Jun 24, 2020 03:19 AM
(This post was last modified: Jun 24, 2020 04:28 AM by C C.)
Fugitive tycoon accuses China of bribing Vatican with £1.6billion
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...-year.html
INTRO: An exiled billionaire [Guo Wengui] has accused the Chinese government of giving the Vatican £1.6billion every year in bribes to prevent it from criticising Beijing's sweeping clampdown on religions.
London more religious than rest of Britain, report finds
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/j...port-finds
EXCERPT: London is more religious and socially conservative than the rest of Britain, confounding perceptions of the capital as liberal and secular, research shows. People in the capital pray more and attend more religious services than those in the rest of the country, according to the survey. It also found Christian Londoners help their neighbours more than their non-religious counterparts, are more likely to volunteer for a charitable initiative, and are more likely to make charitable donations.
However, a significant minority feel marginalised because of their faith, the research for the Christian thinktank Theos found. It says: “It sometimes seems as if there are two cities in London: one sacred, one secular. Certainly, there is considerable value divergence.”
The proportion of people identifying as religious is 62% in the capital, compared with 53% in the rest of Britain – a profile likely to be driven by immigration and diaspora communities, according to the thinktank’s report, Religious London: Faith in a Global City. One in four Londoners attends a religious service at least once a month, compared to one in 10 outside the capital; and 56% of Christians in London pray regularly, as against 32% of Christians in the rest of Britain.
Londoners are nearly twice as likely to say sex before marriage is at least sometimes wrong (24% compared to 13%), and are more likely to say the same about same-sex relationships (29% compared to 23%). [...] The polling was conducted by Savanta ComRes... (MORE - details)
Calls for legally recognised humanist marriages as religious weddings to resume
https://humanism.org.uk/2020/06/23/calls...n-england/
EXCERPT: Humanists UK has long campaigned for legal recognition of humanist marriages in England and Wales, as is the case in the rest of the UK, Jersey, and Ireland. At present, couples wishing to have a humanist wedding ceremony must also have a civil marriage if their marriage is to be legally recognised. Humanists UK is calling for the UK Government to ensure the needs of the non-religious are provided for on an equal basis to those of the religious by extending legal recognition to humanist marriages, and by resuming civil marriages (which are the large majority of marriages in England), both subject of course to strict safeguards.
A humanist wedding is a non-religious ceremony conducted by a humanist celebrant who shares the beliefs and values of the couple. It differs from a civil wedding in that it is entirely personalised and reflective of the humanist beliefs and values of the couple. Humanists UK has provided these ceremonies for many decades In England and Wales, and over 1,000 couples a year already have humanist weddings without legal recognition.
In current law, humanist couples in England and Wales all must supplement their humanist ceremony with a separate civil marriage – usually at a registrar’s office – for their marriage to be legally recognised, even though it is not what they want. Couples must go through formalities twice, leading, amongst other things, to needless time being spent on them by registrars and increased financial strain for couples. No such restrictions apply in Scotland, Northern Ireland, or in the Republic of Ireland... (MORE - details)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...-year.html
INTRO: An exiled billionaire [Guo Wengui] has accused the Chinese government of giving the Vatican £1.6billion every year in bribes to prevent it from criticising Beijing's sweeping clampdown on religions.
London more religious than rest of Britain, report finds
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/j...port-finds
EXCERPT: London is more religious and socially conservative than the rest of Britain, confounding perceptions of the capital as liberal and secular, research shows. People in the capital pray more and attend more religious services than those in the rest of the country, according to the survey. It also found Christian Londoners help their neighbours more than their non-religious counterparts, are more likely to volunteer for a charitable initiative, and are more likely to make charitable donations.
However, a significant minority feel marginalised because of their faith, the research for the Christian thinktank Theos found. It says: “It sometimes seems as if there are two cities in London: one sacred, one secular. Certainly, there is considerable value divergence.”
The proportion of people identifying as religious is 62% in the capital, compared with 53% in the rest of Britain – a profile likely to be driven by immigration and diaspora communities, according to the thinktank’s report, Religious London: Faith in a Global City. One in four Londoners attends a religious service at least once a month, compared to one in 10 outside the capital; and 56% of Christians in London pray regularly, as against 32% of Christians in the rest of Britain.
Londoners are nearly twice as likely to say sex before marriage is at least sometimes wrong (24% compared to 13%), and are more likely to say the same about same-sex relationships (29% compared to 23%). [...] The polling was conducted by Savanta ComRes... (MORE - details)
Calls for legally recognised humanist marriages as religious weddings to resume
https://humanism.org.uk/2020/06/23/calls...n-england/
EXCERPT: Humanists UK has long campaigned for legal recognition of humanist marriages in England and Wales, as is the case in the rest of the UK, Jersey, and Ireland. At present, couples wishing to have a humanist wedding ceremony must also have a civil marriage if their marriage is to be legally recognised. Humanists UK is calling for the UK Government to ensure the needs of the non-religious are provided for on an equal basis to those of the religious by extending legal recognition to humanist marriages, and by resuming civil marriages (which are the large majority of marriages in England), both subject of course to strict safeguards.
A humanist wedding is a non-religious ceremony conducted by a humanist celebrant who shares the beliefs and values of the couple. It differs from a civil wedding in that it is entirely personalised and reflective of the humanist beliefs and values of the couple. Humanists UK has provided these ceremonies for many decades In England and Wales, and over 1,000 couples a year already have humanist weddings without legal recognition.
In current law, humanist couples in England and Wales all must supplement their humanist ceremony with a separate civil marriage – usually at a registrar’s office – for their marriage to be legally recognised, even though it is not what they want. Couples must go through formalities twice, leading, amongst other things, to needless time being spent on them by registrars and increased financial strain for couples. No such restrictions apply in Scotland, Northern Ireland, or in the Republic of Ireland... (MORE - details)