mind, as the media company have said that they will contact me in future for possibly filming on other subjects.
National Day Of Prayer About Abortion
Wednesday, 27 October 2010, 8:00am – 5:00pm
A National Day of Prayer about abortion is to be held in the UK on
Wednesday, October 27, the anniversary of the passing of the 1967
Abortion Act. The day is organised by Image, the Christian pro-life
organisation.
Christians are asked to arrange a joint prayer meeting for the churches
of their town, to arrange a prayer meeting at their church (with the
permission of their church leadership), to arrange to pray with their
ladies’ meeting, house group or youth group, to pray with friends, or to
pray at home.
A leaflet with details of the National Day of Prayer, information about
prayer and suggested prayer topics will be available in September, free
of charge from Image, 1st floor, 110 Oldham Road, Ancoats, Manchester M4
6AG, telephone 0161-273 8090. The information will also be available for download from the image website at www.imagenet.org.uk.
Northern Ireland: Pro-life group in guidance success
(Source: The Christian Institute web site)
Pro-lifers have won a significant victory in Northern Ireland with the withdrawal of controversial abortion guidelines.
SPUC, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, was set to have a judicial review on the issue in September but now the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety has removed its interim guidance completely.
Liam Gibson, from SPUC in Northern Ireland, said the group is “very pleased” with the outcome.
Battle
It is the latest development in a long-running legal battle over the issue.
Last year, the High Court ruled that the advice on abortion was “misleading” and ordered the document to be completely withdrawn.
At the time, the department of health asked the court if two contentious sections could be reconsidered rather than withdrawing the full guidance, but this was rejected by the judge.
Ignored
However, the Department reissued the same guidance with the two sections removed.
SPUC claimed that the Department was ignoring the court order, but the Department refused to give way.
It was this impasse that looked to be heading towards a trial in the High Court until the Department caved in.
Objection
The Department has written to Jim Wells, chairman of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Health Committee, to say that the interim guidance has been withdrawn and that there will be a public consultation on the issue.
Abortion is illegal in Northern Ireland unless the mother’s life is at risk.
SPUC’s Liam Gibson said: “When we challenged the original guidance in the High Court last year, the judge rejected a request from the Department that it should be allowed to withdraw only the sections on counselling and conscientious objection”.
Flawed
He continued: “Health officials simply ignored this ruling. They quickly republished the guidance with those sections left out. Otherwise the document was unchanged.
“Both the information given to women and the rights of medical personnel are central to clinical practice.
“We believe that any guidance which says nothing about these issues is fundamentally flawed, and should never have been published. The Department finally seems to have accepted that.
Agenda
“Until now, the health department has acted in a high-handed and belligerent manner regarding the guidance. The Department appeared determined to pursue its own agenda, rather than apply the law.”
Mr Gibson concluded: “We will be working closely with pro-life members of the Northern Ireland Assembly and its health committee to ensure that the Department’s consultation does not result in the rights of women, unborn children or the medical profession being undermined”.
Primark shamed into axing padded bikinis for girls of 7 after being accused of ‘disgraceful’ sexualisation of children
Glad to see that Primark has withdrawn its controversial range of ‘sexy’ clothes for 7 year olds.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1265873/Primark-withdraws-padded-bikinis-7-year-olds.html
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