Holistic Health

One of the first stories added to the PEN website was about health preachers in Waltham Forest - a group of faith leaders who had been trained together to promote key health messages in their respective congregations.

Two stories just in illustrate faith communities still have a role to play in promoting better health ..............

London is now the Tuberculosis capital of Europe and health services are again turning to faith groups to raise awareness and promote information about services. Monday 24th March is World TB day and there will be an event at Regent Hall, 275 Oxford Street, W1C 2DJ detailing how religious communities might take the lead in piloting new ways of working with health professionals in preventing the spread of TB and ensuring early detection. For details and registration sese the London Bourghs Faiths Network blog here

Meanwhile in Shoreditch a Christian run GP practice is developing it's work in 'whole person care'. Helen Moules blog on the Contextual Theology Centre website invites you to find out more at a breakfast meeting on  Thursday 20th March, 8.30am. This project is scalable and replicable -  in other words could happen in your area too.

Food, Fasting and Faith

Just as Lent was beginning and Christians were being called to fast, the Danish Government issued a ban on ritual slaughter, citing animal rights.

Jewish and Muslim lobby groups cried fowl and  the Agriculture Minister then apologised for not having consulted faith groups before the ban!

In the UK the president-elect of the British Veterinary Association, John Blackwell, was interviewed on Radio 4 re his challenge to ritual slaughter on the grounds of animal welfare.

The Joseph Interfaith Foundation issued a statement in response to his comments and a week later The Tablet carried an article on the subject which neatly summed up the debate; can faith groups who established a humane ways of securing a meat supply centuries ahead of society at large be encouraged to look again at their practice in the light of research which suggests further improvements are necessary to ensure the animal welfare.

Given that practices in meat production are flawed, becoming a vegetarian for Lent( if not permanently) seems like a good option.

Download a briefing paper with links here