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Lib Dem leader : To be taken seriously in the UK you have to hide your faith Tim Farron , the leader of the Liberal Democrats , has expressed his disappointment with how society continues to be suspicious of people who have faith . Speaking to the Evening Standard he suggested people are afraid to talk about religion as a result .

Talking about his own faith he said it helps him put “ everything in perspective ”. The MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale has always been open about his faith , even staying strong under criticism from mainstream media . Source : premier . org . uk

High court rejects challenge to ban on assisted dying A terminally ill former lecturer has lost a high court bid to change the law so that he can be given assistance to die at home surrounded by his family . Noel Conway , 67 , from Shrewsbury , was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in November 2014 . His condition is incurable and he is not expected to live beyond 12 months .

Supported by the organisation Dignity in Dying , he has instructed lawyers to seek permission for a judicial review of the ban on assisted dying , which , he says , prevents him ending his own life without protracted pain . Assisted dying is prohibited by section 2 ( 1 ) of the Suicide Act 1961 and voluntary euthanasia is considered murder under English and Welsh law .

Conway , who plans to appeal , was not in court in London on March 30 to hear Lord Justice Burnett and Mr Justice Jay rule that – by a majority decision – of two judges to one – he did not have an arguable case to go forward . Source : theguardian . com

Church of England to appoint new bishop for ethnic minorities The Church of England will appoint a new bishop to reach out to black and ethnic minorities . Whoever is appointed to the new role of Bishop of Loughborough , based in the Diocese of

Leicester , will work towards creating new churches to reflect the cultural diversity of Leicester .

Rt Rev Martyn Snow told the Guardian “ the diversity of the city is not reflected in our churches ” and that “ the majority of people going to Anglican churches are white-British , while there are more than 100 BAME churches , mostly neo-Pentecostalist .” The Bishop of Loughborough role is the first ever to have a focus on ethnic diversity and the first post to be created since 1987 , when the Bishop of Brixworth was established . Bishop Martyn added that the Church of England is “ quintessentially English ” and must be more welcoming to other cultures .

According to church figures from 2015 , only 3.4 per cent of Church of England clergy were non-white with very few holding senior roles . Source : premier . org . uk

Church of England faces grave future , study concludes The Church of England faces a “ grave ” future because too few younger people are coming forward to take over the running of things like providing teas and coffee at church . New research by Goldsmiths College at the University of London found 700,000 women who volunteer in parishes are now into their 80s and 90s .

Author of the analysis , Dr Abby Day was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying : “ The prognosis for the Church of England is grave , While elderly laywomen have never been given a formal voice or fully acknowledged by the Church , they are the heart , soul and driving organisational force in parishes everywhere .”

Dr Day concluded that younger generations are more likely to shun practical acts of service and express their beliefs in less practical ways , such as activism . Source : premier . org . uk

Bank introduces gender neutral ‘ Mre ’, ‘ Pr ’ and ‘ Ind ’ alongside ‘ Mr ’ and ‘ Mrs ’ A swathe of new gender neutral terms , including abbreviations for “ mystery ”, “ person ” and

“ individual ”, have been introduced by banking giant HSBC . The bank claims the terms – ten in all – offer a better experience for transsexual customers , although they can be used by any person .

HSBC is not the first bank to take such an action – last year the independent Metro bank introduced the “ Mx ” prefix for customers . The number of people who have had a gender recognition certificate to change their legal birth sex is 4,500 – around 0.007 per cent of the UK population . Source : christian . org . uk

Zhejiang province orders churches to install surveillance equipment The government in China ’ s coastal Zhejiang Province recently ordered surveillance equipment to be installed in churches , allowing them to easily monitor church activities .

In March , authorities in Zhejiang demanded that Three- Self Churches install surveillance cameras and have been dispatching officials to forcibly set up the devices if the order meets with refusal . Officially , the reasoning for the cameras are “ safety ” and “ anti-terrorism ” precautions . They also said they would take into account whether or not the church had previously resisted cross demolitions during a province-wide campaign and would send more agents to the site if it had .

From 21-24 March , hundreds of police officers converged on Changlin Church in Wenzhou , Zhejiang , in order to carry out this task , beating any Christians who resisted their efforts . A local Christian said the church members questioned why they needed additional surveillance since Three-Self Churches are already heavily monitored and policed by the government . Source : chinaaid . org

28 Revival Times May 2017