Monthly Archives: May 2010

Newcastle Jewry

The Jewish Chronicle for 28 May briefly reports on the sixth census of Jewry in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, undertaken by the Representative Council of North East Jewry. The first census took place on 31 May 1983, at the instigation of the late … Continue reading

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Dalai Lama

There were only 152,000 professing Buddhists in the UK at the 2001 census, equivalent to 0.3% of the population, the overwhelming majority of them in England. So, at first sight, it might seem somewhat surprising that one foreign Buddhist, the … Continue reading

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Ongoing Public Relations Problems for the Vatican

There are fewer than four months to go to the papal visit to Britain, yet there appears to be no let-up in the public relations problems faced by the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI, which we have already flagged up … Continue reading

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The New Anti-Semitism

In his massive new book, Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England (Oxford University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-19-929705-4, £25.00), Anthony Julius devotes two long and controversial chapters to the ‘new anti-Semitism’, which emerged (according to him) in … Continue reading

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Zion’s People: Profile of English Nonconformity

Protestant Nonconformity, formerly known as Religious Dissent and latterly as the Free Churches, has made a major contribution to all walks of British life, not just the religious. The movement had its origins in the puritans and separatists of Elizabethan … Continue reading

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God on the Buses

Does God have an advertising budget? Presumably not, but his advocates and critics certainly do, and their rival campaigns to promote or debunk Him have featured in an unlikely place: the annual report for 2009 of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) … Continue reading

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Muslims in Leicester

Last December the Open Society Institute (OSI) published Muslims in Europe: A Report on 11 EU Cities, deriving from its At Home in Europe Project. Now in a second edition (ISBN 978-1-936133-01-7), this is available for download at: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/home/articles_publications/publications/muslims-europe-20091215 This … Continue reading

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General Election Wash-Up

Prior to the general election we made a number of posts touching on the relationship between religion and politics/voting. Now that the results are in, we can report a few more snippets of information which touch on this theme. On … Continue reading

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Synagogue Membership in 2010

Membership of a synagogue has traditionally been regarded as the most widely held point of formal affiliation to and identity with the Jewish community. However, the situation has been changing fast in recent years, with membership becoming more fluid and … Continue reading

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Spiritual Care in Nursing

Patients are missing out on important spiritual care, despite it being a nursing ‘fundamental’, according to 4,045 members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) who replied to a survey undertaken by the RCN in March 2010, and newly published. … Continue reading

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