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 Thursday at General Synod
There are various media reports from General Synod on Thursday. The main items discussed were: unity with Methodism, pension rights for civil partners and violent video games.
Methodism
The Times reports that the Methodist Church is prepared to be absorbed into the Church of England. Revd David Gamble, president of the Methodist Conference, in his Synod address, said “We are prepared to go out of existence, not because we are declining or failing in mission, but for the sake of mission.” Methodists were “prepared to be changed and even to cease having a separate existence as a Church” if that served the needs of the Kingdom of God.
The Methodist Church has 265,000 members and their have been formal talks between the two churches since the 1960s.
Pension rights for civil partners
The BBC reports that General Synod has voted to allow the survivors of same-sex partnerships the same pension rights as other spouses. The motion was put forward by Rev Mark Bratton of Coventry diocese. The Church allows gay clergy to register their civil partnerships, but requests that they remain celibate. The Church of England's clergy pension fund had a deficit of £350m at the end of 2008.
Violent video games
The Guardian reports that members of Synod called last night for tighter official regulation of violent computer games. In a brief debate, members condemned the availability of ultra-violent games and the relative lack of restrictions on what children can see.
Initiating the debate, synod lay member Tom Benyon, a former Tory MP, said: "There is a bubbling sewer of gratuitously violent and sexual pornography and games all around us … I have seen [their] pernicious effect: a family member saw a so-called game and he had nightmares. The images remained with him for months."
The synod called on the government to review the regulatory system for advertising video games to prevent the targeting of children, offered support for carers and parents to prevent children, young people and vulnerable adults being damaged - and promised that the church would keep an eye on the games market to monitor what was being released.
Synod on Friday
Synod will today (Friday) call for more recognition of the compatibility of religious belief with science. The motion is being put forward by Dr Peter Capon. Click here for BBC report on this motion.
(Sources: The BBC News website, The Times, The Guardian, 11-12/02/10)
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