Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said the ancient Jewish principle of observing the Sabbath or a day of rest is an "antidote" to such an addiction.

The orthodox Jewish interpretation of Sabbath observance includes a ban on using electrical devices such as computers and telephones.

Rabbi Mirvis said such a practice could help wean people off one of the most intrusive aspects of modern life.

He urged people, irrespective of their religious background, to consider setting aside time to switch their devices off to help them "connect" to natural human relationships again.

"They don't realise that sometimes the more connected one is the more disconnected one is from everything that is important."

Rabbi Mirvis was speaking to the Daily Telegraph ahead of "Shabbat UK", an initiative to encourage Jewish people to re-engage with their faith by observing the full Sabbath laws for one day from the evening of Friday October 23 to Saturday October 24.

This year's event, the second time the initiative has run, will include an attempt to set a new world record for the largest ever mass bake-off to make traditional Challah bread for the Sabbath meal.

Rabbi Mirivs also spoke out about the UK Government's plans to relax Sunday trading laws.

The Chief Rabbi offered his support to a campaign by church leaders to limit shop opening hours to preserve the principle of a day which is set aside.

Although the Jewish Sabbath falls a day earlier than the Christian day of rest, the principles are largely the same, he said.

Sources

• The Telegraph
• The Telegraph
• Image: Zimbio

In a new book titled "Not in God's Name", Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks attempts to explain why religion and violence so often go hand in glove.

The explanation lies in religion's dual nature, posited a review of the book in The Telegraph.

The three great monotheisms - Judaism, Islam and Christianity - are spiritual belief systems that encourage prayer, charity and forgiveness.

But, writes Sacks, they are also tribal identities whose "noble sentiments have often been confined to fellow believers, or at least potential fellow believers".

Once a religion becomes an identity and builds a community, conflict will ensue.

Under Christian rule, Jews were either persecuted or allowed to live in sufferance until they converted; under Muslim rule, Jews and Christians were tolerated at various times, but treated as secondary subjects with restricted rights to worship.

The religious paradox is that while prophets and saints preach worldly detachment, the most successful religions have been attached to earthly powers.

In Sacks's words, religions have often lusted after "power, territory and glory, things that are secular, even profane".

The review states that it is all too easy to think that serving God means making everyone else worship as you worship.

At its most extreme, this becomes what Sacks calls "altruistic evil: evil committed in a sacred cause, in the name of high ideals".

For Sacks, only a subtle reading of scripture can save religion.

He interprets the sibling rivalries in Genesis as a model for competition between Jews, Christians and Muslims.

God might have chosen Isaac, writes Sacks, but his brother Ishmael joined him to bury their father Abraham; Jacob might have stolen Isaac's blessing from Esau, but the hairier brother is also blessed; Judah tried to kill his brother Joseph, but is forgiven.

This is Sacks's "theology of the Other": keep your own faith and identity, but acknowledge the stranger as your brother.

Sources

• The Telegraph
• Image: BBC

For the Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, any attempt to redefine marriage would undermine the character of a sacred institution recognised "from time immemorial".

For the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, the Anglican Church is in a "tangle" and "scratching its head" over where it stands on the issue, despite a formal submission opposing the Government's plan.

A submission from the Chief Rabbi's court said: "Marriage, by definition in Jewish (biblical) law, is the union of a male and a female.

"While Judaism teaches respect for others and condemns all types of discrimination, we oppose a change to the definition of marriage that includes same-sex relationships. Jewish (biblical) law prohibits the practice of homosexuality."

The submission said Orthodox Judaism also "prohibits same-sex civil partnerships".

Dr Williams spoke about same-sex marriage during a discussion day for a group of Christian teenagers at Lambeth Palace.

Many Christians may themselves be "wrestling" with their own sexuality, he said, while others appear to display only strong feelings of revulsion towards homosexuality.

"What's frustrating is that we still have Christian people whose feelings about it are so strong, and sometimes so embarrassed and ashamed and disgusted, that that just sends out a message of unwelcome, of lack of understanding, of lack of patience.

"So whatever we think about it, we need, as a Church, to be tackling what we feel about it."

According to a survey of MPs, the House of Commons is likely to vote in favour of legalising gay marriages by a big majority.

Such a prospect, the Anglican Church submission suggested, would create a clash between the laws of Church and state unprecedented since the Reformation in the 1530s.

Sources:

The Christian Institute

Daily Telegraph

The Independent

Image: Orange County Register