On Wednesday, the Most Reverend Rowan Williams, who was the Archbishop of Canterbury 2002-2012, met the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Markos Bolaris. 

They spoke about immigration, the persecution that Christians (especially in the Middle East) and the destruction of many Christian’s ancestral homes. They also discussed the destruction of significant world cultural heritages sites and the appropriate responses of countries, religious institutions, and international organisations.

The Deputy Minister briefed the Most Reverend Rowan Williams on the two-day conference on religious and ecclesiastical diplomacy organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where they invited representatives of every religion in Greece, as well as representatives of primeval Orthodox Patriarchates, to voice their views on current issues of religious diplomacy.

The Deputy Minister also informed him of the establishment of the Centre for Religious Liberty and Diplomacy. 

Most Rev Rowan Williams attributed said Greece had done well in communicating a peaceful co-existence in regions which traditionally were multi-religious and multi-cultural. He laid out proposals for dealing with the radicalisation of Muslims in Western Europe and hoped that Greece and Great Britain would continue to eradicate intolerance and protect persecuted populations.

Williams also agreed with the Deputy…

Serving as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s special envoy, Terry Waite was held in captivity for nearly five years whilst trying to free western hostages in Lebanon.

He was kept hostage from 1987-1991.

Reflecting on his time in captivity, Mr Waite told Premier his faith gave him the strength to persevere: “I could say in the face of my captors, you have the power to break my body and you’ve tried, the power to bend my mind and you’ve tried but my soul isn’t yours to possess.”

He shared how his trials taught him how to love the poor: “I’ve always had sympathy for people who are on the margins of life. But that sympathy in captivity was changed into empathy.

“Being there equipped me to be able to do more and understand more of the situation that many people in this world find themselves in.”

Mr Waite, who was kept mainly in solitary confinement during his captivity, revisited the country several years after his release in 1991, to offer his forgiveness to Hezzbollah – the organisation believed to have been behind his kidnapping.

He said he’s learnt the importance of seeking reconciliation through times of division: “You don’t have to agree with what people do, to be able to forgive.
“If you can’t forgive it restricts your own future. Forgiveness is liberating.”

Earlier this year the Lebanese Embassy held a reception in honour of Terry Waite and his humanitarian…

The study, developed by Tax Justice Network ranks countries by their involvement in corporate tax avoidance and placed The British Virgin Islands, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands at the top of the list.

Christian Aid claims the tax rules for UK Overseas Territories is negatively impacting the poor, as they encourage big companies to avoid paying taxes.

Low tax revenues have forced developing countries to make cuts to health care, education and other public services and Christian Aid is calling on the UK government to intervene.

Toby Quantrill, Christian Aid’s Global Lead on Economic Justice told Premier: “[Multinationals] can shift the profits that they make to another jurisdiction, which has a much lower tax rate.

“And this has a huge impact on the ability of those countries to provide for their students in terms of education and health.”

Mr Quantrill says the government needs to tighten tax laws to prevent big businesses from exploiting the poor: “They’re providing the opportunity for companies to rob other countries of tax revenues.” 

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Climate experts claim the target for net zero emissions by 2050 is necessary to avoid dangerous climate change.

Caroline Pomeroy, Director of Climate Stewards, a Christian charity that helps people offset unavoidable carbon emissions by supporting projects in developing countries, told Premier: “It’s probably the most urgent and important question of our time, the implications of climate change.

“I think we can easily get distracted by short term politics, but climate change impacts the poorest and most vulnerable people on the planet and the creatures that we share it with.

“As Christians, we really truly love our neighbours. That means our global neighbours and I think that we, who are mostly contributing to climate change are called to do what we can.”

The letter’s signatories include emeritus Professor Joanna Haigh from Imperial College London, Myles Allen from Oxford University, Sir Brian Hoskins, who chairs the Grantham Institute on Climate Change, and Professor Dame Julia Slingo.

Prof Haigh said it was a question of seizing the day.

“It’s such an important topic, we’ve all the scientific indicators that show something needs to be done, and it’s in the Conservative Party tradition going back to Margaret Thatcher.”

She said it could be an achievement of Mrs May’s premiership, which would be great for the UK and set an example for the rest of the world.

A…

They are encouraging churches to run cricket-themed missions this summer and have videos on their website which can be used in schools assemblies or youth groups on how the characteristics of cricket players are similar to those needed in a Christian – such as staying disciplined in the midst of distractions and facing pressure. 

Scripture Union suggests playing street cricket to make friends with neighbours and local families. They’ve also produced two assembly outlines to be used in schools – one for Key Stage 2 and one for Key Stage 3.

Ben Poch from Scripture Union told Premier: “I think one of the things that I’m really keen to talk about with people when we think about sports ministry is that we can sound think, ‘Okay, well, I’m not really passionate about sports or I don’t have any coaching qualifications, so what can I do?’ but what we are trying to say is that if you have a heart for young people and you love Jesus then you’re qualified to be able to go out and take the good news of Jesus to young people.

“We find that there’s different ways in which we can set up different activities, where we can share our faith and do that in in the context of sport. One of my first opportunities to get involved with sports ministry was working with a number of different volunteers from this local church in a football project. They didn’t play football themselves,…