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Joint Public Issues Team: Churches Election Bulletin

Churches Election Bulletin Issue 1 - February 2010

Although the date of the General Election is still unknown, it is looking more likely that Thursday 6 May is a safe bet.

Churches are already gearing up for hustings meetings and campaigners are working hard to push their issues with Parliamentary candidates. It’s a busy time for everyone involved in politics.

Churches Election Website Goes Live

Last month we launched www.churcheselection.org.uk - hosted by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and a resource for all the churches. Here you can find:

Faith in Politics, a 16-page guide to some of the key policy areas likely to be debated in the run up to polling day. Each subject has been prepared by a leading Christian expert or campaigner in that field. It does not represent a ‘Church’ view or support a party line, but is designed to encourage Christians to engage with a range of important issues facing our country.

Planning a hustings meeting is our advice to local church based groups who are thinking about organising a community hustings. This builds on our experience of Churches Together groups planning and running events like this at General Elections for more than 30 years.

In the coming weeks and months more features will be added, including:

An online churches hustings registration system and database, where you can advertise your meeting and see what else is happening
More issues and analysis of the key topics
A monthly Churches’ General Election e-Newsletter
A Welsh translation of ‘Planning a hustings meeting’
Analysis of the main parties’ manifestos
Links to other Christian organisations websites that are gearing up for an exciting and important General Election campaign
News from the Churches about what they are doing during the campaign

www.everyvotecounts.org.uk

is a project designed to help people who have a learning disability get easy information about politics, how politics affects people and how to get involved and have a say in how the country is run. The website is also supplemented by printed materials for people who have difficulty using computers.

Churches Hustings and Extremist Parties

If you are thinking about arranging a hustings meetings but have concerns about inviting candidates whose parties’ views are contrary to the church’s teaching, there are a number of sources of advice and information.

The Methodist Church website has a section on Countering Political Extremism

The Church of England have recently published a Guidance Note on Countering Far-Right Political Parties, Extremist Groups and Racist Politics

The Electoral Commission advises hustings organisers who are organising an event open to the public or who are thinking about not inviting all the candidates to contact them as soon as possible to make sure that the proper rules are followed. Contact information is available here.

What can I say?

New Charity Commission guidance on charities and political activity

In January the Charity Commission published publishednew guidance for charities (including churches) that campaign on political issues that will be relevant once the election has been called.

Further Information

See the website www.churcheselection.org.uk

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Posted on 15 Feb 2010

Information on these pages does not necessarily reflect the views of St Andrew's URC Cheam