Premier Christian Newscast

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?

Who are the non-religious in Britain?

New research by the think tank Theos has offered a fascinating insight into those in the UK who say they are non-religious. It turns out this group is a complex mix of hardline atheists, apathetic agnostics, and ‘spiritual but not religious’ types. This week we are joined by the authors of the report and another academic who specialises in studying non-belief to understand more about the people who tick ‘none of the above’ on surveys about religion. We’ll also be discussing how should all of this reshape how the Church responds to the decline of faith and reaches out in mission and evangelism to non-Christians…
You will shortly be able to download the report from Theos on their website here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/research 

Mpho Tutu Van Furth and gay marriage in the church

This week we’re exploring yet another bitter controversy in the church’s ongoing wrangling over gay marriage. The daughter of the iconic anti-apartheid leader and South African archbishop Desmond Tutu was refused permission by the Church of England to lead the service for her godfather’s funeral because she is married to a woman. She accused the church of a ‘stunning lack of compassion’, while the bishop who would not give her the licence needed admitted the decision ‘violated all of my pastoral instincts’. So what might this episode tell us about where the debate has got to, and where it might be heading, ahead of a crunch decision by C of E bishops in the next few months which could bring its torturous decade-long discussion on sexuality into its final showdown? I’m joined by Sam Hailes from Premier Christianity to try and read the runes about what this funeral row might mean for the future of the church.
Listen to the full interview with Mpho Tutu Van Furth on The Profile podcast from Premier here: https://pod.link/1188653078/episode/e2efb23707c7c3bd2b0640a6b5b9b5c8 

The faith of the Queen: A life remembered

Today’s episode is a little different to normal because we’re going to be handing over the show to a wide range of Christians – church leaders, ministers, worship leaders, bishops and others – to share their own personal reflections on Queen Elizabeth II. Her life, her faith and how her seventy year reign impacted them and their spiritual journeys. The late queen was not only the longest-reigning monarch in British history and the head of the Commonwealth, but also a proud follower of Jesus who inspired believers across the world with her humble yet deeply-held faith. This episode should give you just a flavour of the legacy on the church Elizabeth leaves behind.

Young people and prayer

This week we’re digging into a fascinating new survey which suggests younger generations might be more open to faith than their parents. The poll was published last month and found 56% of those aged 18-34 had prayed in their lives. This was much higher than the 55 and above cohort, where only four in ten of those surveyed said they had ever tried prayer.
Commentators, including from the Church of England who commissioned the survey, have suggested the findings tell the lie to the common trope that interest in spirituality has been dwindling with every year that passes. Instead, maybe GenZers and Millennials are actually a really promising generation to evangelise to?
Has the church been asleep at the wheel and missed a trick in trying to reach these prayerful young adults? Or is this actually a classic case of over-enthusiastic Christians reading far too much into a vaguely worded survey?
In today’s show we’re asking two Christian journalists to help us unpick the findings of this survey and explore if there really might be a generational shift in secular Britain underway.

The faith of King Charles

Today, Queen Elizabeth II will be laid to rest at a funeral attended by hundreds of international leaders and watched by millions around the world. Soon, our focus will inevitably shift from mourning the Queen to scrutinising her son, and our new King. On this week’s show we’re exploring what the accession of Charles to the throne might mean for the church – both the Church of England he is now the Supreme Governor of, but also the community of believers across Britain in general. As Prince, Charles rattled cages with some of his remarks about faith and there remains uncertainty and confusion about his own relationship with religion. Will his reign offer change or continuity with his mother, who became perhaps the most admired public Christian in the land? Will he defend the faith, as every one of his predecessors has since Henry VIII, or move the monarchy forward to a multifaith, pluralistic age?

The return of the Christian conference

When the first covid lockdown hit, back in the spring of 2020, it was a devastating blow for big Christian events. With everyone legally mandated to stay at home, everything from Word Alive to Big Church Day Out to Focus was forced to cancel their gatherings, sometimes with just a few weeks’ notice.
At the time, some feared some conferences wouldn’t be able to bounce back from this bolt from the blue, with losses of up to a £1m predicted for some events. There were dark warnings that alongside the many other losses from coronavirus, it might claim another unexpected victim: the Christian summer festival.
But those fears have turned out to be wide of the mark. This year, all the major events cancelled in 2020 returned in person. In today’s episode we talk to those running three of the biggest conferences to find out how they survived covid, what it was like to bring their events back, and how the two years of lockdown might have changed the Christian festival for good.