Catholic schools could be breaking law over gay marriage; Demand for foodbanks doubles in one year; Christian Aid challenges people to live on 1 a day; Half a million sign petition defending traditional marriage; Vicar highlights plight of farmers in JCB drive; Removing the zero VAT rating for listed buildings will be devastating
Catholic schools could be breaking law over gay marriage, warns minister
Telegraph – Roman Catholic schools have been officially warned that they could be breaking the law by encouraging pupils to oppose gay marriage.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9253114/Catholic-schools-could-be-breaking-law-over-gay-marriage-warns-minister.html
Demand for foodbanks doubles in one year
Christian Today – Church-run foodbanks have fed twice as many people in the last 12 months as in the previous year. More than 128,000 people turned to foodbanks for emergency food hand outs during the 2011 to 2012 financial period – a 100% increase on 2010 to 2011 which served 61,000 people.
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/demand.for.foodbanks.doubles.in.one.year/29832.htm
Christian Aid challenges people to live on £1 a day
Christian Today – Thousands of people are taking part in Christian Aids Live Below the Line campaign this week. The campaign challenges people to survive on just £1 a day for all their food and drink across five days. Christian Aid hopes the campaign will raise more awareness and funds for people living in poverty.
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/christian.aid.challenges.people.to.live.on.1.a.day/29830.htm
Half a million sign petition defending traditional marriage
Christian Today – A petition launched in defence of traditional marriage has passed the half million mark.More than 500,000 people have signed the petition from the Coalition for Marriage (C4M) calling upon the Government to retain the current definition of marriage between one man and one woman.
The petition has now been signed by more people than voted in the local elections in Birmingham or Manchester. It was launched in opposition to the Government’s plan to widen the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples.
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/half.a.million.sign.petition.defending.traditional.marriage/29827.htm
Vicar highlights plight of farmers in JCB drive
Christian Today – A vicar spent last week driving across Wales in a 75 tonne JCB to highlight the plight of farmers
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/vicar.highlights.plight.of.farmers.in.jcb.drive/29825.htm
Removing the zero VAT rating for listed buildings will be devastating
Guardian – Under the new proposals, approved alterations to listed buildings would be subject to VAT at the standard rate. The Budget 2012 didn’t hold many big surprises, but still managed to pack in a few nasty shocks. One of these was the announcement that the government would be removing the zero rating for VAT on approved alterations to listed buildings.Under the new proposals, the VAT treatment of alterations to listed buildings would be brought in line with that of repairs and improvements; currently subject to VAT at the standard rate. This would apply to all listed buildings, including private residential houses, those used by charities and places of worship. The government did offer one sweetener – the Department for Culture Media and Sport’s Listed Places of Worship (LPW) grant scheme, which allows churches and other places of worship to reclaim VAT on repairs and maintenance, would be extended to cover alterations and bumped up by an additional £5m.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/voluntary-sector-network/2012/may/08/zero-vat-alterations-listed-buildings?newsfeed=true