Christian Action, Research and Education (CARE) is a social policy charity based in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, with offices in London, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Founding and programmes

CARE began in 1971 as the

Nationwide Festival of Light The Nationwide Festival of Light was a short-lived grassroots movement formed by British Christians concerned about the rise of the permissive society and social changes in English society by the late 1960s. The movement was opposed to what ...

, but was renamed in 1983 to reflect a substantial shift in emphasis. Over the following decades it established the following departments, in the belief that Christians should show active care as well as campaigning for moral standards in society: *Care for the Family, a registered charity now independent of CARE, initially established in 1988 as the UK sister ministry of

Focus on the Family Focus on the Family (FOTF or FotF) is a fundamentalist Protestant organization founded in 1977 in Southern California by James Dobson, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The group is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations ...

*Care Confidential, which runs pregnancy counselling centres, and became independent in July 2011 *Caring Services (defunct) *Care for Education (defunct) *Fostering, long term and remand care (defunct) *Evaluate, CARE's sex and relationships education programme CARE also runs the "Leadership Programme", an internship programme securing placements for graduates. Some work as researchers for MPs, mostly in the Conservative party, and

MSPs Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; gd, Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA; sco, Memmer o the Scots Pairliament, MSP) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The ad ...

while others work in Christian NGOs. The funding of political research assistants by a "right-wing Christian" lobby group has attracted controversy, although CARE claims that there is a clear separation between the internships and its lobbying side. Unlike journalists, researchers have virtually unrestricted access to parliamentary documents and in 2008

Paul Burstow Paul Kenneth Burstow (born 13 May 1962) is a British former politician who served as the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Sutton and Cheam for 18 years, from 1997 to 2015, when he was defeated by Paul Scully. He was appointed Minis ...

MP was questioned after failing to include a research assistant's CARE sponsorship on the main register -though he said he didn't believe they had behaved improperly.

Charity registration

Christian Action Research and Education (CARE) Trust (registered charity number 288485, registered 12 January 1984) ceased to exist on 30 September 2008. CARE (Christian Action Research and Education) (registered charity number 1066963, registered 18 December 1997) is still operational.

Leadership

Lyndon Bowring is the Executive Chairman of the organization. He is a former minister at

Kensington Temple Kensington Temple is a Pentecostal Church in the Notting Hill area of London, England. It is pastored by Reverend Mark Ryan, and is the largest church in its denomination, the Elim Pentecostal Church. History The present church building was foun ...

, in London, and currently is on the staff of

Regents Theological College Regents Theological College is a theological college in Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is the training centre of the Elim Pentecostal Church. First called Elim Bible College, it was founded in 1925 by the evangelist George Jeffreys, also ...

Finance

CARE's annual income to March 2021 was over £2 million, mostly from voluntary donations. The cost of the intern programme is around £70,000 p.a. It is supported by 40,000 donors.

Impact

CARE has been described as "an

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

charity that promotes traditional

family values Family values, sometimes referred to as familial values, are traditional or cultural values that pertain to the family's structure, function, roles, beliefs, attitudes, and ideals. In the social sciences and U.S. political discourse, the conventi ...

"; the organisation has actively campaigned against

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 33 ...

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

stem cell research In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type o ...

and assisted dying bills. Its work has been dismissed in the House of Lords as "

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

Opposition to homosexuality, abortion and prostitution

Labour Party insiders credited CARE with significant influence in support of

Section 28 Section 28 or Clause 28While going through Parliament, the amendment was constantly relabelled with a variety of clause numbers as other amendments were added to or deleted from the Bill, but by the final version of the Bill, which received R ...

regarding education and homosexuality. CARE has received media criticism for its stance on abortion and homosexuality and was accused in 2000 by MP Ben Bradshaw of being "a bunch of homophobic bigots". CARE has also been criticised for their opposition to abortion and gay rights by

Kate Smurthwaite Kate Smurthwaite is a British comedian and political activist. She has appeared on British television and radio as a pundit, offering opinion and comment on subjects ranging from politics to religion. She performs stand-up around the UK and ove ...

in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', who reported that the organisation sponsored a conference claiming homosexuality could be cured. In 2009, CARE sponsored what they described as a "

Judaeo-Christian The term Judeo-Christian is used to group Christianity and Judaism together, either in reference to Christianity's derivation from Judaism, Christianity's borrowing of Jewish Scripture to constitute the "Old Testament" of the Christian Bible, or ...

" event about homosexuality and promoting "'gay cure' therapy", which CARE billed as "mentoring the sexually broken". The conference also included a keynote speech from

National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality The National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), also known as the NARTH Institute, is a US organization that promotes conversion therapy, a pseudoscientific practice used in attempts to change the sexual orientation of p ...

(NARTH) founder Joseph Nicolosi, alongside Arthur Goldberg, co-founder of Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality. CARE have funded the network of CareConfidential crisis pregnancy centres in the UK, some of which came under criticism in an investigation by ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' when counsellors were filmed undercover claiming abortions would increase chances of breast cancer and could predispose women to becoming child sexual abusers. CARE are listed in the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremac ...

's register of all-party groups as the secretariat of the

All-party parliamentary group An all-party parliamentary group (APPG) is a grouping in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that is composed of members of parliament from all political parties, but have no official status within Parliament. Description and functions All-party ...

(APPG) on Prostitution and the Global Sex Trade, a pressure group to encourage 'government action to tackle individuals who create demand for sexual services'. In 2015, CARE backed a

private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

to prohibit the advertising of prostitution, the Advertising of Prostitution (Prohibition) Bill 2015-16, which was introduced by

Lord McColl of Dulwich Ian McColl, Baron McColl of Dulwich, (born 6 January 1933) is a British surgeon, professor, politician and Conservative member of the House of Lords. McColl was made a life peer for his work for disabled people in the Queen's Birthday Honours ...

in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

Other campaigns

CARE's 2010 report on taxation claimed that the tax burden had moved from single people with no dependants into families with two adults but only a single earner in them.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Anti-abortion organisations in the United Kingdom Christian organisations based in the United Kingdom Christian political organizations Evangelical parachurch organizations Lobbying organisations in the United Kingdom Organisations based in the City of Westminster Organizations established in 1971 Organizations that oppose LGBT rights Religion in the City of Westminster 1971 establishments in the United Kingdom Organisations that oppose LGBT rights in the United Kingdom