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German Church leader feels sorrow for abuse victims

April 3, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Germany’s Roman Catholic Church made mistakes by failing to help victims of sexual abuse by clergy and that has shaken it, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch said on Friday.

World | Germany

The leader of the Catholic Church in Germany said he hoped Good Friday could “be a new start for the Church that is so urgently needed” after a spate of reports of past sexual and physical abuse of children.

Zollitsch said the abuse filled the Church “with sorrow, horror and shame… The pain inflicted upon victims, who were often unable to express in words their suffering for many years” has shaken the Church, he said.

“Wounds were opened that can hardly be healed any more. Today the Church is conscious that, in a different societal situation, it did not do enough to help the victims due to disappointment over the painful failings of the perpetrators and due to falsely understood concerns about the Church’s image.”

Zollitsch said the Church had to come to terms with the reality no matter how much it hurts.

He said there would be special Good Friday prayers for the victims — “to those in the middle of God’s people in the church community to whom a great injustice was done, who were abused and whose bodies and souls were hurt.”

More than 250 people in Germany were abused at Church-run schools in past decades. The scandal has drawn in Bavarian-born Pope Benedict, whose brother ran a Regensburg choir for 30 years which has been linked to cases of abuse.

Zollitsch apologized last month for mistakes he made himself in failing to turn over one case of suspected abuse by a priest to state prosecutors when he was in charge of human resources in the Freiburg diocese nearly 20 years ago.

Instead, Zollitsch sent the priest into early retirement.

Zollitsch said he only confronted the priest years later after a witness came forward with evidence and he told him the diocese planned to take the case to state prosecutors. The ex-priest committed suicide.

The Roman Catholic Church in Germany opened a hotline for victims of child abuse on Tuesday, following the lead of Ireland, Austria and the Netherlands.

The abuse scandal could hurt Church membership, according to a Forsa survey for Stern magazine. It showed 19 percent of Germany’s estimated 25 million Catholics were thinking about leaving the Church in the wake of the abuse scandal.

(Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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Berlusconi-Vatican rift widens

September 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sept 2 (ANI): Relations between the Vatican and Silvio Berlusconi soured further after top church figures rallied to defend Dino Boffo, the Catholic editor, whose personal life was attacked by the Italian PM’s family newspaper.

Il Giornale yesterday continued with its campaign to expose Boffo as a homosexual with a police record. The newspaper, which is owned by the premier’s brother Paolo, had earlier alleged that the chief editor of the Avvenire, the newspaper of the Conference of Italian Bishops, the CEI, had a homosexual scandal in his past.

The paper alleged that Boffo had been fined several years ago for harassing the wife of a man in whom he was purportedly interested. Boffo has denied the allegations, reports The Times.

Berlusconi quickly distanced himself from Il Giornale’s claim, but the incident damaged the premier’s church ties, already frayed by the scandal.

Following the revelations, cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State and deputy to Pope Benedict XVI, telephoned Boffo to offer his “solidarity”.

Cardinal Stanislao Dziwisz, former secretary to the late Pope John Paul II and now Archbishop of Krakow in Poland, said it was “the first time a Catholic paper has been attacked with such violence”.

He added that he was “very worried by the moral decadence into which Italy is sliding because of the behaviour of certain important political leaders”.

Berlusconi has been on the defensive since his wife announced in spring she wanted to divorce the premier, citing his alleged relationships with young women. (ANI)

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Britain is no longer a Christian nation, says bishop

June 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, June 28 (ANI): A Church of England bishop has said that Britain is no longer a Christian nation.

Right Reverend Paul Richardson warned that declining church attendance and the rise in multiculturalism meant that “Christian Britain is dead”.

As one of the Church’s longest-serving bishops, the comments by the assistant Bishop of Newcastle are set to fuel the debate over its future, The Telegraph reports.

The General Synod, the Church’s parliament, will next month consider proposals to cut the number of bishops and senior clergy amid fears over the Church’s finances.

Writing for The Sunday Telegraph, Bishop Richardson said: “Many bishops prefer to turn their heads, to carry on as if nothing has changed, rather than face the reality that Britain is no longer a Christian nation.

“Many of them think that we are still living in the 1950s – a period described by historians as representing a hey day for the established church,” he added.

He said that the Church had lost more than one in ten of its regular worshippers between 1996 and 2006, with a fall from more than one million to 880,000.

“At this rate it is hard to see the church surviving for more than 30 years though few of its leaders are prepared to face that possibility,” said Bishop Richardson.

Nearly half of the population in England regard themselves as belonging to the Church of England, while seven in ten described themselves as Christian in the last census.

However, the Bishop said that the fall in church marriages and baptisms revealed that Britain was no longer a Christian nation.

Bishop Richardson said: “The church is being hit by a double whammy: on the one hand it confronts the challenge of institutional decline but on the other hand it has to face the rise of cultural and religious pluralism in Britain.”

He says that the way the Church responds to this will be “crucial in determining whether it will be able to survive as a viable organisation and make a contribution to national life”.

Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury has also delivered a bleak assessment of the future of Christianity in this country, claiming previously that Britain’s Churches are in such serious decline that if they were shops they would have been declared bankrupt long ago. (ANI)

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Controversial Muslim programme-maker to head BBC’s religion unit

May 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, May 12 (ANI): A controversial Muslim programme-maker has been appointed as the BBC’s new head of religious broadcasting.

According to the BBC, Aaqil Ahmed will move to the corporation from Channel Four. His appointment is likely to raise fears at the top levels of the Church of England, which has expressed its concerns over the BBC’s treatment of religion and warned that it must not ignore its Christian audience.
Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has met with Mark Thompson, the BBC’s director-general in March to challenge him over the corporation’s religious broadcasting.

Senior bishops have also written to Thompson to question its commitment to Britain’s Christian audience.

Leading church figures suspect that the BBC is giving preferential treatment to minority faiths, with a Muslim now in charge of its programming on television and a Sikh producing Songs of Praise, its flagship Christian show.

Christina Rees, a member of the Archbishops’ Council, has warned: ” The vast majority of the population identifies itself as Christian and as the established Church in England we would be negligent not to take an active concern in the changes happening with the BBC’s religion and ethics department.”

The Right Reverend Nigel Mcculloch, Bishop of Manchester, said yesterday that Ahmed’s appointment came “at a time when the BBC’s coverage of religion has caused some disquiet”.

Ahmed is understood to have impressed BBC executives by commissioning a series on Christianity that featured high-profile names, including Cherie Blair and Michael Portillo.

However, the series, Christianity, A History, was criticised by Church figures for trivialising the religion. (ANI)

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S. Africa’s Bishop Tutu gets a gift from the Dalai Lama

April 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Pretoria (South Africa), Apr. 19 (ANI) – Archbishop Desmond Tutu received a spiritual leadership award – and a gift from Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama – at Freedom Park in Pretoria on Saturday.
After Tutu was granted the spiritual leadership award by an organisation called Humanity’s Team, it was announced that the Dalai Lama had also sent him a gift.

A representative of the Dalai Lama then draped a white scarf around his shoulders.

“Leaders such as Madiba (Nelson Mandela) spent 27 years in prison and humbly reconcile[d] with the enemy: One would expect them to be bitter. The Dalai Lama has been in exile for 50 years and one will expect that by now he should have been corroded by bitterness – and he is not,” said Tutu when receiving his award.
Tutu, together with former president FW De Klerk, pulled out of a peace conference last month after the South African government refused the Dalai Lama a visa. The conference was cancelled after they pulled out.

On Saturday night, Tutu walked in to receive his award while an electric mix of African opera, pop and rock music was performed.

The audience who braved the cold evening weather gave him a standing ovation. (ANI)

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NY governor introduces bill to allow gay marriage

April 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

NEW YORK
: Gov. David Paterson announced plans Thursday to legalize same-sex marriage in the state of New York, making a political gamble that he
can ride the momentum of other states that have recently allowed the practice.

The proposal is the same bill the Democrat-controlled state Assembly passed in 2007 before it died in the Senate, where the Republican majority kept it from going to a vote. Democrats now control the Senate, but opponents are vowing to make sure this one fails, as well.

The governor’s approval ratings have plunged to below 20 percent, and it’s still unclear how the legislation will play in the state. Paterson says gay marriage is a crucial issue of equal rights in America that cannot be ignored.

“I’m introducing a bill to bring marriage equality to the state of New York,” Paterson said to applause, surrounded by leaders including Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is a lesbian.

Paterson, who is black, framed the issue in sweeping terms, invoking abolitionists Frederick Douglass and Harriet Beecher Stowe and drawing a parallel between the fight to eliminate slavery in the 1800s to the current effort to allow gay marriage
.

“Rights should not be stifled by fear. What we should understand is that silence should not be a response to injustice. And that if we take not action, we will surely lose,” Paterson said.

Paterson said gay and lesbian couples are denied as many as 1,350 civil protections, such as health care and pension rights, because they cannot marry.

Gay marriage is now legal in four states, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and Iowa.

At the same time Paterson was to announce his proposal, Sen. Ruben Diaz of the Bronx, an opponent of same-sex marriage, planned to meet with religious leaders to discuss how to block the bill.

Diaz, who is an evangelical pastor, said his meeting in the Bronx was to inform Hispanics, Catholics, evangelicals and others opposed to same-sex marriage of their options to prevent the bill’s passage.

Diaz also said it is “disrespectful” of Paterson to introduce the legislation in the same week that Catholics celebrated the installation of New York City Archbishop Timothy Dolan.

Paterson attended the ceremony Wednesday at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

“I think it’s a laugh in the face of the new archbishop,” Diaz said Thursday before the start of his meeting. “The Jews just finished their holy week. The Catholics just received the new archbishop. The evangelical Christians just celebrated Good Friday and resurrection. He comes out to do this at this time? It’s a challenge the governor is sending to every religious person in New York and the time for us has come for us to accept the challenge.”

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After Italy’s quake, Pope reflects on disasters

April 11, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

ROME (Reuters) – Pope Benedict reflected on the tragedies and disasters that test faith during a Good Friday procession in Rome, just hours after Italians buried victims of the country’s devastating earthquake.

The pontiff offered a special prayer for survivors of Monday’s quake, asking that they find hope, despite a disaster that killed at least 289 people and left almost 40,000 homeless.

“We pray that even for them, on this dark night, a star of hope appears, the light of the risen Lord,” said the pope, who soon plans to visit the disaster zone in the Abruzzo region.

He was presiding over the traditional Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession around Rome’s Colosseum, commemorating Christ’s crucifixion and death.

Attended by tens of thousands of people, the solemn, night-time ceremony is one of the main services before Easter, the climax of the Christian year.

In this year’s ceremony, the pope listened to meditations that began by urging the faithful not to lose faith in trying times. They were written by Indian Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil.

“When misfortune hits us close to home, we grow disheartened. When we fall direct victims of a disaster, our self-confidence is totally shaken and our faith is put to the test. But all is not lost yet,” Menamparampil wrote.

Although composed before the disaster, the mediations took on special significance for a country grappling with its most deadly earthquake in three decades.

“Tragedies make us ponder. A tsunami tells us that life is serious. Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain pilgrim places,” Menamparampil wrote in one of the meditations.

“When death strikes near, another world draws close. We then shed our illusions and have a grasp of the deeper reality.”

Flags in Italy flew at half-mast on a national day of mourning Friday, shops closed their shutters and airports halted take-offs, observing a minute’s silence.

Pope Benedict granted a special dispensation to allow a funeral for quake victims to be held earlier in the day in the mountain city of L’Aquila, the worst hit by the quake. Mass is not usually celebrated on Good Friday.

The meditations also lamented all forms of violence, corruption, oppression and what Menamparampil said was an erosion of the public expression of religious life.

Menamparampil, archbishop of Guwahati in northeast India, wrote: “Jesus continues to suffer when believers are persecuted.”

The German-born pope is leading the 1.1 billion-member Roman Catholic Church toward the fourth Easter of his pontificate.

Saturday, Benedict will say an Easter Eve mass and on Sunday will deliver an “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing and message.

(Editing by Richard Balmforth)

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UK’s new Catholic leader opposes changing sex ads

April 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Archbishop Vincent Nichols, who will take over as the head of the Catholic Church of England and Wales next month, warned Friday against relaxing rules on broadcasting abortion and condom adverts. Skip related content
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A worker packs condoms at a condom factory Enlarge photo

In an interview with the Press Association news agency, the 63-year-old urged the country’s five million Catholics to respond to a public consultation on the proposed changes, saying adverts should be “truthful and tasteful”.

“I doubt that any intended adverts about abortion would be fully truthful and tell the whole truth of the effects of abortion in a woman’s life,” he said of plans to allow pregnancy advisory services to advertise on radio and TV.

He added: “It will no doubt be presented as a simple solution. But in fact it has traumatic implications in women’s lives. Surely you would not expect it to be advertised alongside a packet of crisps?”

As part of a shake-up of advertising rules, ad watchdogs have proposed allowing pregnancy advisory services, including ones that offer abortion services, to screen prime time broadcast adverts.

They also want to allow condom ads — which can currently only be broadcast on major channels after 9.00 pm, when an adult audience is presumed — at any time of the day, except around programmes targeted at children under 10.

“I seriously wonder if any advertisements for the use of condoms would be tasteful because the ones we have at the moment are demeaning of the young people of this country,” Nichols said.

“They depict casual sex on the street corner and drunken sex. I do not think these things do anything to genuinely help young people to understand themselves.”

The Vatican last week named Nichols, a champion of traditional Catholic values, to replace Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor as archbishop of Westminster.

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Vatican’s Good Friday to focus on Christian persecutions in India

April 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Vatican City, April 7 (DPA) The faithful will be invited to reflect on the persecution of Christians in India in prayers at this year’s traditional Good Friday Way of the Cross ceremony at Rome’s Colosseum, the Vatican said Tuesday.

Pope Benedict XVI is set to preside the evening ceremony – also known as Via Crucis – which commemorates Jesus’ final hours, including his crucifixion.

Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil of Guwahati, India, has been given the task of writing the meditations for this year’s Via Crucis which will focus on ‘evil in the world, on pain and on the various forms of suffering,’ the Vatican said.

‘In this context, he (Menamparampil) will also refer to Christians who suffer persecution in India and in other countries, as well as to the violence that destroys ethnic and religious groups, and to conflicts fuelled by economic interests,’ the Vatican said.

Violence aimed at Christians have increased in India in recent years including in the eastern state of Orissa, which witnessed widespread anti-Christian violence after the Aug 23, 2008 murder of Hindu leader Laxmananda Saraswati an attack police blamed on

Maoist rebels.

Nearly 40 people, mostly Christians, were killed in the Hindu-Christian violence in the state that continued over two months.

The Vatican notes how for the ‘second consecutive year, the Pope wishes to draw attention to the continent of Asia’ given that last year the Way of the Cross prayers then penned by Hong Kong’s Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun also focused on the ‘persecutions the Catholic Church faces in various part of the world.’

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Obama meets religious leaders in Istanbul

April 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Ankara – US President Barack Obama met religious leaders in Istanbul on Tuesday on the second day of his visit to Turkey where he has attempted to repair frayed ties with both Turkey and the wider Muslim world, ties that hit a low during the previous US administration of George W Bush.

Obama held a group meeting with Armenian Orthodox Archbishop Aran Stesyan, Chief Rabbi of Istanbul Isak Haleva, Grand Mufti of Istanbul Mustafa Cagrici and Syrian Orthodox Archbishop Yusuf Cetin before holding a private meeting with Greek Orthodox Patriach Bartholomew I.

Accompanied by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the US president then toured two of Istanbul’s most popular tourist and religious sites: the Hagia Sophia, a former basilica turned mosque that is now a museum, and the nearby Blue Mosque.

No statement was released after the meeting.

In the afternoon Obama was scheduled to hold a town hall meeting with a specially selected group of university students before departing Istanbul for Washington.

Tuesday’s agenda was much more low key compared to that of Monday when he addressed the Turkish parliament in Ankara.

During his address Obama moved to heal rifts between the United States and Turkey, as well as the Islamic world, that were caused by the US-led invasion of Iraq, stressing the need for cooperation and not just the use of force to stop Islamic extremists.

The president also stressed that the United States supports Turkey’s bid to join the European Union and recent efforts between Turkey and Armenia to normalize relations.

The visit fulfills Obama’s promise to visit a Muslim country in the first 100 days of the new administration.

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Pope names Nichols to lead Church in England, Wales

April 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Pope Benedict has appointed Birmingham Archbishop Vincent Nichols to be the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, the Vatican said on Friday.

Nichols, 63, will become the new Archbishop of Westminster, succeeding Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, 76, who is retiring.

Traditionally, the Archbishop of Westminster is made a cardinal, meaning he will enter the elite group of the pope’s closest advisers around the world.

Cardinals under 80 can enter a secret conclave to choose a new pontiff, meaning that after he is made a cardinal Nichols will almost certainly have a say in the election of the next leader of the 1.1 billion member Roman Catholic Church.

Nichols, who has been archbishop of Birmingham since 2000, studied at the Venerable English College in Rome and was ordained a priest in 1969.

He also studied at the prestigious Gregorian University in Rome, Manchester University and Loyola University in Chicago.

Pope John Paul made him a bishop in 1992 and after that Nichols worked as a close aide to the late Cardinal Basil Hume, Murphy-O’Connor’s predecessor.

During that time, he served in the influential role of the general secretary of Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales and became a Church power broker in his own right.

A soccer fan, he was born in Crosby, Liverpool, the son of teachers and as a child wanted to be a lorry driver but felt the calling to become a priest when he was a teenager.

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Vatican ‘poised to boycott’ Tom Hanks-starrer Angels and Demons

March 24, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Mar 24 (ANI): The Vatican is considering calling for a boycott of Angels and Demons, the prequel to Hollywood blockbuster The Da Vinci Code.

The film starring Tom Hanks, which is based on the novel by Dan Brown, opens worldwide on May 15.

Avvenire, the Vatican’s official newspaper, says in its latest edition that the church “cannot approve” of the film.

According to Italian newspaper La Stampa, the Vatican will soon call on Catholics to boycott the film.

However, the same article quoted Archbishop Velasio De Paolis warning that a boycott might create a “boomerang effect” by giving the movie publicity.

In the latest film, Hanks will be seen reprising his role as Harvard professor Robert Langdon. However, this time round he is on a mission to save the Vatican from being destroyed by a canister of anti-matter, reports The Telegraph.

Father Marco Fibbi, a Vatican spokesman, said: “Usually we read the script but in this case it wasn’t necessary. Just the name Dan Brown was enough.”

The Catholic Church was infuriated by The Da Vinci Code, which suggested that Jesus may have been secretly married to Mary Magdalene. (ANI)

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South Africa’s decision to ban Dalai Lama outrages Nobel peace laureates

March 23, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Mar 23 (ANI): Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has been barred from entering South Africa to take part in a peace conference linked to the 2010 football World Cup, plunging the country into a diplomatic row.

The decision was met with outrage by fellow Nobel peace laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the former President F. W. de Klerk, who are organising the conference on March 27 with the Norwegian Nobel Peace Committee.

Archbishop Tutu urged the South African Government, which has close ties to China, to reconsider its “disgraceful” decision and threatened to boycott the meeting, planned to promote the first World Cup tournament to be held in Africa, The Times reported.

“If His Holiness’s visa is refused, then I won’t take part in the upcoming 2010 World Cup-related peace conference. I will condemn the Government’s behaviour as disgraceful, in line with our abysmal record at the UN Security Council, a total betrayal of our struggle history.”

“We are shamelessly succumbing to Chinese pressure. I feel deeply distressed and ashamed,” he said from California.

South Africa vetoed proposals for tougher sanctions against Zimbabwe and Burma when it occupied a non-permanent seat on the Security Council last year.

An invitation to the conference was also issued in the name of Nelson Mandela, another laureate. He has not yet reacted to the Government’s decision.

A senior presidential aide told The Times that the Dalai Lama’s presence in the country “would not be welcome as it would divert attention away from the World Cup” towards the Tibet issue.

Dave Steward, a spokesman for the F. W. de Klerk Foundation, said that the former President has expressed concern to the presidency and the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

South Africa is China’s main trading partner in Africa and accounts for more than 20 per cent of Beijing’s trade with the continent. (ANI)

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Malaysia allows Herald magazine to use Allah in its publications only for Christians

February 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 27 (ANI): The word Allah can be used by the Catholic Herald magazine in Malaysia provided the publication clearly states the word is “For Christians only” in its masthead.

Herald editor Father Lawrence Andrew said this was stated in the recently gazetted Internal Security Act signed by the Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar on February 16.

“The next edition of the Herald will contain the word Allah, and we will print the words “For Christians only” on the masthead so as not to contravene the Act,” The Star quoted him, as saying.

It is learnt the Act also forbids the use of the words Kaabah, solat and baitullah.

Meanwhile, the Home Ministry’s Quran Publication Control and Text Division secretary Che Din Yusoh confirmed the content of the gazetted Act.

The High Court will today hear the mention of the case about the use of the word Allah in the Herald.

The Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, who is the plaintiff, had applied for a judicial review of a Home Ministry directive last year forbidding the Herald publisher from using the word Allah as a synonym for “God.”

On Dec 5, the publisher filed a writ of summons in the Kuala Lumpur High Court to seek a declaration on the use of the word. (ANI)

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Archbishop of York says Christians regarded as ‘mad’ by society

February 18, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Feb. 18 (ANI): The Archbishop of York Dr. John Sentamu has said the society considers Christians to be ‘mad’ because they are motivated by charity and compassion rather than the reckless pursuit of money. Many Christians are living out their lives as the church dispersed in the world of business and commerce every day. They are involved daily in building the Kingdom and have the daily challenge of living by a set of values that the world thinks are mad,” Sentamu said on Tuesday at the Trinity Brompton church in West London.

Sentamu, the second most senior cleric in the Church of England and its first black Archbishop, said the recession should lead to a rediscovery of what is truly important in life.

“All of life is religious and there is a desperate need to reconnect the sacred and the secular. There is no more urgent time than now to break down the compartmentalized thinking that separates trust in God from the world of work,” the Telegraph quoted him, as saying.

Sentamu has repeatedly criticised the greed and recklessness in the banking sector, which eventually led to the current financial crisis.

In his latest attack, he said: “In our imagination, addiction to growth, fuelled by over-borrowing (debt), stopped being a bad thing. Instead, it became a means to an end, a route to growth. The unfettered pursuit of profit was never going to deliver. It is this idolatrous love of money, pursuing profit without regard for ethic, risk or consequence, which led us to our current situation.”

The Archbishop, however, expressed confidence that London would get through the current recession.

“Just as after the war they had to live through a time of pre-fabs and rationing, I believe we urgently need to rediscover what it is to rebuild the city in our day, and now, in this time of transition, we need to learn how to build it,” he said.

Sentamu also said faith cannot be separated from the world of work, and the staff should not be expected to give up their religious convictions when they walk into the office, he added.

“There needn’t be a separation between what goes on in church and in our prayers – and what goes on in the office or in the boardroom or on the shop floor.” (ANI)

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Most UK church leaders believe Christians are facing discrimination in workplace

February 15, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Feb.15 (ANI): Almost two thirds of the Church of England General Synod believe Christians are the victims of discrimination in the workplace.

According to The Telegraph, a survey of members of the Church’s parliament found that 63 per cent of them felt that Christians faced discrimination at work. The majority also considers that freedom of belief has been eroded under the Labour government.

While 59 per cent agreed that they have seen a decline in religious liberty over the last decade; 38 per cent of members disagreed.

The findings follow a series of high profile legal battles fought by Christians who claim to have suffered as a result of their beliefs.

Church leaders have made impassioned pleas to Christians to stand up for their beliefs.

The cry from the Right Reverrend Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, for Christians to “reclaim” their “place in the public square” was echoed by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, who urged them to “wake up” and defend their faith.

However, Synod members were divided on whether Christianity should be exempt from equality legislation.

During a debate at last week’s Synod, which was held in London, other members called for the Government to do more to protect the Christian faith.

The Sunday Telegraph survey interviewed 80 of the Synod’s 484 members, including bishops, clergy and laity. (ANI)

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London atheist bus advertising campaign spreads to Spain

January 5, 2009 By Rajiv Gupta Leave a Comment

Barcelona – Atheist groups in Barcelona will follow the example of a bus advertising campaign under way in London, placing ads denying the existence of God on two buses running in Spain’s second-largest city, local transport authorities said Monday.

The ads reading “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life” will be seen in Barcelona from January 12 onwards.

For believers, faith in God was not an obstacle to enjoying life, but “a solid foundation to live life with an attitude of solidarity, peace and a sense of transcendence,” the Barcelona archbishop’s office commented.

Britain’s first atheist advertising campaign was launched in October by Guardian newspaper and supported by the British Humanist Association and atheist campaigner Professor Richard Dawkins. (dpa)

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