Society & Politics

• Death chants at pro-Palestinian London demonstration: The rally, attended by various Arabic and left-wing groups, involved Arabic chants calling for the slaughter of Jews – with no response from the authorities. Read more here.
  
• >50% fall in teen pregnancy rates since 2008: New statistics suggest that more sex education does not, in fact, lead to lower pregnancy rates, as educationalists have claimed. Read more here.
  
• Government expected to endorse civil partnerships for heterosexual couples: Currently civil partnerships are only available for gay couples, but the Government is expected to support a bill to extend this early next year, further undermining traditional marriage. Read more here.
  
• Transgender books pushed on nurseries and primary schools: Books encouraging children to question their gender are on lists being supplied to schools, along with lesson plans and training for teachers on promoting the LGBT agenda. Read more here. Meanwhile, a branch of the NHS is becoming embroiled in a row about encouraging children to question their gender.

Church Issues

• Call for Franklin Graham to be banned from the UK: A weighty petition is calling for the well-known evangelist son of Billy Graham to be banned from a UK visit next year, on the grounds of his views on sexuality and Islam. Read more here.
  
• Pope Francis calls for Lord’s Prayer to be re-worded: The Pope has called for the line ‘Lead us not into temptation’ to be re-worded in official Catholic texts because it suggests that God is the one who tempts. Read more here.

World Scene

• Swedish synagogue fire-bombed by Syrian/Palestinian men: Though at least ten took part in the attack last weekend, allegedly a response to the US’s recognition of Jerusalem, only two arrests have been made so far. Read more here.

Israel & Middle East

• Jerusalem to distribute Christmas trees to Christians: 150 trees will be given out for free by the municipality to local Christians, to help them celebrate, as part of an annual tradition. Read more here.
• Rage continues against Trump’s Jerusalem decision: Palestinians have responded with a week of protests, rockets, threats and violence, while Turkey’s President Erdogan called for violence against Jews ahead of organising a summit of 50 Muslim nations to condemn Trump.

Upcoming Events

• The P Word Conference (Cardiff): 27 January 2018, 10:30am-4pm, Freedom Church, Cardiff. A practical Christian response to pornography for all leaders. In partnership with CARE. For more information and for tickets, visit pwordconference.com.
• Foundations 8 (Cumbria): 3-7 April 2018, Grange-Over-Sands. Called out, standing out. Steve Maltz's annual week-long Hebraic conference. £260 per person. Click here for more information and to book.