Premier Christian Newscast

Abortion clinic buffer zones

Starting in 2018, a number of English councils have begun using anti-social behaviour legislation to create buffer zones around abortion clinics. These zones ban anyone from protesting, singing, holding placards, expressing an opinion or even praying. Despite murmurings of protest from pro-life groups, the pro-choice movement has won backing in parliament for a nationwide buffer zone law, which also has been picked up in Northern Ireland and Scotland too. In recent months a number of Christian pro-lifers have been arrested, fined and taken to court for what they allege was simply silent prayer in their heads nearby an abortion clinic. Are these laws a proportionate attempt to deal with harassment and intimidation at anti-abortion vigils, or do they go too far in trying to legislate away any right to hold a pro-life belief and act on it? This week we’re joined by Sam Hailes and Emma Fowle from the Premier Christianity team to discuss where these buffer zones are coming from and what it might mean for the future of the church’s engagement in the abortion debate.

A unwanted compromise? Gay blessings in the Church of England

Next month, the Church of England will finally begin to grasp the nettle of what to do about same-sex relationships. At a meeting of the church’s General Synod in London, vicars, bishops and ordinary churchgoers will debate new proposals from the church’s hierarchy which would give gay couples the chance to have their marriages blessed in church for the first time. The C of E’s most senior bishops hope this contentious compromise might draw a line under the tortuous and fractious debate on LGBT issues which has bedevilled the church for decades. But already loud voices on both sided are rising insisting the blessings idea is a non-starter. This week we speak to a prominent activist from both factions to hear what they think would be a better way forward, and how the synod showdown will unfold.

Review of the year

This week we’re looking back at the stories which have fired our imagination and caught our attention over the past 12 months. When it comes to the church world, there has been no shortage of headline-grabbing stories to keep us occupied, from pastors falling from grace to the endless rows over LGBT issues. We’ve seen iconic church leaders pass on the baton to the next generation and in some cases pass away. There have been long-awaited setpiece events and, entirely unexpected crises. So I invited Sam Hailes and Emma Fowle from the Premier Christianity magazine to join me to take a look at 2022 in church news and pick out some of the stories which most fascinated, outraged, saddened and encouraged them. 

After Chris Kaba: The church, gang violence and the police

In the first weeks of September, two people died. The first was Chris Kaba, a 24-year-old unarmed black man who was shot and killed by the police in South London. Just three days later, Queen Elizabeth II also died. As a result, Kaba’s death and the anger it provoked very quickly slipped off the front pages. But the case merits more exploration, and in particular considering what role Christian leaders are or should be playing in the aftermath of another killing of a young black man by British police officers.
The church has long been seen as an interface between Britain’s black community and the police, but how can they be salt and light in this complex and fractious relationship? Should pastors be drawing more attention to accusations of racism among the police and shifting to a more prophetic role, challenging the authorities? Or could the church do more to tackle gang crime and violence at the source and hopefully prevent these tragic confrontations with the law from ever occurring? This week we’re hearing two perspectives on this painful topic, from the founder of Street Pastors Les Isaac, and the Christian former gang member Sheldon Thomas.

The church in Qatar

This week we’re considering the fate of the church in a small Gulf state few had even heard of just a few years ago – Qatar. Before the tiny Arab nation controversially won the right to host the football World Cup, Qatar was fairly unheard-of in the West. And as millions of tourists and fans have descended on the country this month to take in the festival of sport, hundreds of millions more are watching intently from afar. With Qatar in the global spotlight, how are the Gulf nation’s small community of Christians faring? This week we speak with an expert on the persecuted church in the Middle East, and then an Anglican vicar leading a church in the capital Doha to find out what it’s like to be a believer in Qatar, and if the World Cup is a good or bad thing for the church.

Breakaway Anglicans find their feet

Earlier in the autumn the Anglican Network in Europe consecrated three new bishops. This small group of about 35 churches, all Anglican but not part of the official Church of England, is busily growing and expanding, in part as it expects more conservative churches to defect from the C of E as the established church begins debating whether to permit gay marriage in church for the first time. While ANiE, as it is known, is small and far from a meaningful rival to the more than 12,700 parishes of the official Anglican denominations in Britain, its rise tells us something interesting about the state of play for conservative evangelicals. This week, I’m speaking to one of the new ANiE bishops and a well-connected evangelical church historian to try and understand what the network wants to be, and why it matters.

Child abuse in church: What next after IICSA?

Last month, seven long years after it began, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, or IICSA, concluded by publishing its final report. Established in 2014 in response to fears of a Jimmy Savile-style abuse scandal lurking among high-level Westminster politics, IICSA has spent years examining the story of child abuse in England and Wales, hearing survivor’s testimonies, gathering evidence and scrutinising institutional failures. Now the £186m inquiry has finished its work and published its call for change in a sober yet devastating 468-page document.
The church does not get off lightly. Of the 17 formal investigations IICSA carried out, an astonishing seven were focused on abuse linked to the church, including in-depth scrutiny of both the Catholic and Anglican Churches, as well as several church schools, bishops and dioceses. And among the horrifying accounts by victims are plenty from those who suffered at the hands of vicars and priests, bishops and monks. What did IICSA uncover about church-related child abuse? How will its recommendations affect churches? Did church authorities cooperate with the inquiry or does a culture of defensiveness still reign? And, perhaps most importantly, will IICSA cause any meaningful change for victims and survivors? This week, I’m joined by a safeguarding advocate, an abuse lawyer, and a survivor to talk about the end of IICSA, and what comes next.  

A holy war? The Russian Orthodox Church and the conflict in Ukraine

Patriarch Kirill, the controversial head of the Russian Orthodox Church, declared last month that Russian soldiers conscripted into battle in Ukraine who died would have their sins washed away automatically. Despite the mounting evidence of war crimes committed by Russia during their unprovoked invasion and the fact that millions of Ukrainians worship in churches affiliated to the Moscow Patriarchate, the church has remained in lockstep with the Kremlin throughout, defending the war as righteous and just, perhaps even holy. Why has it stuck so close to Putin and his vicious and dirty war? What is the complex relationship between Russian Orthodoxy and Russian nationalism? And is there any hope for other world churches trying to engage with the Russian church in an effort to bring the fighting to an end?

A Hindu in Downing Street

When Rishi Sunak became prime minister last month, much was made of his groundbreaking ascent to Number 10. But as well as being the first ethnic minority politician to win the premiership, Sunak is also the first Hindu. Indeed, he’s the first non-Christian religious prime minister the UK has ever had. This fact has gone largely unmentioned in the media coverage, but is it actually significant to have a Hindu in Downing Street? Does anyone really care, and should we as Christians? Has he had an easier ride from the press compared to prominent Christian MPs such as Tim Farron? This week we’re gathering the Premier Christianity team to consider Sunak’s faith, how it might influence his politics (or not), and what it might mean for the church in Britain to be working under a non-Christian prime minister for the very first time.

Slavery, reparations and the church

Today we’re considering the painful question of how the church should reckon with its historic links to slavery. Every year, the entanglement of churches with the slave trade in the past is becoming clearer and clearer. Some Christians owned slaves, others profited from their labour, and sometimes this money was used to build churches or endow institutions. Does this matter? Is it worthwhile digging up centuries-old links nobody today would defend? And are financial reparations to the descendants of those enslaved by our predecessors a good Christian response to these revelations?