Drop Haiti's Debt

Christian Aid is responding to the disaster in Haiti with emergency aid. But we need to help Haiti in the long-term as well as the short-term. We are now calling on the UK to lead the world in giving Haiti a fighting chance for the future by cancelling its $890m of international debt in full. Sign our petition and we will present your call to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling. Click here to sign the petition

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Child Poverty Action Group

Despite Scotland’s undoubted wealth a staggering one in four of our children still live in poverty. What’s more the latest official statistics suggest recent progress in reducing child poverty has stalled. Follow this link to learn more and take action: www.cpag.org.uk

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Fighting Poverty in Scotland: Achievements and Opportunities

2010 will be a significant year in the fight against poverty. The UK General Election and the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion will provide a real opportunity to debate about how best to tackle poverty. The Poverty Alliance’s annual seminar series will focus on looking at what has been achieved so far, and what the anti-poverty movement in Scotland should be calling for in the next period in order to ensure that poor people are not made to pay for the economic crisis. For more information and to register go to: http://www.povertyalliance.org/events.asp

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Be Prepared to Vote: General Election Resources for Churches

Resources have been produced to help churches and Christians in general to prepare for the election. These materials will not support a 'Church' view or party line, but will aim to help Christians engage with a range of important issues facing our country. They include guidelines for organising a Hustings Meeting. Download the resources from here: http://www.ctbi.org.uk/427

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Trident, Poverty and the Election: Postcard campaign

Please help to make 'peace' and 'ending poverty' the big issues in the Election by electing candidates who won’t waste time, money and our souls on Trident. Send a postcard to all your candidates asking them how they will vote on replacing Trident. Here is the wording on the postcard: "We believe that nuclear weapons have no place in a modern world. They do not prevent war. They kill indiscriminately. They cost enormous sums of money that could be better spent on alleviating poverty and creating jobs. The majority of Scots are opposed to them. I intend to make the future of Trident a key issue in my choice about whom to vote for in the General Election. Can you please tell me whether, if elected, you would vote for or against the replacement of Trident? Yours sincerely" View the postcard and order free copies by following this link: Trident Postcard Campaign

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Alcohol Campaign

The Scottish Parliament is currently considering new legislation that contains far reaching proposals about the sale of alcohol. Some of them, especially the proposal to introduce a minimum price for a unit of alcohol, are in line with principles supported by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. This proposal has attracted opposition from the Scotch Whisky Association as well as the main political parties. The Church and Society Council has produced campaign materials to support the minimum pricing proposals. Please take part in this campaign. Follow this link to find more information: Alcohol Campaign

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How to Drug Proof Your Kids

This is a course for parents and other carers to help prevent children becoming involved with drugs and excessive alcohol use. It is available to local congregations, who can have someone trained to deliver the course to people within their own parish and community. Follow this link for information: How to Drug Proof Your Kids

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Annual Competition for Schools – Stevenson Prize

Your School could win £500 – but hurry – the deadline for entries is 25th March 2010. Enter our competition which encourages excellence within the field of Religious Observance. Entries may be submitted in any medium including electronic entries. Last year entries included: Folders of work describing school assemblies and activities relating to RO DVDs showing pupils conducting RO PowerPoint presentations The competition is for work by pupils and a prize will be awarded to one Primary and one Secondary school. Details can be found on the ‘Schools’ web page: Competition Details  or by phoning Agnes Mullen in the Church and Society Council office ( 0131 240 2275  0131 240 2275 ).

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Carbon Footprint – what’s yours?

All churches have been encouraged to calculate the carbon footprint of each of their buildings in order to reduce their emissions. If your church has not yet done the sums follow the link below to a simple calculator on our website. All you need are the energy bills for your buildings. Carbon Calculator

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Want to change the world, but not sure where to start?

The 'Beginner's Guide to a Fairer World' is a fun 3 hour workshop about the power you have to make a difference on global issues like climate change, fair trade and international poverty. The World Development Movement will be running these workshops during February in Mull, Dundee, Elgin, Inverness, Skye and Dumfries.  Workshops will run alongside the Take One Action Film Festival tour in the same places, showing thought-provoking films and linking audiences, filmmakers and campaigners. Find out more and book your place: Take One Action  Full film details, speaker information and trailers at: Full details

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Power 2010

"What does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah Chapter 6, verse 8). All Christians feel this biblical imperative. Yet at times politics seems to block this very mission as Trident is renewed while schools face cutbacks, as child poverty endures and the children of people seeking sanctuary in this country are locked up indefinitely having committed no crime. When politics is broken the people must come together to fix it. That's why we're urging you to get involved with a partner campaign POWER2010. Go on line and cast your vote on the shape of democracy from among 29 ideas for reform submitted by the public. In the coming general election, POWER2010 will be asking all Parliamentary candidates to sign the POWER2010 pledge made up from the top voted reforms, a promise to prioritise democratic renewal to which they will be held accountable after they enter office. http://www.power2010.org.uk/home

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Starters for Sunday

'Starters for Sunday' for 21 February, which is the first Sunday in Lent, has been prepared with the theme 'We cannot live by bread alone'. It is based on Luke 4:1-13. Follow this link to find the resources: Starters for Sunday

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Credit crunch:
Holding out the word of life

[Full Article]

"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may…..shine like stars in the universe, as you hold out the word of life" (Phil 2: 14- 16)  

The newspapers and airwaves have been filled with imagery bordering on the apocalyptic. Billions of pounds (of our money) have been used to shore up banks creaking under the weight of the debt with which they have burdened themselves. What are Christians to think? How are we to respond? Does the church have anything to say?

Many people agree that greed is at the heart of the problems we now face. Financial institutions, which in the past would have seen themselves as custodians of the deposits of their customers, allowed profiteering to trump profit. Bonuses offered to bank staff meant that they often actively encouraged people to take on debts which both parties knew they couldn't afford. Many of these bad debts were wrapped in attractive packages and sold on in an increasingly risky game of financial "pass the parcel". The incentivisation (and virtual imputation of infallibility) of CEOs lead to the long term implications of too few decisions at the top being questioned- as long as a tidy short term profit was being turned for the shareholders and healthy bonuses awarded to the directors.

Even many of those involved at the top in the financial system in Scotland agree that the church has a responsibility to be involved in the discussions: to query the motivation brought about at all levels in the system by the bonus culture, to question behaviour which was sometimes at best disingenuous, and to ask why those who were tasked with the regulation of the markets were apparently blind to the problems until it was too late. But it has a responsibility to do much more.

As the financial situation unwinds, and the full extent of the problems become apparent, myriad stresses will be put on a social fabric which is already taut. Government will have fewer resources, leading to cuts in services at a time when many will need to turn to them for help. Unexpected unemployment will mean that families may experience tensions which they find difficult to deal with. Giving to charity, buying fair trade, caring for the environment: all may suffer as people re- orientate their priorities.

Roles for the Church

With 1500 branch offices throughout the country (many of them in areas of particular concern and fragility, such as Priority Areas or rural parishes), the Church of Scotland has a unique responsibility to respond. We have a skilled workforce, a motivated volunteer base, and a clear call to be salt and light in a needy world. We have buildings in strategic places, a voice which still carries considerable authority in society, and a compassion for those in need.

Many practical suggestions of ways in which individuals, congregations or presbyteries could be involved can be made. A few examples might be:

• establishing credit unions
• utilising space in congregational buildings for
  — community food co- operatives
  — community social events: e.g. cinema nights, ceilidhs
• using the practical skills and experiences that many church members have e.g.
  — baking/ cooking classes
  — babysitting circles
• organising “car pools” to help people get to
  — the doctors surgery
  — hospital visiting
  — the supermarket/ town centre

There are of course many other ways in which the church can be involved at a local level. In the longer term, there is a need to re- focus the structures of society away from the relentless pursuit of financial gain to a more holistic approach- one which allows the consideration of increasing social capital alongside profit, for example. There a fundamental need to re- infuse professions (such as banking) with a sense of vocation, and to rebuild public trust in many institutions; the church must be integrally involved in these processes.

At an institutional level, as a politically independent body which is widely involved in the community, the church has a unique role to play. It must provide a clear ethical framework for all aspects of corporate life, and must continue to be involved in the discussions at all levels in order to influence important decision making. Following a report to the 2009 General Assembly, the Church of Scotland is organising a series of conferences which is bringing together many of the major players in all walks of life in Scotland, and seeking to reflect theologically and ethically on the causes and consequences of the current situation. While further regulation may be required, some appropriate legislation is already in place: senior banking figures point out that the Companies Act (2006), for example, requires that, in taking decisions, company directors show due "regard for other stakeholders". This is often interpreted to relate primarily to shareholders and employees, without taking account of the decisions on the wider public. In addition, it may be more appropriate to encourage more responsible behaviour within the business community through codes of conduct such as the Cadbury Code for Corporate Governance.

Holding out the word of life

In responding to the unfolding situation, the church has many duties. Innovative use of limited resources available to us will be needed, and particular care must be taken not to overburden those "at the front line", giving pastoral and other care. Ultimately, however, we must not shirk the responsibility that the church has to be at the heart of the community, holding out not just much- needed material and emotional resources, but, most importantly, "holding out the word of life" with which we have been entrusted.

Dr Mudo Macdonald, Policy Officer for the Society Religion and Technology Project. 

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Banking on Justice: churches investing for a fairer future

A conference at St Georges West Church, Edinburgh on 18th March 2010

[Full Article]

This conference is being organised jointly by ECCR (the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility) and the Church and Society Council. A number of other Scottish church-based organisations are supporting the event in a variety of ways including SCIAF, Christian Aid (Scotland), ACTS, the Centre for Theology and Public Issues and the Iona Community.

The first part of the conference will consider global finance and justice issues in the light of recent world events, particularly in the banking sector, while the afternoon session will introduce delegates to the variety of ethical and responsible investment options available to individuals and churches.

Nearly all of us are, one way or another, investors in companies and therefore part owners. This may be directly through owning shares, or indirectly through our pension funds, savings, bank accounts, and insurance policies - and through the churches to which we belong. Most church denominations are significant shareholders. The Church of Scotland has around £110.5 million of invested assets (2008 figure). Shareholders, as company owners, give companies their mandate to operate. What companies do, therefore, they do in our name. Investment entails responsibility, and awareness of this fact is a key ethic for Christian communities. Accepting this responsibility is empowering. It helps us to realise that we can all make choices about what we do with our money and thereby participate in changing and improving the policies and practices of companies.

The aim of the Banking on Justice conference is therefore to help all involved in the Scottish churches, from the investment managers of the major denominations to the ‘person in the pew’, to think further about what it means to invest ethically and to consider alternative investment models (such as mission related social investment), thereby enabling delegates to make a practical response to the current global financial situation and to the question ‘how can I be a good steward of my money?’. It is hoped that this might trigger a wider discussion within the Scottish churches and church-based organisations of corporate responsibility and responsible investment issues.

ECCR is a church-based investor coalition and membership organisation working for economic justice and environmental sustainability. ECCR undertakes research, advocacy and dialogue to encourage companies to meet the highest standards of corporate responsibility and transparency, as well as assisting faith communities, their members and other investors in upholding these same high standards through responsible and positive-impact investment. Recent publications by ECCR have included Investment and Engaging with Companies: A Guide for Faith Communities, and in-depth research reports on company use of water resources and migrant labour. This month ECCR is publishing a report on Shell in the Niger Delta. ECCR is also working on a guide to, and digest of, corporate responsibility issues in the banking sector, arising from the spectrum of recent research, which is to be published later in 2010. Issues arising from this overview of the banking sector will be discussed at the conference.

ECCR is a Body in Association with Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI), with a very diverse membership ranging from the major church denominations, large NGOs and companies providing ethical investment services, to individual members. The Church of Scotland is a corporate member of ECCR. 

ECCR is looking to grow its membership base in Scotland. The conference organisers also hope to develop ongoing interaction and partnership working between ECCR, the Church of Scotland, and other Scottish churches and church-based organisations.

The Banking on Justice conference builds on the Church and Society Council’s Justice and Markets report to the General Assembly in May 2009 and its three subsequent conferences in October and December 2009 and January 2010. It will hopefully inform and feed into the proposed Church of Scotland commission on economics and society, especially with regard to ethical investment and wider corporate responsibility issues.

The conference will hear from a range of expert and interesting speakers:
• Doug Gay, co-author Justice and Markets
• Kathy Galloway, Head of Christian Aid Scotland
• Miles Litvinoff, Co-ordinator of ECCR
• Victoria Woodbridge, EIRIS
• Ryan Brightwell, Co-operative Financial Services
• Alex Connor, Triodos Bank
• Jamie Hartzell, The Ethical Property Company

There will also be plenty of opportunity for questions, discussion and networking. A variety of NGOs and ethical investment professionals will have stalls at the event.  All are very welcome to the conference.

For more information and to book see: Conference details
or download: poster; programme; booking form

Helen Boothroyd, Church and Membership Relations Officer, ECCR

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Church and Society Blogs

There are a variety of blogs that you can visit and bookmark:

The Convener's Blog
The (not so private!) thoughts and opinions of Rev. Ian Galloway; convener of the Church and Society Council of the Church of Scotland.

Eco-Congregation Scotland Blog
Eco-Congregation Scotland is an ecumenical programme endorsed by Action of Churches Together in Scotland.

End-of-life Issues Blog
This blog examines a variety of issues surrounding the end of life debate.

Addicted Lifestyle Blog
This blog discusses issues relating to addiction within our lifestyle. This includes shopping (i.e. consumerism), addiction to games and betting as well as alcohol and drug addiction.

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