Can't see this email? View an online version at www.biblesociety.org.uk/latestnewswatch To make sure emails from Bible Society always arrive in your inbox and are not treated as junk mail, please add newswatch@biblesociety.org.uk to your email address book.

New reader? To subscribe to Newswatch visit www.biblesociety.org.uk/newswatch

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

THIS WEEK IN THE NATIONAL PRESS:

The Prime Minister has backed a march by over 600 Anglican bishops which urged world leaders to meet their pledges to halve global poverty by 2015. Hundreds of other faith leaders, parliamentarians and charity workers joined the demonstration calling the international community to honour the millennium development goals. The Archbishop of Canterbury handed Gordon Brown a letter which said that a timetable for achieving the poverty reduction target set in 2000 needed to be agreed by leaders meeting in September or the goals would not be met. Addressing the demonstration, Mr Brown said the march was one of Britain's ‘greatest public demonstrations of faith'.

Sources: The Guardian (24/7); The Times (24/7)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4390732.ece

Back to top

POPE COMMISSIONS YOUTH TO REFRESH THE ‘DESERT'

God is calling a ‘new generation of Christians' to inaugurate a ‘new age' of love and hope, Pope Benedict XVl told 400,000 young worshippers in Sydney last weekend. Speaking at the climax of the four-day Catholic World Youth Day (WYD) celebrations, he called the young pilgrims from 170 countries to be ‘the prophets of this new age' and ‘messengers of [God's] love'. He said both society and Church needed renewal to push back a growing ‘spiritual desert' of ‘indifference', inner ‘emptiness' and ‘self-absorption'. Observers noted the part played by local Australians and Pacific islanders in the events together with the Pope's emphasis on the young people's role, rather than his own.

Sources: The Times (20/7); Catholic Herald (25/7); The Tablet (26/7)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4367131.ece
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/issues/1000110/

Back to top

OLDEST NT REUNITED BY THE WEB

The world's oldest complete New Testament is to be made available in one place at the click of a button thanks to cooperation between the four libraries where it is held. The fourth century Codex Sinaiticus was removed from St Catherine's monastery in Egypt in 1844. It found its way to the British Museum, although sections came to be held in Leipzig, St Petersburg and St Catherine's, its original home. From yesterday (24/7) a quarter of the manuscript's 800 pages and other fragments were opened to all on a British Library website. The library plans to mount the whole Bible by next July. Until now the library's visitors have only been able to see two pages displayed at a time. Now, ‘this absolutely unique treasure' will be available to all in its entirety.

Sources: The Times (24/7); 24 Hour Museum (21/7)
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article4387070.ece
http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/london/news/ART59557.html

Back to top

CANTERBURY URGES ANGLICAN FAMILY TO NEW LISTENING AND CONSENT

The Archbishop of Canterbury has criticised both liberal and conservative bishops in the Anglican Communion who have put the body's continued existence under ‘severe' strain. Addressing the over 650 bishops attending this week's ten-yearly Lambeth Conference, he urged both wings to get past the ‘impatience' of assuming ‘the other is not actually listening to Jesus'. He said this was the alternative to ‘irreparable schism or forced assimilation'. Rather than ‘scores of resolutions', this conference has been designed to facilitate patient and democratic listening which Dr Williams said was less ‘tied to Western ways' and better reflects the ‘very varied group' the Communion has become. For much of the conference bishops will be involved in African-style ‘Indaba' discussion groups, designed to find solutions to differences. .

Source: Daily Telegraph (21/7); Church Times (25/7)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2437868/Bishops-boycotting-Lambeth-Conference-are-weakening-churchs-efforts-to-resolve-crisis.html

Back to top

THIS WEEK IN THE CHURCH PRESS:

SUDAN URGES AMERICAN RETHINK

The first test of the Lambeth Conference's unity was made on Tuesday when the Archbishop of Sudan pressed the American and Canadian churches to fully commit themselves not to ordain active homosexuals or approve same-sex rites. Christians are being treated as ‘infidels in the Islamic world when they hear of the same-sex blessings,' Most Revd Daniel Deng said. ‘They think what we are doing in the Church is completely evil' and ‘It will give [militants] reasons to kill [us],' he added. The Archbishop of South-East Asia, Most Revd John Chew, agreed that many of the provinces in the Anglican Communion's Global South – home to 75 per cent of Anglican worshippers – had similar concerns.

Source: Church Times (25/7); Church of England Newspaper (25/7)
http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=60927

Back to top

CHURCH MUST END COMPLACENCY ON KNIFE CRIME

As a new Churches Together in England (CTE) report this week called on Christians to unite against gang-related violence, a national Methodist leader has warned his church against complacency on the issue. Revd Eric Mustapha is Coordinator of the Association of Black Methodist Youth Clubs (ABMYC) which is releasing a resource to respond to the problem this summer. Mr Mustapha was ‘discouraged' that a Methodist investigation into the problem is now looking for resourcing by ‘ecumenical and statutory bodies'. ‘If the Church is really serious … it shouldn't wait for others to join it,' he said. The ABMYC's annual conference next week will be themed around gun and knife crime. Meanwhile, the CTE report ‘emphasises the unique value of each young person's life and seeks to inspire churches to reach out to [them],' Dr David Cornick, CTE general secretary, explained.

Source: Methodist Recorder (24/7)
http://www.methodistrecorder.co.uk/mrhlines.htm

Back to top

NO JUSTICE – NO EUCHARIST

The Eucharist is ‘sterile' if it is not accompanied by action for social justice, a Philadelphia-based nun has told the annual Roman Catholic Justice and Peace conference. Sr Margaret Scott quoted Pope John Paul ll's statement that making justice happen is a measure of our Communion. If ‘everyone is called to the table regardless of culture, class, sex, race and wealth,' it must mean that ‘The poor and dispossessed should have enough to eat', Sr Scott said. Fr Pat O'Riordan, assistant director of Heythrop College, London, told the conference's 350 delegates that market fundamentalism was the cause of much of the suffering in today's world.

Back to top

CULTURE WATCH:

THE ATHLETE ‘POWERED BY PRAYER’

One of the top sprinters who will be in the starting blocks at Gateshead this weekend attributes all her success to prayer. Allyson Felix is the world 200 metres champion and as keen to run the race for God off track as when she is competing. ‘Lots of athletes talk about God and thank him after winning a race, but it's a whole different thing to live your life for him,' the US athlete said. The daughter of a Baptist pastor, she has formed a prayer group within the US team and says that her pre-sprint prayer is ‘to glorify God through my performance'.

Source: Daily Telegraph (27/7)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/columnists/jimwhite/2341565/Felix-on-rise-with-God-at-her-side.html

Back to top

A printer-friendly version of this week’s Newswatch is available at www.biblesociety.org.uk/newswatchpdf

Bible Society is an advocate for the Bible in contemporary cultures, resourcing and influencing those who shape society – making the voice of the Bible heard.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

YOUR THOUGHTS
We would be delighted to hear any comments or suggestions you may have to improve this Newswatch service. Simply click here to email us with your thoughts.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------