Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Education Secretary sidesteps religious question

According to the Guardian (Manchester), Education Secretary Charles Clarke avoided answering a controversial question at the Labour Conference in Brighton today. Asked whether the existence of religious schools might encourage "segregation" and introduce problems further down the line, Mr Clarke

... failed to address the issue of religious schools directly, focusing instead on outlining a new religious education syllabus thrashed out with religious leaders from all faiths, which is to be introduced across all state schools, he said.

"Agreeing a way of dealing with faith in all schools strengthening the way in which things are taught is a positive one," he said. "The framework we have agreed with all major faith leaders - and some minor ones - is a major step forward step which enables us to challenge this issue."

Full story here.

Friday, September 24, 2004

Catholics depart from official teaching on contraception

CAFOD, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, has broken with official Catholic teaching to argue that condoms may be an important weapon in the war against AIDS. According to Jonathan Petre in the Telegraph (London), a "growing number of senior clerics have taken a softer line than the Church's official blanket ban on artificial contraception", including Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the head of Roman Catholics in England and Wales.

Sexual abstinence remains the ideal, CAFOD are claiming, but at the same time "campaigns to counter the disease in the developing world [have] to be realistic and employ a range of methods."

Full story here [registration required].

Offensive cartoon Pope dropped by BBC

Today's Guardian (Manchester) reports that the BBC have dropped plans for Popetown, a cartoon satire that was to feature "an infantile Pope voiced by the comedian Ruby Wax, bouncing around the Vatican on a pogostick."

The corporation had been subjected to a campaign of criticism by Catholics since the series was announced last year.

Already angered by what they saw as the pursuit by Radio 4's Today programme of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, for his alleged mishandling of the issue of paedophile priests, the Catholic faithful took Popetown as part of a concerted BBC agenda to attack their church.

They bombarded the corporation with complaints, and several bishops objected.

The Guardian continues:

The Rt Rev Crispian Hollis, Bishop of Portsmouth and chairman of the Catholic bishops' communications committee, was "delighted", since the series would have caused offence "not least among the Catholic community, who hold the person of the Holy Father in the highest regard and affection.

"Any attempt to belittle or diminish his status as the leader of the Catholic church is totally unacceptable and not only to Catholics."

Apparently the BBC need not be too glum, however. Some of the costs can be recouped "by selling the programmes on and through video sales."

All's well then.

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Homosexual controversy in Croatian RE

One World reports:

Last Friday, the deadline expired for Nenad Primorac, [Croatian] Minister of Education, to provide information on the request sent to his office by the Gender Equality Ombudsperson Gordana Lukac-Koritnik on August 20. The request refers to the complaint by Iskorak and Kontra associations about the discrimination of homosexuals in the religious education curriculum in elementary schools.

Namely, in the programmes for eight-grade, one of the lessons carries the title: "Discussion on the Complete Meaning and Relationship Between "love" and "sex" and Judgment on the Wrong Forms of Sexuality (Homosexuality, prostitution, incest, trans-sexuality)". The Ombudsman located two disputable elements in the Religious Education Programme. The first one is the way homosexuality is defined as a wrong form of sexuality, and the second is the equation mark put between homosexuality and incest, having in mind that the latter is considered a criminal offense in the Croatian Criminal Law.
Read more here.

Welcome!

Welcome to the RE Blog.

My aim here is simply to provide a continually updated resource for practitioners of Religious Education in the United Kingdom. I'll be blogging on sites of interest, news stories, articles -- anything that comes to my attention that I think would be useful to RE teachers in the UK.

Pass the word around that the RE Blog is online. I welcome your contributions, and may be looking for co-authors in the near future.

How this blog will work

I chose a blog format for this site because it was going to be the most straightforward and least time-consuming format to work with.

Here's how I intend to do this: I will create a blog entry for each group of links and resources. So, for example, I just created an entry entitled Christianity, and in that entry, I included various subheadings such as Roman Catholicism, Evangelicalism and New Testament. Eventually those subheadings will link to lists other entries listing relevant resources and links. Ultimately, there will be sections for every area of RE, including all the religions. I'll make a menu of links in the sidebar taking users to the different sections for easy reference.

Entries containing links will be backdated, where news stories and the like will appear on the site chronologically, just like a regular blog.

Got it? Nah, neither have I. It'll all sort itself out sooner or later. In the meantime, bear with me, enjoy the site as it develops, and pass the word around!

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Clearing up the confusion...

I noticed someone on the TES forums commented that they followed my link and what they found "didn't seem very RE" but rather "more about your personal faith".

Just to clear up any confusion, whoever made the comment probably mistakenly followed an external link (no longer available) to another blog. The RE Blog is not a personal blog, and will not be used for those purposes. At the moment it consists only of what you see on this page in front of you, but what I hope to include is news stories, links to resources, that kind of thing.

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

CHRISTIANITY

Roman Catholicism

Anglicanism

Eastern Orthodoxy

Other Denominations

Evangelicalism

Fundamentalism

Sects & non-orthodox churches

Old Testament

New Testament

Bible

Church History

Monday, September 20, 2004

CHURCH HISTORY

Catholic Reformation. Archive of resources pertaining to the Catholic Counter-Reformation of the 16th century.

Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Mammoth online library of writings and documents dating back to the beginning of Christianity.

Christian History. Articles and features.

Early Church. Extensive database of historical information.

Protestant Reformation. Archive of resources pertaining to the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.

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Back to Christianity

BIBLE (General)

Bible Gateway. Search any of several Bible translations online.

Bible Study Tools. Various useful aids, including commentaries, concordances, encyclopaedias and dictionaries.

EVANGELICALISM

Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Online reference guide to evangelical biblical theology.

Christian Herald. News from the British evangelical mainstream.

Christianity Today. News and views from a contemporary American evangelical perspective.

Evangelical Alliance. The voice of mainstream evangelicalism in the UK.

Evangelicalism. A handful of scholarly essays addressing evangelicalism as a movement from ReligionOnline.

Evangelical Theology. More scholarly essays on evangelical theology from ReligionOnline.

Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals. Academic site focusing on American evangelicalism, but relevant to evangelicalism as a whole.

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Back to Christianity

SECTS & NON-ORTHODOX CHURCHES

Church of Christ, Scientist. Official website of the metaphysical sect also known as Christian Science.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Official website of the church otherwise known as the Mormons.

Jesus Army. Official website of the UK-based sect.

Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Official website of the Adventists.

Unification Church. Official website of the organization better known as the "Moonies".

Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Official website of the church otherwise known as the Jehovah's Witnesses.

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Back to Christianity

EASTERN ORTHODOXY

The Antiochan Orthodox Church in the UK. Official site representing Orthodox Christians in Britain.

The Orthodox Christian Foundation. Useful collection of links and resources pertaining to Eastern Orthodoxy.

Orthodox Christian Information Center. Comprehensive guide to Orthodoxy.

The Orthodox Church. The BBC's handy introduction to the Orthodox faith.

The Russian Orthodox Church in Great Britain and Ireland. Official site, including liturgical texts and other resources.

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Back to Christianity

ANGLICANISM

The Anglican Domain. General information site about Anglicanism worldwide.

Book of Common Prayer (1662). Online text of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer's original Anglican prayerbook.

Church of England. Official website of the Anglican church in England.

The English Reformation. Resources pertaining to the English Reformation in the 16th century, and the beginnings of Anglicanism.

Episcopal Church, USA. Official website of the Anglican church in the US.

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Back to Christianity

ROMAN CATHOLICISM

Catechism of the Catholic Church. Probably the most important source of official Roman Catholic teaching.

Catholic Answers. Apologetic website dedicated to defending Roman Catholicism and promoting a proper understanding of the faith.

Catholic Encyclopaedia. A century-old, but still a veritable mine of information on the historical Roman Catholic faith.

Catholic Information Network. General information source on Catholicism.

EWTN Library. Extensive online library of documents pertaining to the Church.

The Vatican. Official site. 'Nuff said.

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Back to Christianity.

Sunday, September 19, 2004

ISLAM

A Brief Illustrated Guide to Islam. Information on Islam with an apologetic slant.

Islam 101. Guide to Muslim religion and culture.

IslamiCity. Online Muslim community.

Islam Online. Extensive source of news and information on contemporary Islam.

IslamWorld. Essays, articles, FAQs etc. relating to Islam, from a Muslim perspective.

Qur'an Resources. Online Qur'an, study tools and apologetics.

BUDDHISM

About Buddhism. About.com's introduction to Buddhism.

BuddhaNet. Comprehensive website dedicated to Buddhist education and information.

Buddhism. The BBC's concise guide to the Buddhist religion.

DarmhaNet. Primitive, but useful resource for all things Buddhist.

Therevada Buddhism. Online readings from the Therevada tradition.

Saturday, September 18, 2004

HINDUISM

About Hinduism. About.com's introduction to Hinduism.

Hindu Kids Universe. Excellent resource aimed at children, including games, quizzes and stories.

Hinduism Online. Introductory website.

Hindu Resources Online. Extensive information on Hinduism.

HinduNet. Various Hindu-related resources.

Sacred Texts of Hinduism. The Vedas, Upanishads and other Hindu sacred texts.

JUDAISM

About Judaism. About.com's introduction to Judaism.

Board of Deputies of British Jews. The "Voice of British Jewry" online.

Chief Rabbi. Website of Britain's Chief Rabbi, Dr Jonathan Sacks.

Jewhoo! Parody of Yahoo! providing an informative look at Jewish culture, with a comprehensive biographical encyclopaedia of famous Jews.

Judaism. The BBC's online guide to the Jewish religion.

Judaism 101. Online encyclopaedia of Judaism.

Reform Judaism. Website of Reform Judaism in the UK.

Torah.org. Website dedicated to Jewish education and information.

United Synagogue. Website representing Orthodox synagogues in Great Britain.

Friday, September 17, 2004

SIKHISM

All about Sikhism. Self-described "Gateway to Sikhism".

Guru Granth Sahib. Sacred scriptures of the Sikh faith online, along with a few other resources.

Sikhism. Comprehensive resources on the Sikh religion.

Sikhism Home Page. Smart-looking introduction to Sikhism.

SikhNet. Extensive Sikh-related news coverage and resources.

Sikh-Seek. Guide to Sikhism on the web.

Thursday, September 16, 2004

GENERAL RE SITES

Local Education Authorities. Links to LEAs, SACREs and Locally Agreed Syllabuses.

National Society for Promoting Religious Education. Resources for RE in a CofE context.

QCA. Official information on RE from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.

RE Directory. Various resources.

RE Today. Premiere publication for RE teachers in the UK.

RE Site. "Your starting place for RE on the web."

Virtual Teacher Centre. Government website with handy RE resources and links.

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

OTHER DENOMINATIONS

Assemblies of God. British website of the world's largest Pentecostal denomination.

Baptist Union. Official website of Baptists in the UK.

Church of Scotland. Official website of the historic Presbyterian church in Scotland.

Elim Pentecostal Church. Official website of one of the UK's main Pentecostal denominations.

John Wesley. Online exhibition dedicated to the founder of Methodism.

Methodist Church of Great Britain. Official website.

Religious Society of Friends. Extensive archive of information on the religious group better-known as the Quakers.

Friday, September 10, 2004

ETHICS

Abortion

Environmental Issues

Euthanasia

Gender Equality

Human Rights

Marriage and Sexuality

Medical Ethics

Racism

War

Wealth and Poverty

Thursday, September 09, 2004

ABORTION

Abortion Facts. Comprehensive information representing both sides of the abortion debate.

Abortion Rights. British-based pro-choice organization.

History of Abortion. Informative look at the history of the issue from a pro-choice perspective.

LifeNews.com. US-based pro-life news source.

SPUC. The Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child, Britain's foremost pro-life organization.

Voice for Choice. Website of the UK pro-choice campaign group.

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

WAR

Coming soon.