The government began consultation on how it could best support faith communities' engagement with one another and with their local communities.
Source: 'Face-to-Face and Side-by-Side': A framework for inter faith dialogue and social action, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Consultation document | DCLG press release
Date: 2007-Dec
The High Court ruled that the BBC's broadcasting of a play about the Jerry Springer show was not blasphemous. It said that crime of blasphemous libel only arose where material relating to the Christian religion was so scurrilous and offensive that it undermined society generally, by endangering the peace, depraving public morality, shaking the fabric of society, or tending to be a cause of civil strife.
Source: Queen (on the application of Stephen Green) and City of Westminster Magistrates' Court v Jonathan Murray Thoday and Mark Thompson, High Court 5 December 2007
Links: Text of judgement | BBC press release | Liberty press release | BHA press release | NSS press release | Ekklesia press release | Telegraph report | Times report
Date: 2007-Dec
A study found that government policy on including 'secular worldviews such as humanism' in school religious education was not being effectively implemented.
Source: Jacqueline Watson, Humanism in Agreed Syllabuses for Religious Education, British Humanist Association (020 7079 3580)
Links: Report | BHA press release
Date: 2007-Nov
A report put forward the case for organizing the state on a secular basis.
Source: Richard Norman (ed.), The Case for Secularism: A neutral state in an open society, British Humanist Association (020 7079 3580)
Links: BHA press release
Date: 2007-Nov
A report examined the contracting out of public services to religious organizations. There was no evidence that religious organizations offered any distinctive benefits to the supply and provision of public services. Expanding their role risked lowering standards, increasing inequalities, introducing 'parallel services', and damaging social cohesion.
Source: Quality and Equality: Human rights, public services and religious organisations, British Humanist Association (020 7079 3580)
Links: Report | BHA press release | Ekklesia press release | Faithworks press release
Date: 2007-Nov
A new book said that the strong connexions between moral meaning and spirituality were often not reflected in the health and social care literature. It provided a practical framework for incorporating spirituality into ethical decision-making and care.
Source: Simon Robinson, Spirituality, Ethics and Care, Jessica Kingsley Publishers (020 7833 2307)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Oct
A new book examined the treatment of human rights and employment issues in the Church of England.
Source: John Burgess, Human Rights and Employment Issues in the Church of England, John Burgess Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Oct
A new book examined the treatment of gender and sexuality issues in the Church of England.
Source: John Burgess, Human Rights and the Church of England: Issues of Gender and Sexuality, John Burgess Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Oct
A journal issue examined the issues and controversies surrounding faith schools.
Source: FORUM: for promoting 3-19 comprehensive education, Volume 49 Number 3
Links: Table of contents
Date: 2007-Oct
A think-tank report examined the extent of 'extremist' penetration of mosques and other key institutions of the Muslim community. (The reliability of research evidence used in the report was subsequently challenged by a BBC television programme.)
Source: Denis MacEoin, The Hijacking of British Islam: How extremist literature is subverting mosques in the UK, Policy Exchange (020 7340 2650) | The Guardian, <13> December 2007
Links: Report | Policy Exchange press release | MCB press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Oct
The government and religious groups published a joint declaration on faith schools in England. It sought to dispel some of the 'common myths and misunderstanding' around schools with a religious character, and to promote greater respect of the differences between different faiths and different types of schools. The government promised to remove 'unnecessary barriers' for religious groups that wanted to provide state education.
Source: Faith in the System: The role of schools with a religious character in English education and society, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Statement | Speech | DCSF press release | Catholic Church press release | MCB press release | NSS press release | BHA press release | ASCL press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Sep
An independent review said that the Catholic Church was still failing to adequately protect children and vulnerable adults from abuse, five years after an earlier review had called for improvement.
Source: Cumberlege Commission, Safeguarding with Confidence: Keeping children and vulnerable adults safe in the Catholic Church, Incorporated Catholic Truth Society (020 7640 0042)
Links: Report | Commission press release | Catholic Church press release | Community Care report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Jul
An article examined Muslims? perceptions of the social housing services provided to them, and the extent to which these met their religious needs and aspirations.
Source: David Cheesman, 'The margins of public space – Muslims and social housing in England', People, Place & Policy, Volume 1 Issue 1
Links: Article
Date: 2007-Jul
A think-tank report examined the extent to which Catholic teaching on social and economic issues could be used to justify the free market, or alternative forms of political and economic organization, in areas such as taxation, welfare, foreign aid, labour markets, and business.
Source: Philip Booth (ed.), Catholic Social Teaching and the Market Economy, Institute of Economic Affairs (020 7799 8900)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Jul
A new book examined social issues facing the Catholic Church, and the relationship between theology, social justice, and 'social spirituality'.
Source: Philomena Cullen, Bernard Hoose and Gerard Mannion (eds.), Catholic Social Justice: Theological and practical explorations, Church House Publishing (020 7898 1451)
Links: Summary | Catholic Church press release
Date: 2007-Jul
Researchers (drawing on the Millennium Cohort Study) said that children born since 2000 were more likely to grow up believing that religious values were important if they had an older mother.
Source: Kirstine Hansen and Heather Joshi (eds.), Millennium Cohort Study Second Survey: A User?s Guide to Initial Findings, Centre for Longitudinal Studies/University of London (020 7612 6875)
Links: Report | CLS Briefings | CLS press release
Date: 2007-Jun
A new book said that churches provided ?hubs? where the community could work together for the common good, seek to solve shared problems, and counter the fragmentation of community life.
Source: Lynda Barley, Community Value, Church House Publishing (020 7898 1451)
Links: Summary | CofE press release
Date: 2007-Jun
A report said that government policies that treated faith-based organizations as separate from secular charities or community groups might be divisive, and lead to perceptions of discrimination in government funding and involvement in policy discussions.
Source: V?ronique Jochum, Belinda Pratten and Karl Wilding (eds.), Faith and Voluntary Action: An overview of current evidence and debates, National Council for Voluntary Organisations (0800 279 8798)
Links: Report | NCVO press release
Date: 2007-Jun
The inspectorate for education and children's services said that some progress had been made in enhancing the provision for religious education. Much greater consensus existed about the nature and purpose of the subject, and fewer schools failed to meet the statutory requirement to teach RE. But achievement at key stage 3 remained very inconsistent and too much teaching was unchallenging.
Source: Making Sense of Religion: A report on religious education in schools and the impact of locally agreed syllabuses, HMI 070045, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (07002 637833)
Links: Report | OFSTED press release | BHA press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Jun
A report examined the role of faith-based organizations in voluntary action in rural areas.
Source: Jemma Grieve, V?ronique Jochum, Belinda Pratten and Claire Steel, Faith in the Community: The contribution of faith-based organisations to rural voluntary action, National Council for Voluntary Organisations (0800 279 8798)
Links: Report | Summary | NCVO press release
Date: 2007-Jun
A paper reviewed Census and other statistical data as a first step to developing a social audit of the Muslim community in Wales. Compared to the population as a whole, Muslims were more likely to live in the 10 per cent most deprived areas of Wales, and less likely to live in the 50 per cent least deprived areas.
Source: Robert Lee, A Social Audit of the Muslim Community in Wales, Welsh Assembly Government (029 2082 5111)
Links: Paper | BBC report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2007-May
The government published an action plan designed to increase work with Muslim communities to isolate, prevent, and defeat violent extremism.
Source: Preventing Violent Extremism: Winning hearts and minds, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Action plan | DCLG press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Apr
The government published draft guidance on school uniform policies. Schools were permitted to ban Muslim pupils wearing the full veil or 'niqab' on the grounds of security, health and safety, or if they believed it impeded learning.
Source: Guidance to Schools on School Uniform Related Policies: A Consultation, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Consultation document | DfES press release | IHRC press release | Ekklesia press release | PAT press release | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Mar
An article said that there could not be a single 'national story' of Britain; nor could one set of 'British values' be imposed as a condition of citizenship. Instead, an integrated society could only be built out of universal values of human rights, justice, and democracy ? the very values the 'war on terror' tended to undermine.
Source: Arun Kundnani, 'Integrationism: the politics of anti-Muslim racism', Race and Class, Volume 48 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Mar
An article said that Muslim schools could be a positive addition to the educational system, and an effective way of integrating religious minorities into British citizenship.
Source: Nasar Meer, 'Muslim schools in Britain: challenging mobilisations or logical development?', Asia Pacific Journal of Education, Volume 27 Number 1
Links: Article | Bristol University press release
Date: 2007-Mar
A report said that Catholic churches were struggling to cope with huge numbers of new worshippers arriving in from eastern European countries.
Source: Francis Davis, Jolanta Stankeviciute, David Ebbutt and Robert Kaggwa, The Ground of Justice: The report of a pastoral research enquiry into the needs of migrants in London's Catholic community, Centre for Faith in Society/Von H?gel Institute/St Edmund's College, Cambridge ((info@vhi.org.uk)
Links: Report | Telegraph report | FT report
Date: 2007-Feb
A Member of Parliament introduced a Bill designed to remove legislative discrimination against Catholics, and to make provision for the independence and freedom of operation of Catholic institutions.
Source: Catholics (Prevention of Discrimination) Bill, John Gummer MP, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard
Date: 2007-Feb
The Prime Minister said that there would be no exemptions for faith-based adoption agencies offering publicly-funded services (in particular, those run by the Catholic Church) from regulations which prevented discrimination against same-sex couples. There would be a transition period before the regulations came fully into force at the end of 2008 for existing adoption agencies.
Source: Press release 29 January 2007, 10 Downing Street (020 7270 1234)
Links: Downing St press release | Catholic Church press release | Stonewall press release | Barnardos press release | Christian Institute press release | BAAF press release | TUC press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Times report
Date: 2007-Jan
A report by the opposition Conservative Party examined the position of Muslim communities. A number of factors combined to set Muslim communities apart from the rest of society in ways which were unhelpful to the advancement of individuals and of Muslims generally. Muslim community organizations, of which there were many that did important social work, were not offering the leadership they should.
Source: Uniting the Country, Conservative Party (020 7222 9000)
Links: Report | Conservative Party press release | MCB press release
Date: 2007-Jan
A survey examined the attitudes of Muslims in Britain, and the reasons behind the rapid rise in Islamic fundamentalism among the younger generation. There was a growing religiosity among the younger generation of Muslims, who felt that they had less in common with non-Muslims than did their parents. They exhibited a much stronger preference for Islamic schools and sharia law, and placed a greater stress on asserting their identity publicly - for example, by wearing the hijab.
Source: Munira Mirza, Abi Senthilkumaran and Zein Ja'far, Living Apart Together: British Muslims and the paradox of multiculturalism, Policy Exchange (020 7340 2650)
Links: Report | BLINK report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jan