As the new Conservative government takes shape, there will be interest in the Party’s plans to tackle the fomenting of extremism. Teresa May announced, in the month before the election, that measures would be introduced to deal with ‘entryist’ subversion of organisations (see our previous item here). The relevant section of the Conservative manifesto states: “Dealing with…
A press statement on The Church of England official website welcomes the recent Court of Appeals judgement as “upholding the freedom of clergy to be office holders rather than employees”. The judgement, in the widely reported case regarding former Worcestershire vicar, Mark Sharpe, has agreed with the initial judgement of the Employment Tribunal, which ruled that…
A Bill introducing changes into the federal law ‘On freedom of conscience and religious associations’ has been adopted by the Russian Parliament. The Bill now awaits the signature of the Russian president. One of the provisions prescribes the effective reregistration of all religious organisations of the country by 1 January 2016. Further provisions in the Bill…
A total of 65 individuals and religious communities are known to have been prosecuted in 2014 across Russia for possession of allegedly “extremist” banned religious literature which does not appear to incite violence or hatred, Forum 18 News Service notes. Of these, 56 ended up with punishments. The cases were brought under Administrative Code Article…
Last month the All Faiths Network hosted an interfaith forum concerning governmental and institutional responses to religious extremism. The debate explored critical issues, including suggestions that Government subsidies to interfaith bodies are failing to improve relations between faith communities. It was suggested that some bodies had been hijacked by unrepresentative cliques with links to extremist factions. The meeting also emphasised the…
Home Secretary Teresa May has announced new measures to be taken by the Extremism Analysis Unit to combat extremism. In a speech at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in London she said the Unit would “help us to develop a new engagement policy – which will set out clearly for the first time with which…
We present a video review of the recent All Faiths Network forum, held at Church House, Westminster. A full video of the proceedings will be presented shortly. [niceyoutubelite id=”1JPMmxdGRK0″] If you would like to comment on the event or give ideas on the way forward please do not hesitate to write to us.
We were pleased to host an interfaith forum (17 March) on important issues of governmental and institutional responses to religious extremism. The debate brought together a number of outspoken speakers. It shone light into areas that interfaith dialogue does not often address, though necessarily should for real dialogue to take place. Amongst several issues tackled, the panel suggested that…
Germany’s Constitutional Court has ruled that a complete ban on teachers wearing headscarves is not compatible with religious freedom. This decision overturns an earlier ruling from September last year. A German labour court had ruled in September that church institutions are permitted to ban the wearing of muslim headscarves if they deemed it necessary. Legal…
“Who is My Neighbour?” A Multifaith Response to Critical Issues for the General Election Tuesday 17 March 2015 at 1.30 arrival for 2.00pm prompt start Please note that there is a change of venue from the Parliament to close by at Church House as all Parliament’s rooms were needed for Parliamentary activitiesCouncil Room, Church House,…
