UK & Ireland in Brief

The BBC will increase its mainstream religious output by giving greater prominence to non-Christian festivals such as Eid, Passover and Diwali, it was reported at the end of December.

It intends to broaden its audience by reflecting ‘an increasingly pluralistic society’. The BBC’s atheist head of religious programming, James Purnell, said it was important for British society to understand where it had come from and how religion plays an important part in that, stating: ‘The issues around belief are incredibly important to how we live.’

The Home Affairs Committee was criticised in mid-December for its handling of an evidence session on abortion buffer zones. These are meant to keep protesters, or those offering alternative advice to women, at a distance from abortion clinics.

MPs heard from abortion industry representatives and pro-life groups after the government announced a review of abortion protests. Despite seeing no concrete evidence of harassment or violence by pro-life activists outside clinics, committee chair Yvette Cooper MP recommended that ‘further measures’ be taken. Only uncorroborated anecdotal evidence had been submitted verbally by a BPAS director.

Campaigners in December, called for tighter restrictions on pornography after a ‘horrific attack’ on a woman by a porn-obsessed teenager.

A woman was bludgeoned and raped by a boy on his 17th birthday, leaving her in a medically-induced coma for two weeks. In the weeks leading up to the attack he had searched for Internet videos depicting the rape of ‘helpless’ women. Women’s groups noted that the prosecutor’s comments had shown the real-world risks associated with pornography that dehumanises and objectifies women.

Online porn is to blame for a record number of sex crimes by under-18s in Scotland, an addiction charity said in late 2017.

A total of 407 minors were reported for rape, attempted rape, sexual assault or other sex crimes. This number included 48 people under the age of 16. Mary Sharpe, of The Reward Foundation, said young minds are being desensitised to sexual violence through viewing pornography.

Andy Paterson, Mission Director with the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) will be joining Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh in 2018 as part-time associate pastor with responsibility for mission.

It means Andy will continue to serve FIEC to advance mission and church planting while also serving in a church ministry team, splitting his time between the two roles. He and his wife Kath are now planning to move to Edinburgh from their current home in Bristol in summer 2018.

An NHS psychiatrist and newspaper columnist noted in December that presumed consent for organ donation has heralded a drop in donation rates in Wales.

Dr Pemberton stressed that organ donation should be a gift, but said presumed consent makes this impossible: ‘It’s no longer a powerful and generous gift that brings families together, but an assumption by the state that it can do what it wants with your body.

On 23 January the Members of the House of Keys on the Isle of Man will decide on authorising the unlimited killing of unborn children up to 24 weeks’ gestation.

If it passes, it looks to be the most liberal Abortion Bill in Europe. Prayer and fasting are requested as many groups return to the Isle of Man to support the churches in their stand for their most vulnerable neighbours.