Law and religion roundup – 24th March
Law & Religion UK
by Frank Cranmer
3d ago
Asylum decision-making and conversion to Christianity Further to last week’s report, the Government has now replied to the Bishop of Chelmsford’s question on evidence for the former Home Secretary’s claim of “churches around the country facilitating industrial-scale bogus asylum claims”. The reply cites only “a small number of recent cases”. “We are unable to comment further”. The headline-grabbing allegation was made by a former priest, no longer in the Church of England, at a one-off evidence session of the Commons Home Affairs Committee. And see the transcript of the evidence taken by ..read more
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Survey for initial response to Jay report
Law & Religion UK
by David Pocklington
6d ago
The Church of England has published the following Press Release on the Survey for initial response to Jay report. Survey for initial response to Jay report 21/03/2024 A survey has been published today for anyone who wishes to make an initial response to the recommendations made by Professor Jay in her report on the Future of Church Safeguarding. The report from Professor Alexis Jay, former chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, IICSA, makes recommendations for a new independent safeguarding and scrutiny body for the Church of England. Professor Jay w ..read more
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Dean Richard Peers CDM decision
Law & Religion UK
by David Pocklington
6d ago
On 21 March 2024, the Bishop’s Disciplinary Tribunal for the Diocese of Oxford handed down its Decision The Revd Canon Richard Peers – March 2024 and reasons in relation to facts and conduct. Introduction [2]. The hearing in relation to facts and conduct has taken place in private over 5 days (which included a day of deliberation by the Tribunal) between 4 and 8 March 2024. The hearing was then adjourned until 21 March 2024 for the public pronouncement of the Tribunal’s findings. The main body of the hearing took place in person, whereas the adjourned hearing proceeded remotely. […] [4 ..read more
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Law and religion roundup – 17th March
Law & Religion UK
by Frank Cranmer
1w ago
“Like many amateur photographers, we do occasionally experiment with editing”… Asylum decision-making and conversion to Christianity On Tuesday, the Commons Home Affairs Committee held a one-off evidence session on Asylum decision-making and conversion to Christianity. It heard from Revd Matthew Firth, former priest-in-charge of St Cuthbert’s and Holy Trinity, Darlington, who is now a priest in the Free Church of England, Revd Canon Christopher Thomas, General Secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, Rt Revd Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Chelmsford, and the Revd ..read more
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The UK Government’s new definition of “extremism”
Law & Religion UK
by Frank Cranmer
2w ago
The Government has today announced a new definition of “extremism” as follows: “Extremism is the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance, that aims to: 1. negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others; or 2. undermine, overturn or replace the UK’s system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights; or 3. intentionally create a permissive environment for others to achieve the results in (1) or (2). The new definition is narrower and more precise than the 2011 Prevent definition, which did not provide the detail we now need ..read more
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Cremation ashes – scattering, strewing and commingling
Law & Religion UK
by David Pocklington
2w ago
As a segue to Use of cremation ashes for jewellery (again), the following post compares this guidance on the treatment of cremation ashes in the Church of England with that in the Roman Catholic Church, following a recent clarification from the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF). Background In 1886, the Roman Catholic Church placed a ban upon cremation, forbidding Catholics to join societies promoting cremation, or to leave funeral instructions involving cremation, depriving them of burial with Christian rites and forbidding them the last sacraments. The ban was incorporat ..read more
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Preventing lawful and decent burial
Law & Religion UK
by Frank Cranmer
2w ago
Preventing a lawful and decent burial of a dead body is a rather unusual offence at common law in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland. Shona Jones and Muireann Quigley argued in ‘Preventing lawful and decent burial: resurrecting dead offences’ (2016) Legal Studies 36 (2) 354-374 that there is little justification or need for criminalising the prevention of burial per se, that the historical context of the need to regulate the disposal of corpses is no longer relevant, and that though acts which intentionally impeded the administration of justice are rightly criminal, other offences alrea ..read more
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Charity law in England & Wales: updated guidance
Law & Religion UK
by Frank Cranmer
2w ago
The Charity Commission has issued comprehensive updates to its various guidance notes to reflect the latest changes in the law introduced by the Charities Act 2022 – for which see Charities Act 2022: information about the changes being introduced. The updated guidance notes are as follows: Change your charity structure. Collaborative working and mergers: an introduction (CC34). Dissatisfied with one of the Charity Commission’s decisions: how can we help you? Environmental responsibility for charities. Finding new trustees (CC30). How to close a charity. How to link charities. How to make chan ..read more
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Use of cremation ashes for jewellery (again)
Law & Religion UK
by David Pocklington
2w ago
In the case Re St. John Seaton Hirst [2024] ECC New 1, a funeral director sought permission to exhume recently cremated remains for the purpose of removing a small quantity and re-interring the majority within the same plot in the churchyard of St John’s Seaton Hirst [1]. The basis for the petition was that, owing to an error on the part of the petitioner (a funeral director in a firm of undertakers), the remains of the deceased were erroneously interred without having retained a small quantity of the cremated remains for purposes previously discussed and agreed with the family of the deceased ..read more
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“All the world’s a stage” – or perhaps not: Omooba
Law & Religion UK
by Frank Cranmer
2w ago
In Omooba v Michael Garrett Associates Ltd (t/a Global Artists) & Anor [2024] EAT 30, Ms Seyi Omooba, an actor, was cast as Celie in a stage production of The Color Purple. Celie is regarded as an iconic lesbian role and the announcement that Ms Omooba was to play it led to a social media storm about an earlier Facebook post in which she had expressed her belief that homosexuality was a sin. As a result, her contracts with the theatre (the second respondent) and her agency (the first respondent) were terminated. Before the Employment Tribunal, she claimed religion and belief discrimination ..read more
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