THE BAPTIST TIMES Thursday, November 8, 2007

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Jesse Jackson to launch Regent’s race research

By DANIEL GROTE

Minister warms to faith groups

By TOM RICHES

REGENT’S Park College has enlisted the support of veteran civil rights campaigner and former US presidential hopeful the Revd Jesse Jackson, as it embarks on an ambitious new research project aimed at improving access to university for young black people. Mr Jackson will next week launch ASPIRE, a major new research program looking at the under-representation of black young people in British higher education, with Regent’s holding high hopes that the launch will prove the beginning of a partnership with the outspoken Baptist minister. ASPIRE, a Regent’s project undertaken with Canterbury Christ Church University and the Churches’ Commission for Racial Justice, will develop links with up to 700 young black people and encourage them to apply for higher education. Regent’s principal the Revd Dr Robert Ellis welcomed Mr Jackson’s support, saying the campaigner brought ‘a terrific track record’ and a ‘gravitas’ to the project. ‘We hope this is the beginning of a partnership with him,’ added Regent’s tutor the Revd Dr Myra Blyth, who will work on the ASPIRE project. ‘He has been pushing the question of young black people aspiring to and accessing higher education, which coincides with our trying at a more modest level to work out our commitment to be a college that is open and accessible,’ she said. She added the results of the research were ‘bound to influence the college in many ways’. ‘We share the concern of the wider university that there is a lack of access - if we do this properly our expectation is that more young black people will apply to the university.’ Mr Jackson will also next week be awarded an honorary fellowship of Regent’s Park College, during his visit to Oxford. ‘It’s a way in which the college can honour somebody who has both made a significant impact in national political and church life in various ways in the US,’ said Dr Ellis. Mr Jackson’s busy visit to the UK next week will see him give talks on freedom and education within the context of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Slave Trade Act, as well as offer his insight into the 2008 US presidential elections. He is also set to meet with black grass roots activists in London, while on Tuesday, he will preach at a celebration service at New Road Baptist Church in Oxford.

Scottish Assembly shows the way ahead P icture: B MS World Mission / Allen Waller

BMS general director the Revd Dr Alistair Brown and Baptist Union of Scotland general director the Revd Bill Slack on stage during the Baptist Assembly in Scotland. Below – delegates examine the stands and displays at the Assembly

By TOM RICHES

UP TO 500 Baptists from across Scotland gathered in Glenrothes last weekend for the Baptist Assembly in Scotland. Themed ‘The way ahead – leading followers, following leaders’, the conference featured talks by Gary Nelson, general director of Canadian Baptist Ministries and Jill Garrett, director of leadership development at management consultancy firm Caret. Mr Nelson challenged the assembly to bring their own

personality, gifts and personal style to their leadership instead of imitating other leaders. Meanwhile Mrs Garrett told delegates that leadership should ‘become a way of life, not just a status’. This year marked the second time the event has been jointly organised by BMS World Mission and the Baptist Union of Scotland (BUS). The Assembly saw BUS honour retiring ministers and recognise newly accredited ones, while BMS also welcomed three long-term workers from Scotland.

Abortion report slammed by CMF

By TOM RICHES

THE Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF) has dismissed a Parliamentary report on abortion published last week as ‘deeply flawed’ and a ‘stitch-up’. In the report, a committee of MPs recommended keeping the 24-week upper limit for most abortions as well as scrapping the need for two doctors’ signatures, saying just one should have to sign a consent form. The Science and Technology

Committee also called for nurses to be allowed to carry out all stages of early surgical abortions. CMF general secretary Dr Peter Saunders slammed the report. ‘It appears that this whole exercise was a stitch-up from start to finish,’ he said. ‘This committee of largely pro-choice MPs began with their minds made up – they ignored key evidence that didn’t fit their agenda,’ he added. ‘It is quite astounding that, with 200,000 abortions a year

in the UK already, they want to liberalise the law further.’ The report will inform MPs debating amendments to the 1967 Abortion Act but Dr Saunders called on MPs to consider the minority report tabled by Conservative MPs Nadine Dorries and Bob Spink. He said the minority report is a ‘far better source of balanced evidence on such key issues as neonatal survival, foetal pain and the relationship between abortion and preterm birth, mental health problems and breast cancer’.

Sheffield magistrate loses appeal

By TOM RICHES

CHRISTIAN magistrate Andrew McClintock last week lost his appeal against the decision not to excuse him from ruling on cases involving children being placed with same-sex couples. The employment appeal tribunal found there was no unlawful conduct by the department of constitutional

affairs and there was no discrimination on religious grounds. The decision means Mr McClintock, who served in Sheffield’s family courts for 15 years, will no longer sit on the Family Panel. Mr McClintock claims the civil partnership laws, introduced in 2002, clash with his Christian beliefs and his duty

as a magistrate to put the child’s welfare first. He will now ask the court of appeal to rule on how far people with religious convictions can rely on the law to ‘uphold their rights and conscience’ against what he calls a growing secularist agenda. ‘I am deeply disappointed with the appeal’s decision,’ he said.

THE Government has overcome mistrust of faith groups to develop a ‘more mature’ understanding of them since it came to power, according to MP Hazel Blears. In a speech at last week’s Faithworks conference the communities and local government minister said the Government had been wary of faith groups in its early years. ‘In the past faith groups have found doors closed - little recognition of their role, little willingness to debate it,’ she said. ‘And it was a real missed opportunity that we chose not to make more of their enthusiasm and expertise,’ she added. ‘It’s never been clearer that faith groups must be part of the response to the problems we face.’ Meanwhile Faithworks’ leader the Revd Malcolm Duncan called for society, government and the Church to acknowledge the positive change that Christianity can have on individuals and communities, and urged churches to push for recognition for their work. ‘We must argue for our place, not within government, but within the public and civic life of Britain - we must recover our moral and social centre,’ he said. ‘Some of the services we now call the welfare state have only been delivered by the Government for 60 years. ‘They have been delivered by the church for more than 1000 years,’ he added. The conference also saw the launch of new campaign, My Faith Works, which aims to help society understand the place of faith in Christians’ lives and work.