Church in London has a Unique Way of Joining the 21st Century

St Lawrence Church in the City of London seems to have taken the term New Age Christian to a whole new level this January. During its service last week the Church decided to take a twist on Plough Monday which celebrates the start of the traditional agricultural year in England. Traditionally Plough Monday would be the first day that people returned to work after the Christmas period, and at this time a plough would be brought to the doors of the church to be blessed. At St Lawrence Church, however, they decided to mark it in a different way by blessing the congregations laptops and mobile phones.

These are certainly the tools of the trade in today’s society, but blessing peoples, blackberry’s and iphone’s seems to be taking the concept a little too far. In today’s busy world you would think that Church would be one place where people would want to take time out and forget about their mobile phones and emails, to think about higher things.

Both Labour and the Lib Dems Criticise the Torys plans for Tax Breaks for Married Couples

The Conservatives want to put plans in place for families, and one of these plans is to offer tax breaks for married couples. These plans are a move from the Tories to aim to help create stable families for children to grow up in. The figures of unmarried and divorced couples gets increasingly higher, and many make the connection between this and anti-social behaviour.

Both the Lib Dems and Labour have accused the Tories of social engineering, but William Hague, shadow foreign secretary has accused Labour of the same thing with their

couples penalty

which seems to Mr Hague to be encouraging parents not to live together.

Whatever the outcome, family policy is set to become a hot topic for this year’s election campaign.

Newcastle City Council Refuse Mans Wishes for an Open Air Cremation

Davender Kumar Ghai is a resident of Newcastle and as many do, has thought about what he would like to happen at his funeral when his time comes. As a Hindu, Mr Kumar Ghai would like a traditional funeral which would include an open air cremation. This type of cremation is common practise in India, but not in his town of Newcastle.

After a request to the City Council, Mt Kumar Ghai who is also the founder of the Anglo-Asian friendship society has been refused his open air cremation. This traditional part of the ceremony is important to Hindus as they believe that it frees the soul from the body. There is the choice of sending lived ones bodies over to India to hold traditional ceremonies there, but for those Hindus who cannot afford it, it seems they have little choice but to be cremated in crematoriums.

The UK Independence Party Call For a Ban on Burkas

France along with some other European countries are considering banning the burka, and now Nigel Farage, leader of the UKIP Party has stated that he agrees with is. The burka for a long time now has been very controversial and in a recent interview Mr Farages stated that the burka is a symbol of and

increasingly divided Britain

as well as a piece of clothing which oppresses women.

The burka is now seen by many as a security threat, but for many Muslims it is a piece of clothing that they feel they should have the choice to wear.

This is an issue which is set to be debated about for years to come, but surely a compromise can be made. Perhaps burkas shouldn’t be worn in areas with a high security risk. After all no one would walk around an airport with a helmet or balaclava over their face. It seems that a compromise needs to be reached by both sides if this debate is ever going to move forward.

The Pope Defends the Vatican’s Actions During World War II

Pope Benedict XVI made his first visit to Rome’s main synagogue at the weekend. During the visit a Jewish Leader confronted the Pope by referring to the Catholic Churches silence during the Holocaust.

The Pope had to concede to the remark by stating that “unfortunately, many remained indifferent”, but he did also state that the Vatican itself did help Jews in a “discreet way”. The criticism mainly fell on Pope Pius who was head of the Catholic Church throughout the WW II period, and with this visit Pope Benedict was hoping to bring about reconciliation between the two religions.

Some Jewish leaders seem set to rock this precarious boat though as they call for the Vatican to make public some of its secret archives, in order to understand the actions of Pius XII during the holocaust more closely.

This issue is not likely to just go away and so Pope Benedict XVI may have to go a lot further than visiting the main Synagogue in Rome to appease the Jewish people.