Scottish churches and aid groups want 'just banking'
Church and fair finance groups are due to meet in Edinburgh to look at what ethical and socially responsible banking and investment can mean for churches and the wider community.
Read full article
Date: 04-03-2010

Muslim scholar demolishes religious justifications for terror and violence
"Violence is violence. It has no place in Islamic teaching", says a leading Muslim scholar in a fatwa, an extended religiously-based argument, directed at those who justify hatred and terror in the name of faith. Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri Ul-Qadri's 600-page analysis is "arguably the most comprehensive theological refutation of Islamist terrorism to date," according to the Quilliam Foundation, the London-based counter-terrorism think tank. "Terrorism is terrorism," Ul-Qadri, founder of Minhaj-ul-Quran, an organisation claiming hundreds of thousands of followers in South Asia and the United Kingdom, declared. Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri is regarded as a mainstream Muslim scholar who is a "widely recognised and respected authority on Islamic jurisprudence." At a press conference earlier this week, he criticised Muslims who, in justifying terrorism, say it furthers the goal of correcting wrongs done to Muslims. "No good intention - even one thousand good intentions put together -- cannot justify a wrong and forbidden act," Ul-Qadri said. "Good intentions cannot convert a wrong into good." Perpetration of murder and violence in the name of Islam separates people from Allah and from the destiny of paradise, the fatwa says.
Read full article
Date: 04-03-2010

Taxpayers' money "could fund child slavery" campaigners warn
Taxpayers' money could be used to fund child labour or slavery under new government proposals, campaign groups warned today.
Read full article
Date: 03-03-2010

Ed Balls to join religious left engagement on the family
Ed Balls will next week engage in a debate on family policy, which will suggest that Conservative ideas on tax breaks for married couples fail on fairness.
Read full article
Date: 03-03-2010

Vulture fund bill swoops into Parliament
Campaigners working to cancel debt in the developing world have today welcomed the publishing of the Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Bill.
Read full article
Date: 22-02-2010

Double digit growth for fairtrade despite recession
Sales of fairtrade goods increased 12 per cent during 2009 despite the recession, it was announced today (22 February) at the beginning of Fairtrade Fortnight.
Read full article
Date: 22-02-2010

Poverty experts and churches urge government to close wealth gap
Twenty-six leading poverty experts, including many church leaders, have challenged the Chancellor and Opposition finance ministers to seize a once-in-a-generation opportunity to close the gap between rich and poor.
Read full article
Date: 20-02-2010

Don't give up for Lent, says Kirk moderator
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has called on Kirk members to find ways of being better Christians, rather than avoiding things such as chocolate, alcohol or cigarettes during Lent.
Read full article
Date: 20-02-2010

Christian ethicists slam company in which churches have largest shareholding
As Shell faces a lawsuit in the Netherlands over alleged oil pollution in Nigeria, and a fresh challenge over plans to drill for billions of barrels of oil in the Arctic's environmentally sensitive frozen waters, a new report published today (16 February) argues that the oil giant can and should take both prompt and longer-term action to reduce the negative social and environmental impacts of its operations in the Niger Delta.
Read full article
Date: 16-02-2010

Methodists welcome moves towards health warnings on alcohol
The Methodist Church in Britain has welcomed news that the drinks industry could be forced to put health warnings on all alcoholic drinks, after public concern about the social impact of heavy consumption.
Read full article
Date: 16-02-2010