Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube
Monday, June 8, 2026
    Latest

    Christian freedom

    Home Christian freedom Page 12

    Banks support Stonewall ‘Bigot’ dinner

    By
    Stephen
    -
    46
    Antony Jenkins, Chief Executive of Barclays, is giving cash to Stonewall as they call their opponents ‘bigots’

    Two banks and a leading firm of accountants are sponsoring a homosexual group as it goes about its annual name-calling exercise.

    Barclays Bank, Coutts Bank and Price Waterhouse Cooper (PWC) are named as sponsors of Stonewall, the ‘gay rights’ lobby group, on an advertisement for this year’s awards dinner, which includes an award for ‘Bigot of the Year’.

    The homosexual group’s awards dinner takes place at the Victoria and Albert Museum on Thursday 1st November 2012 and is likely to be the focus of a street witness.

    The awards are mainly to applaud people who have advanced the homosexual cause in some way, and are being sponsored by major firms.  Barclays Bank are sponsoring the ‘sports award’, Coutts Bank are funding ‘writer of the year’ and PWC are sponsoring ‘hero of the year’. 

    The Earl of Home, Chairman of Coutts, which is sponsoring the Stonewall awards

    But Stonewall are not satisfied with congratulating those who have advanced their cause.  They have to insult their opponents.

    So among the awards is an anti-award called ‘Bigot of the Year’ intended to insult and vilify people particularly opposed to the gay rights agenda. Those shortlisted this year are Christian politician Alan Craig, the Ugandan Ethics and Integrity Minister, Simon Lokodo, Lord Maginnis, Cardinal Keith O’Brien and Archbishop Philip Tartaglia.

    Previous ‘nominees’ and ‘winners’ have included the Bishop of Hereford, Rt Rev Anthony Priddis, Northern Ireland politician Iris Robinson, journalist Jan Moir, Chris Grayling MP, the Earl of Devon, Lillian Ladele, Frederick Forsyth, A.A. Gill of The Sunday Times, Rt Rev Arthur Roche, hotelier Susanne Wilkinson, Melanie Phillips, Scottish entrepreneur Sir Brian Souter, Bill Walker, MSP and Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice.

    In response, Alan Craig said: “The Bigot of the Year Award is a vicious name-calling Stonewall annual event that reflects more on the donor than the recipient.

    Philip Powell is Chairman and Senior Partner of Price Waterhouse Coopers, sponsors of the Stonewall awards.

    “By attempting to bully, intimidate, humiliate and generate hatred of individuals through the award, Stonewall fully justifies the Gaystapo tag which I gave the organisation and for which apparently I have been nominated.”

    Mr Craig continued: “Nonetheless if I win the award over the other candidates and if Stonewall invite me, and permit me without harassment to offer a proper acceptance speech, I plan to attend their awards dinner and ceremony”.

    Alan Craig’s gauntlet is unlikely to be taken up.  In previous years Stonewall have never found the courtesy or the courage to invite to their dinner any of those shortlisted for ‘Bigot of the Year’.

    Stephen Green added: ‘Bullies never like it when someone stands up to them.  Or perhaps social intercourse is just not one of Stonewall’s strong points.’

    Last year, the Nationwide Building Socety gave £60,000 to Stonewall for the dinner (which did not stop the greedy lobby group from charging £180 a ticket) and they gave £5,000 as a prize to the ‘Community Group of the Year’.  Nationwide have pulled out of sponsoring any more Stonewall events following adverse publicity.

    In an email, Mark McLane, Barclays Director of Global Diversity and Inclusion, said:

    ‘As part of what is a positive longstanding relationship with Stonewall we were approached to see if we would be willing to sponsor a category for the 2012 Awards, which we agreed to do – the Sports Personality of the Year – on the understanding that the awards are a celebration of diversity and positive impact in our communities.

    ‘I have recently been made aware of the inclusion of a ‘Bigot of the Year’ category in the awards. Let me be absolutely clear that Barclays does not support that award category either financially, or in principle and have informed Stonewall that should they decide to continue with this category we will not support this event in the future. To label any individual so subjectively and pejoratively runs contrary to our view on fair treatment, and detracts from what should be a wholly positively focused event.’

    To date, Coutts and PWC have refused to condemn the ‘bigot’ award’.

    Stephen Green said: ‘Barclays have not yet pulled out of Stonewall’s event this year despite their welcome condemnation of the ‘bigot’ award.  They are in our view still associated with Stonewall’s name-calling.  But the refusal of Coutts and PWC to condemn the ‘bigot’ award is quite staggering.’

     

    Please sign our Petition:

    We the undersigned believe that the homosexual Stonewall group’s ‘Bigot of the Year’ award is a shameless piece of bullying and name-calling.

    We are aghast that Barclays Bank, Coutts Bank and Price Waterhouse Cooper (PWC) are named as sponsors of Stonewall’s awards dinner on the website page for this year’s event on 1st November, at which a public figure will be insulted and vilified as ‘bigot of the year’.

    We call on Barclays Bank, Coutts Bank and PWC to stop sponsoring this aggressive, immature and divisive group forthwith.

     

    Earlier posts:

    21st July 2012: ‘Sorry’ is the hardest word for Nationwide

    14th July 2012: Nationwide in ‘Bigot’ award challenge

    4th November 2011: Stonewall ‘cowards’ call Melanie Phillips ‘Bigot of the Year’

     

     Find out how to join Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings (clicking on the link below does not commit you to join)

     

    Evangelist not guilty in Tesco case

    By
    Stephen
    -
    5
    Stephen Green congratulates Raj Bhachoo outside Dartford Magistrates Court after his victory on 24th September 2012

    A Christian evangelist has been found not guilty of a public order offence after he handed out leaflets criticising Tesco’s decision to donate £30,000 to the 2012 London Gay Pride parade.

    Raj Bhachoo, a Christian Voice member, was arrested, kept in a police cell for hours and charged with “threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour” under Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 following a complaint by the manageress during a leafleting exercise outside the Tesco store in Gravesend, Kent in January 2012

    The case was due to be heard by Dartford Magistrates this morning. But on reviewing the evidence and recent legal decisions including that involving Sandown Free Presbyterian Church, the prosecuting barrister offered no evidence.

    The magistrates duly dismissed the case.

    Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, was asked by the defence to give evidence in the case, but, for the second time in a case involving Mr Bhachoo, his evidence was in the event not required.

    Mr Green also prepared expert evidence for a case in March of this year when Raj Bhachoo was acquitted after sending a highly critical email to the Stonewall lobby group.  A key Stonewall witness failed to turn up in court and the case collapsed.

    Michael Phillips, solicitor, represented Raj Bhachoo on both occasions.

    Just a week ago, Mr Phillips represented two Christians from the Abort67 group, seeing all charges against them thrown out by magistrates in Brighton.  Last February, Michael Overd faced a trial in Taunton after two homosexuals objected to his preaching.  Mr Overd, who subsequently joined Christian Voice, was also acquitted.

    In September 2006, Stephen Green was himself arrested, locked in the cells for four hours and charged under the same Section 5 by the South Wales Police Minorities Support Unit for handing out evangelistic leaflets at the homosexual Cardiff Mardi Gras.  At the subsequent hearing, an embarrassed prosecutor dropped all charges.

    Stephen Green said today: ‘Christians just keep winning these Section 5 freedom of speech cases. It is not against the law to preach against sodomy, to tell the public the facts about homosexual lifestyles, nor to display graphic images of the effects of abortion. These things might upset people, but they are not threatening, they are not abusive, they are not insulting and they are not against the law.

    ‘We actually need no change in the law, but we do need police forces and the Crown Prosecution Service to provide training to officers and prosecutors on the law and on their duty to protect people exercising their freedom of expression.

    ‘In the abortion case, the police officer who attended admitted in court that the only training he had ever had on the implications of freedom of speech was ten years ago.’

     

    Further Reading: 

    The Tesco Leaflet
     
    A defence of the Tesco Leaflet (Witness statement prepared by Stephen Green for Raj Bhachoo in the Dartford Magistrates Court 24th September 2012)

    And:

    ‘Stonewall Insult Their Opponents‘

    ‘Links Between Homosexuality and Child Molestation’

    ‘Queer is no longer a pejorative term’

    (From the expert witness statement prepared by Stephen Green for Raj Bhachoo in the Camberwell Green Magistrates Court 7th March 2012)

     

    Find out how to join Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings in these days! (clicking on the link below does not commit you to join)

    National Day Of Prayer – Watch out for halal food!

    By
    Stephen
    -
    19

    A warning has been issued to Christians attending the National Day of Prayer and Worship being organised by Global Day of Prayer at Wembley this Saturday 29th September 2012.

    Burgers, chicken and kebabs inside the stadium will be from animals sacrificed to Allah, the god of Islam.  According to the NDoP&W website, food will be available from the Stadium caterers before 2pm and after 6.30pm.  But Christians attending the milestone event will not know of the Islamic nature of the stadium meals on offer.

    Wembley Stadium. Meat inside the stadium is from animals slaugtered according to Islamic ritual

    During a media investigation two years ago, Wembley Stadium told the BBC: “All the beef, chicken and lamb sold is Halal.

    “The Halal meat is not labelled to customers.”

    The Bible says very clearly that Christians are not to eat food sacrificed to idols.  In a letter to the gentile churches, the Apostle James commanded: ‘That ye abstain from meats offered to idols’ (Acts 15:29).  In his Revelation to the Apostle John, the Lord Jesus criticised two of the seven churches for teaching the people ‘to eat things sacrificed unto idols’ (Rev 2:14 & 20).

    Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, said today:

    ‘Christians attending Wembley on Saturday will not know from any labelling that they are being offered halal meat inside the stadium.

    Prime Minister David Cameron – despite opposition from the church, has promised homosexual activists he will enact ‘gay marriage’ by 2015

    ‘However, the stalls immediately outside the stadium, including those in Empire Way on the walkway from Wembley Park Tube station, are all non-halal, including all the burger bars and one stall called the Great British Hog-Roast.

    ‘I would urge Christians to favour these independent caterers with their business rather than the corporate halal barons inside the Stadium itself.

    Nick Clegg – recently had to rewrite a speech in which he described opponents of ‘gay marriage’ as ‘bigots’.

    ‘We wish the National Day of Prayer and Worship well.  With our nation in such open rebellion from God, and with the abomination of ‘gay marriage’ being threatened by the Government, we are in need of some big, focused prayers for national repentance.’

    Further reading:

    Bible article: ‘Halal meat – what is the Christian position?’

    Find out how to join Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings (clicking on the link below does not commit you to join)

    Mark Steyn on Hate Speech

    By
    Robin
    -
    8

    The European courts are currently having to navigate through an increasingly complex network of rights, and to adjudicate between competing rights and desires when they bump up against each other.

    As I was reflecting on this, Daniel Hannan reminded me of an amusing anecdote that Mark Steyn shared last year. After discussing the absurdities in hate crime legislation, Steyn pointed out how the exact same words can  simultaneously be legal or illegal depending on who the perceived victim happens to be. He writes,

    …the very same words can be proof of two entirely different hate crimes. Iqbal Sacranie is a Muslim of such exemplary “moderation” he’s been knighted by the Queen. The head of the Muslim Council of Britain, Sir Iqbal was interviewed on the BBC and expressed the view that homosexuality was “immoral,” was “not acceptable,” “spreads disease,” and “damaged the very foundations of society.” A gay group complained and Sir Iqbal was investigated by Scotland Yard’s “community safety unit” for “hate crimes” and “homophobia.”

    Independently but simultaneously, the magazine of GALHA (the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association) called Islam a “barmy doctrine” growing “like a canker” and deeply “homophobic.” In return, the London Race Hate Crime Forum asked Scotland Yard to investigate GALHA for “Islamophobia.”

    Got that? If a Muslim says that Islam is opposed to homosexuality, Scotland Yard will investigate him for homophobia; but if a gay says that Islam is opposed to homosexuality, Scotland Yard will investigate him for Islamophobia.

    Two men say exactly the same thing and they’re investigated for different hate crimes.

    That was taken from Mark Steyn’s article ‘Gagging us Softly.’ The value of his article goes beyond merely drawing attention to the absurd situations which arise when the right of free speech is qualified by the right of minority groups not to be criticized. Steyn also shows a more sinister agenda at work once Westerners grow comfortable having the state micro-regulate their public discourse.

    Mark Steyn

    Across almost all the Western world apart from America, the state grows ever more comfortable with micro-regulating public discourse—and, in fact, not-so-public discourse: Lars Hedegaard, head of the Danish Free Press Society, has been tried, been acquitted, had his acquittal overruled, and been convicted of “racism” for some remarks about Islam’s treatment of women made (so he thought) in private but taped and released to the world. The Rev. Stephen Boissoin was convicted of the heinous crime of writing a homophobic letter to his local newspaper and was sentenced by Lori Andreachuk, the aggressive social engineer who serves as Alberta’s “human rights” commissar, to a lifetime prohibition on uttering anything “disparaging” about homosexuality ever again in sermons, in newspapers, on radio—or in private e-mails. Note that legal concept: not “illegal” or “hateful,” but merely “disparaging.” Dale McAlpine, a practicing (wait for it) Christian, was handing out leaflets in the English town of Workington and chit-chatting with shoppers when he was arrested on a “public order” charge by Constable Adams, a gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community-outreach officer. Mr. McAlpine had been overheard by the officer to observe that homosexuality is a sin. “I’m gay,” said Constable Adams. Well, it’s still a sin, said Mr. McAlpine. So Constable Adams arrested him for causing distress to Con¬stable Adams….
    In such a climate, time-honored national characteristics are easily extinguished. A generation ago, even Britain’s polytechnic Trots and Marxists were sufficiently residually English to feel the industrial-scale snitching by family and friends that went on in Communist Eastern Europe was not quite cricket, old boy. Now England is Little Stasi-on-Avon, a land where, even if you’re well out of earshot of the gay-outreach officer, an infelicitous remark in the presence of a co-worker or even co-playmate is more than sufficient. Fourteen-year-old Codie Stott asked her teacher at Harrop Fold High School whether she could sit with another group to do her science project as in hers the other five pupils spoke Urdu and she didn’t understand what they were saying. The teacher called the police, who took her to the station, photographed her, fingerprinted her, took DNA samples, removed her jewelry and shoelaces, put her in a cell for three and a half hours, and questioned her on suspicion of committing a Section Five “racial public-order offence.” “An allegation of a serious nature was made concerning a racially motivated remark,” declared the headmaster, Antony Edkins. The school would “not stand for racism in any form.” In a statement, Greater Manchester Police said they took “hate crime” very seriously, and their treatment of Miss Stott was in line with “normal procedure.”…
    Restrictions on freedom of speech undermine the foundations of justice, including the bedrock principle: equality before the law. When it comes to free expression, Britain, Canada, Australia, and Europe are ever less lands of laws and instead lands of men—and women, straights and gays, Muslims and infidels—whose rights before the law vary according to which combination of these various identity groups they belong to.

     

    Further Reading

     

     

    See how to join Christian Voice by clicking below (Link does not commit you to join):

    Nick Clegg in ‘Bigotgate’ row

    By
    Stephen
    -
    67

     

    Nick Clegg – ‘What did I just say?’

    A red-faced Nick Clegg has had to withdraw remarks he was going to make branding opponents of gay marriage “bigots”.

    A draft of his speech, circulated to the press in advance of Mr Clegg’s speech to be given to a gathering of homosexual activists last night, had the atheist Deputy Prime Minister saying:

    “Continued trouble in the economy gives the bigots a stick to beat use with, as they demand we ‘postpone’ the equalities agenda in order to deal with ‘the things people really care about’.”

    An hour later, aides were scrambling around trying to recall the press release, and releasing a sanitised version in which ‘the bigots’ was replaced by ‘some people’

    The row brings to mind Gordon Brown’s ‘Bigotgate’ when he described a lifelong Labour supporter, Mrs Gillian Duffy, who happened to mention Eastern Europeans in an exchange on the economy, as ‘just a bigoted woman’.

    At the reception, Nick Clegg said:

    Contempt for ordinary people – Gordon Brown was embroiled in his own ‘Bigotgate’ scandal after an exchange on the economy and immigration with Labour supporter Gillian Duffy.

    ‘I am a little bit surprised to see cameras outside the gates for the slightly obscure reason that they expect me to use a word about opponents of gay marriage that I had no intention of using, would never use. It is not the kind of word that I would use.’

    Really? Mr Clegg’s speech writers would not write in a word which they knew he would never use.  And homosexual rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, among the guests at last night’s reception in central London, said: ‘Quite clearly, some people who oppose same-sex marriage do so because of personal prejudice and intolerance.’

     Lord Carey of Clifton said:

              ‘There will be many Christians and non-Christians who will be highly offended to be called bigots. People who oppose same-sex marriages are doing so on the basis of deeply-held beliefs and we should not be treated in such a way.

    Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, said:

    ‘In a sense, we should be encouraged that Nick Clegg has considered resorting to name-calling, because people normally do that when they realise they have lost the argument.  Marriage is God’s holy institution and man may not change its definition.  Marriage involves love and committment, but at its heart is its sexual expression, being ‘one flesh’ as the Bible puts it.  At the moment, a marriage must be conusmmated to be valid in law, and consummation involves an complete act of ordinary sexual intercourse. 

    ‘Between them, a pair of homosexuals lack the full set of necessary equipment for that act. Mr Clegg has so far failed to offer the necessary redefinition of the key concept of consummation in a homosexual context.  And any such redefinition will affect marriage for everyone.  The Government have received 228,000 responses to their consultation, the majority of them against it, and they are blindly pushing on regardless.

    ‘Those in favour of ‘gay marriage’ say that if two people love each other they should be allowed to get married.  Does that apply to a brother and a sister, or a uncle and his niece?’  Nick Clegg has failed to address that point as well.  He and David Cameron have lost the argument and lost their own consultation. 

    ‘The fact that they are still stubbornly set on pushing ahead with the destruction of marriage and their proposed use of insulting language shows a contempt for ordinary people as deep as that held by their predecessors.

    ‘The dictionary definition of bigot is ‘One who is strongly partial to one’s own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ.’  Without wishing in any way to insult him, that sounds a fair description of Nick Clegg.’

    A No 10 source said: “The prime minister is committed to getting gay marriage through by 2015.” 

    More on this story:

    BBC News

    Cristina Odone in the Daily Telegraph

    The Guardian

    READ: Matt 19:4 And (Jesus) answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

     PRAY: That God continues to sow confusion amongst the Government on this issue.  Pray also that David Cameron and Nick Clegg repent and pull back from their ungodly position.

    EMAIL: nick.clegg.mp@parliament.uk  Search for your MP’s email address HERE.

    Christians take cases to Euro-Court

    By
    Robin
    -
    24

    In a landmark case, four Christians have taken discrimination cases to the European Court of Human Rights, while Prime Minister David Cameron faces a charge of hypocrisy for telling his lawyers to oppose them months after calling for a Christian ‘fightback’.

    The case came before the court in Strasbourg after British workers complained that they had been forced out of their jobs for maintaining their Christian convictions. (Read the Press Association report. and the helpful BBC analysis)

    The court has reserved its decision.  Our prayer is that it will uphold freedom of religious expression in Britain.

    What will be a landmark decision from Europe’s highest court will have huge implications for religious liberty in Britain and in all of Europe.  A negative ruling could have the effect of pushing Christians increasingly to the margins of public life, while a positive one will have discrimination departments rewriting their rule-books.

    The lawyer for the United Kingdom argued that the Christians’ rights had not been violated.  He argued that religious freedoms are only protected in private and not in public and that each of the four could get another job.

    It will be difficult after this for the Prime Minister to avoid a charge of hypocrisy after instructing the Governments’ legal team to oppose the case.  Last December he commented that he would welcome a Christian ‘fightback’ against the creeping secularism. He said further that “The values of the Bible, the values of Christianity, are the values that we need.” Only two months ago the Prime Minister added that Christians should be allowed to display symbols of their belief and pledged to protect religious freedoms.  At best, the Governments’ thinking is not joined up.

    The case was brought forward by the following four Christians:

    Gary McFarlane is a Christian counsellor who was sacked from his job with Relate in 2008 because he confided that he would not be comfortable counselling homosexual couples about sexual problems. Even after Relate conceded that they were wrong to sack Mr McFarlane without giving him notice, they still didn‘t give him his job back.

    Gary McFarlane

    Lilian Ladele was a Christian Registrar for the London Borough of Islington, appointed before the Civil Partnership Act 2004 changed the law.  Originally she was allowed to swap shifts with colleagues so she would not have to compromise her convictions. However, in March 2006 two homosexual registrars complained about Ladele’s refusal to perform gay unions.  The local authority changed its rules in December 2007 and she was dismissed.  Even though she initially won her case against Islington Council in July 2008, the Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled against her later that year.

    Lilllian Ladele

    Shirley Chaplin is a nurse from Devon. She was moved to a desk job by Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust after they changed the uniform code to a v-neck, exposing the necklace bearing a cross she had been wearing.  Chaplin’s employers suggested that her cross on a chain might get caught on somebody.  There was no evidence it ever had.  At the same time, however, the employers allowed two Muslim doctors to wear a close-fitting hijab. Nurse Chaplin’s appeal was rejected.

    Shirley Chaplin

    Nadia Eweida from Twickenham, south-west London, was a British Airways worker who refused in 2006 to remove a necklace with a cross or to hide it from view. Even though the airline changed its uniform policy after the case to allow all religious symbols, including crosses, although Ms Eweida never received justice.

    Nadia Eweida

    The case for these workers is based on articles 9 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibit religious discrimination and allow “freedom of thought, conscience and religion”.

    Former archbishop Lord Carey has supported the Christians, arguing that believers are being treated as ‘bigots’, while many face being fired from their jobs simply for expressing their Christian beliefs. He blamed this on a ‘secular conformity of belief and conduct’ which is resulting in the Christian faith being effectively ‘banned’ from public.

    Lord Carey also pointed out that “In a country where Christians can be sacked for manifesting their faith, are vilified by state bodies, are in fear of reprisal or even arrest for expressing their views on sexual ethics, something is very wrong….”

    “Christians are excluded from many sectors of employment simply because of their beliefs; beliefs which are not contrary to the public good”.

    READ: Rom 13:3  For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:

    PRAY for righteousness to prevail and for the European Court to uphold the right of Christians to live by their faith.  Pray for our brother and sisters and those representing them to have found favour with the Court.  Cry to the Lord for our land where truth is fallen and the people of Christ have to go to a foreign power for justice.

    WRITE to your MP and ask him why Mr Cameron has instructed lawyers to oppose these Christians when he has himself encouraged Christians not to hide their faith and has even welcomed a Christian ‘fightback.’ Point out that Christians cannot leave their faith at home.

    FURTHER READING

     

    Find out how to join Christian Voice here (clicking the link does not commit you):

    ‘Evil Olympics’ closes but Rogge honoured ‘Palestinians’

    By
    Stephen
    -
    25
    Jaques Rogge pictured in Forbes Magazine wearing Palestinian colours

    The Olympic closing ceremony has focussed attention on Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).  Outside the Olympics, the Muslim ‘Evil Olympics’ group tried to hold a demonstration.  Whatever misgivings Christians had about the Games, we thank God they passed peacefully.

    M. Rogge was on hand to award the medals for the Men’s Marathon in the last medal ceremony of the games.

    No ‘One Minute of Silence’

    The IOC refused to hold a minute’s silence to remember the 11 Israeli victims of the Munich massacre in 1972.  Demands for such an observance came from the governments of Canada, Australia, USA, Germany, Italy and Israel,  but not from that of the UK.  In response, IOC officials attended a small ceremony on 6th August outside the games organised by the Israeli Embassy.

    Suspicions have been raised of a pro-Palestinian bias in the IOC by a photograph published by Forbes magazine in November 2011. The caption below it read:

    ‘President of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge pauses during a press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2010. Rogge on Tuesday expressed concern over “obstacles” facing Palestinian athletes, and in veiled criticism of Israel said athletes should be granted free movement regardless of politics.’

    There was in fact a Palestinian team at the London Olympics in 2012, as there has been in every Olympic Games since 1996.  None of the five athletes progressed to the finals.

    ‘Evil Olympics’ is ‘Muslims against Crusades’ revisited

    Meanwhile, outside the stadium, a planned demonstration against the ‘Evil Olympics’ by Islamists was called off when police refused it a static license.

    The new group has put up a website, http://evilolympics.com/index.php#, on which they complain that nations taking part are ‘oppressing Muslims’.  In reality, the new group is merely the banned ‘Muslims against the Crusades’ under a new name.  SMS messages were sent out from a number associated with Anjem Choudary, who describes himself as Chairman of the Society of Muslim Lawyers, Judge at the Shari’ah Court of the UK and Former UK Head of Al-Muhajiroun.

    ‘Evil Olympics’ singles out four countries for particularly oppressing Muslims.

    The first is Israel, so that is no surprise, accused of being where the mainly-Sunni Muslim Palestinians want to be. The second is China, which dislikes any religion, and is mounting a Ramadan clampdown on the Uighur Sunni Muslims in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.  The third country is Burma, where the Buddhist regime has closed mosques attended by the Sunni Muslim Rohingya people in Arakan.

    Interestingly, the fourth country accused by ‘Evil Olympics’ of oppressing Muslims is Syria.  Syria is usually thought of as a Muslim state.  However, In Syria, the Alawite Shia minority, led by President Assad, is fighting for its life against Sunni Muslim rebels, as we have reported before. (see links below)

    The Sunni / Shia divide

    It is curious that in all four countries accused of oppressing Muslims, it is Sunni Muslims whom ‘Evil Olympics’ support.  It can be argued that Sunnis form the majority of Muslims in the UK and worldwide, and we shall come to that.  But ‘Evil Olympics’ taking sides in Syria makes sense when we realise that Anjem Choudary has been identified as a Sunni Muslim.  Al-Muhajiroun, of which Anjem Choudary was the UK head and Sheik Omar Bakri the spiritual leader, is said by US intelligence to be a Sunni Muslim group.  Al Quaeda is Sunni Muslim, as is its birthplace of Saudi Arabia, which is why they are supporting the Syrian rebels rather than President Assad.

    ‘Evil Olympics’ also castigate the USA and UK for their actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Christian Voice has consistently opposed British involvement in both countries.  But Afghanistan has a Sunni Muslim majority, whilst the deposed Saddam Hussein was a Sunni Muslim in a majority Shia nation.  The terrorist group Hezbollah, prominent in Lebanon and supported by Syria and Iran, is Shia Muslim.  Iran is 93% Shia, Azerbaijan 75%, Iraq 63% and Bahrain 61%.  Yemen is 47% Shia and Lebanon 41% Shia.  All other Muslim countries have greater Sunni majorities.

    Worldwide, Muslims split into an estimated 90% Sunni and 10% Shia.  Most Muslims in Britain (around 95%) are Sunni Muslim.  See this pro-Muslim link: http://guide.muslimsinbritain.org/guide3.html

    Finally, we thank God there was no terrorist incident at the Games.  That can mean the conspiracy theorists were wrong or that it was only averted because of the noise they made, according to one’s point of view.

     

    See our previous stories:

    10/08/2012: £32.5m for the anti-Christian Syrian rebels

    02/08/2012: An Explosion of Olympic Conspiracy Theories

    27/07/2012: Syria – Thank God for the Russians

    Join Christian Voice today and stand up for righteousness in the land:

     

    £32.5m for the anti-Christian Syrian rebels

    By
    Stephen
    -
    12

     

    Rt Hon William Hague MP, Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

    The UK Government is giving millions to the Syrian rebels to spend on logistical support, according to the BBC.

    Last month we reported on the growing persecution of Syria’s 10% Christian minority by its Sunni Muslim rebels and the flat refusal of the UK government to acknowledge that this was happening.

    The attitude of the rebels is clearly summed up by: “The Christians to Beirut, the Alawites to the grave” Only the Russians and Chinese, we said in our article, were standing between the Christians, Syria’s Alawite minority, of whom President Assad is the most prominent member, the state of Israel, and a bloodbath.

    Days later the BBC news also reported the attacks on the church.

    Now Mr William Hague MP, HM Foreign Secretary, (who, incidentally, is not known for his support of Israel) is giving £5m of taxpayers’ money to the Syrian rebels, for ‘communications and body armour’ to go with the £27.5m he has already given them for ‘humanitarian aid’ and the weapons they are getting from Saudi Arabia.  It is reported that the American CIA are also helping to arm the rebels.

    If we step out of Mr Hague’s simplistic ‘Assad = dictator = bad, rebels = democracy = good’ mindset, we see that no one side is a pure as the driven snow, but that the deciding factor is that the USA/EU/Soros sponsored rise of the Muslim brotherhood and Al Quaeda elements in Syria and across the Middle East is a thoroughly bad thing.

    Now some may protest that the rise of militant Islam is all ‘part of the end times’ and we should not be surprised.  Indeed, no-one should be surprised at any of the evident spiritual wickedness in high places today, nor at any time in human history.  With no restraint, the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil (Eccl 8:11) and the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed (Psalm 2:2).

    But it is taking the ‘end times’ idea to the point where we do nothing except gaze at the gathering clouds in hopeful expectation to which Christian Voice is opposed.  The Lord said ‘Occupy till I come’ (Luke 19:13). 

    We can and should be praying for our brethren in Syria and everywhere else the church is persecuted and we should be witnessing to our MPs and asking questions of them.

    PRAY: That Britain will pull back from its unqualified support of the Syrian rebels and realise that the Assad regime, with all its faults, remains the last protector of the Christian and Alawite minorities in Syria.  Pray for more even reporting of the conflict.  Pray that the Russians and Chinese will stand firm against Western and Saudi duplicity.

    Ask your MP – Email address HERE – to ask the Foreign Secretary:

    1 What budget is this £32.5million for the Syrian rebels coming out of? 

    2 At a time of austerity, what is the benefit to Britain?

    3 What does Mr Hague’s intelligence tell him about the attitude of the rebels to Syria’s Christian and Alawite minorities?

    4 What does his intelligence tell him about what is happening to Christians in Iraq, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt?

    5 When will he stop his support of Islamic militants set on the extermination of minorities in Syria and begin to deal even-handedly to bring peace, not escalation?

    6 Ask your MP to ask Mr Hague and Alastair Burt, his deputy, to rescind the £32.5m.

     

    Click here for our previous story:

    Syria – Thank God for the Russians

     

    Join Christian Voice today and stand up for righteousness in the land:

     

    Syria – Thank God for the Russians

    By
    Stephen
    -
    51
    A Syrian rebel brandishes a looted cross in stolen vestments – attribution to www.prisonplanet.com

    Only Russian and Chinese resistance to Western stupidity is standing between Israel, Syria’s Alawite minority, the Christians in Syria – and a bloodbath.

    The Christian church will go the same way as our brothers in Iraq where the American and British invasion and toppling of Saddam, despotic as he was, has led directly to systematic persecution of the Christian church.  In every country affected by the ‘Arab Spring’ the writing is on the wall for Christians.  Similarly in Syria, if the Islamic fundamentalist rebels gain power, they will be gradually exterminated.

    Stop Press: The BBC News at Ten reported on the growing persecution on the Syrian church on 31st July, just four days after this post was filed.  Hard to take what the Muslim Brotherhood man says at the end, mind!

    The same fate will befall the Alawites, of whom President Assad is the most prominent figure, if his secular regime falls.

    And if Syria’s stock of chemical and biological weapons falls into the hands of the Islamic rebels, there could be carnage both in Syria and in Israel.  Sales of gas masks are already booming in the latter.  While it is true that Syria has funded and supplied Hezbollah with weapons used against Israel, a fundamentalist regime running Syria with control of President Assad’s arsenal – which he has never used – is a dangerous prospect indeed.

    Britain is ‘fanning the flames of violence’

    Russia has said that Western and Saudi calls for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down are blocking efforts to end 16 months of unrest in the country, reports Israel Nation News.

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that such calls — made by the United States, Britain, several European and Arab governments and Turkey — were fanning the flames of violence.  Support for Syrian rebel groups was tantamount to backing terrorism, he said.

    “We propose things that would allow for an immediate ceasefire, but the other side says, ‘No, either the regime capitulates or we will continue to back … the opposition’s armed fight’, justifying terrorist acts,” Lavrov said.

    The Russians and Chinese are both standing against the doctrine of ‘Responsibility to Protect’, developed and funded by George Soros, by which nations who regard themselves as global policemen can enforce regime change on countries which are not democratic enough.  Christian Voice reported last August on WorldNetDaily’s exposure of the Global Centre for Responsibility to Protect in connection with Libya.

    (SInce then it has emerged that Soros persuaded President Obama to send troops to Uganda, ostensibly to arrest the leader of the so-called Lord’s Resistance Army, but really to safeguard the oil interests of one George Soros.)

    Israel will strike if rebels raid weapons

    Israel’s foreign minister warned on Wednesday his country will act immediately if it discovers Islamic militants are raiding Syria’s chemical or biological weapons stocks, Associated Press has reported.

    Israeli political and security leaders have been watching the intensified bloodletting in neighbouring Syria with mounting concern, afraid that Lebanon’s Hezbollah and other militant groups could raid these arsenals should the central government in Damascus collapse. In recent days, Israeli political leaders have said they would be prepared to strike weapons depots to prevent this from happening.

    Destroy all churches

    On 12th March this year, Sheik Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, declared that it is “necessary to destroy all the churches of the region.” The mufti based his decision on a story that on his deathbed, Muhammad declared, “There are not to be two religions in the [Arabian] Peninsula.”

    Churches have always been banned in Saudi Arabia, but in the Iraq of Saddam Hussein, in Syria, and in other Muslim lands before they came under the sway of the George Soros-funded Muslim Brotherhood, Christians were allowed to practise their faith and formed a thriving minority community.

    As the Washington Times reported at the time: ‘This is not a small-time radical imam trying to stir up his followers with fiery hate speech. This was a considered, deliberate and specific ruling from one of the most important leaders in the Muslim world. It does not just create a religious obligation for those over whom the mufti has direct authority; it is also a signal to others in the Muslim world that destroying churches is not only permitted but mandatory.’

    Saudi Arabia is supporting the Syrian rebels with money and weaponry.

    Naive and simplistic

    The approach of the British Government is both naive and simplistic.  In following the slavish devotion to democracy at all costs promoted and financed by the Open Society movement of George Soros, they are encouraging the Muslim Sunni majority in Syria to destroy all others.

    It is not, as Mr Hague seems to think; ‘Assad bad, rebels good’.  Nor can the rebel reports given pride of place on the BBC be trusted as the gospel truth.  There is spin and worse on all sides of this conflict.

    In a letter to a constituent dated 24th July, Mr Hague said: ‘You have raised concerns regarding the persecution of Christians in Syria.  Since the Syria uprising more than a year ago, the Assad regime has demonstrated time and again that it is unwilling to protect the rights, freedoms and interests of all its fellow citizens.’

    Mr Hague’s statement is duplicitous.  Mr Assad is not persecuting Christians and never has.  It is the rebels who are doing that already and who will do it all the more if they gain power.   In addition, President Assad is part of a minority group himself.  He is an Alawite Shia Muslim, despised by the 74% of Syria’s population who follow the Islamic Sunni religion.

    Mr Hague goes on: ‘In our regular dialogue, we are encouraging Syrian opposition groups to reach out and engage with minority communities, including Christians, and to maintain a clear commitment to a peaceful and non-sectarian approach.’

    So Mr Hague admits he is in touch with the rebels.  Worryingly, he expects them to behave as if they were taking part in a vicarage tea party.  He speaks as if he really thinks the world is like a civilised home counties drawing room.  He may really believe that or he may be pretending to.  Either way, by backing the rebels, our Government like that of America and most of Europe is preparing the way for a middle-east bloodbath.

    Thank God for the Russians and the Chinese.

    PRAY: That Britain will pull back from its unqualified support of the Syrian rebels and realise that the Assad regime, with all its faults, remains the last protector of the Christian and Alawite minorities in Syria.  Pray for more even reporting of the conflict.  Pray that the Russians and Chinese will stand firm against Western and Saudi duplicity.

    Ask your MP – Email address HERE – to ask the Foreign Secretary what contacts Her Majesty’s Government is having with Syrian rebels and what political, financial and weaponry assistance it has given them.  You could ask your MP to ask the Foreign Secretary to support President Assad instead.  Ask your MP also to ask the Foreign Secretary to comment on the reports of Syrian rebel persecution of Christians and Alawites (he won’t say anything positive, and will not say what assistance he is giving, but he will know you are there and concerned.)

    Join Christian Voice today and stand up for righteousness in the land:

     

    ‘Sorry’ is the hardest word for Nationwide

    By
    Stephen
    -
    25
    The Nationwide AGM was held on Thursday 19th July at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester.

    A leading building society is finding it impossible to apologise to five people insulted at a dinner it bankrolled last November.

    The Nationwide Building Society sponsored the Stonewall homosexual lobby group’s awards dinner on 3rd November 2011.  See the Stonewall report on the event here.

    The awards were mainly to applaud people who had advanced the homosexual cause in some way.

    Among the awards was an anti-award called ‘Bigot of the Year’ intended to insult and vilify a number of people particularly opposed to the gay rights agenda. Those shortlisted were the respected Sir Brian Souter, Bishop Arthur Roche, Bill Walker MSP, journalist Melanie Phillips, who was the eventual ‘winner’, and Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice.

    Stonewall did not even have the courtesy to invite any of those shortlisted for this ‘Bigot of the Year’ award to the dinner.  Perhaps they were afraid someone might answer back – bullies never like it when someone stands up to them.  Or perhaps social intercourse is just not one of their strong points.

    Christian Voice members gave out leaflets about Nationwide’s involvement with Stonewall to the society’s members attending the AGM

    The Nationwide’s position is that they are ‘not supportive of the vilification of individuals’ and that they ‘have made this clear to Stonewall’. They have pulled out of sponsoring future events of this kind. However, the Society remains as a member of Stonewall’s ‘Diversity Champions’ programme in which they go a lot further than merely treating all of their employees equally, to which no-one could object.  Click ‘Sexual Orientation’ on the Nationwide link here.

    Stephen Green is a Nationwide member and went along to the AGM in Manchester on 19th July 2012 to ask the Nationwide Board of Directors the following questions:

    (1) How much of your members’ money did you vote to the Stonewall awards dinner?

    (2) Did you know the nature of the event you were sponsoring, and were the names of all the awards disclosed to you in advance?

    (3) Which Nationwide Board members attended the Stonewall awards dinner?

    (4) Whether Nationwide support Stonewall’s aim of the redefinition of marriage?

    (5) When will you apologise for bank-rolling an event which insulted and humiliated not just a humble Nationwide member like me, but respected public figures? and

    (6) When will you be big enough simply to say sorry to the individuals concerned?

    Graham Beale, Nationwide Chief Executive, supplied the answers:

    (1) They gave £60,000 to Stonewall for the dinner (which did not stop the greedy lobby group from charging £180 a ticket) and they gave £5,000 as a prize to the ‘Community Group of the Year’ which turned out to be ‘UK Black Pride’.

    (2) They didn’t find out the names of the awards until afterwards (which seems rather inept – and they must have known the name of the Community Group award in order to provide the prize).

    (3) No Nationwide board members attended (very wise).

    (4) Nationwide has no corporate position on the redefinition of marriage (unlike Starbucks and Ben & Jerry’s – but more of them at another time).

    (5) No, they won’t apologise.

    (6) Ditto.

    Find here the text of the leaflet we gave out to Nationwide members outside the AGM

    Earlier posts:

    14th July 2012: Nationwide in ‘Bigot’ award challenge

    4th November 2011: Stonewall ‘cowards’ call Melanie Phillips ‘Bigot of the Year’

     

    Email contact for Nationwide Chief Executive, Graham Beale: gjbeale2@nationwide.co.uk

     

    Land Address for Stephen Green and the Christian Voice office:
    Wernlwyd, Pen-y-bont, CARMARTHEN, SA33 6QN
    01994 484544 / 07931 490050

    Join Christian Voice today and stand up for righteousness in the land:

    Nationwide in ‘Bigot’ award challenge

    By
    Stephen
    -
    15

    Christian Voice Press Release – 10.40 hrs 14th July 2012

    The Nationwide Building Society is to be challenged over its association with the Stonewall ‘Bigot of the Year’ award at its AGM this coming Thursday.

    Stephen Green, who was shortlisted for the award last November along with Sir Brian Souter, Bishop Arthur Roche, Bill Walker MSP and the eventual ‘winner’ journalist Melanie Phillips, plans to put down a question at the AGM, to be held in Manchester at 11am at the Bridgewater Hall in Lower Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3WS.  Doors open at 10am and any Nationwide member with at least £100 in savings or owed on a mortgage can attend.

    Mr Green, who is National Director of Christian Voice, the group best known for its successful campaign against Jerry Springer the Opera, is a Nationwide member.  He said today:

    ‘Nationwide sponsored the 2011 Stonewall awards dinner, which did not stop the greedy lobby group charging £180 a ticket (£150 plus VAT).  I intend to ask how much money Nationwide gave, whether they knew the nature of the event they were sponsoring, whether they support the redefinition of marriage, one of Stonewall’s key aims, and when they plan to apologise for bank-rolling an event which insulted and humiliated not just a humble Nationwide member like me, but respected public figures.

    ‘In particular, Sir Brian was awarded a knighthood by Her Majesty in June 2011, just months before he was vilified by Stonewall.

    ‘Nationwide have said they are “not supportive of the vilification of individuals” and that they “have made this clear to Stonewall”.  They have pulled out of sponsoring future events, while remaining ‘members’ of Stonewall.  No-one on the Nationwide Board of Directors has yet been man enough to apologise to any of the individuals concerned, and I think they should.

    ‘Of course, not one of those shortlisted was invited by Stonewall to attend, which was a grave discourtesy.  But as “Bigot of the Year” is merely an attempt by Stonewall to bully and humiliate someone in public life, Stonewall won’t ever find the courage to invite those shortlisted for fear that the winner might tell the assembled gays a few home truths.

    ‘It seems homosexuality can only advance by insulting and browbeating its opponents.  But I hope the Nationwide experience will send a message through the world of business that the Stonewall awards dinner is a toxic brand.’

    ENDS

    For further information, phone Stephen Green on 07931 490050.

    Note: You can send an email to the Nationwide Chief Executive, Graham Beale:

    gjbeale2@nationwide.co.uk

    Note: Previous article on the Stonewall ‘awards dinner’ and Nationwide’s involvement:

    Stonewall ‘cowards’ call Melanie Phillips ‘Bigot of the Year’

    Land Address for Stephen Green and the Christian Voice office:
    Wernlwyd, Pen-y-bont, CARMARTHEN, SA33 6QN
    01994 484544 / 07931 490050

    Join Christian Voice today and stand up for righteousness:

    Join Christian Voice today and stand up for righteousness in the land:

    Atheist pensioner insults intelligence

    By
    Stephen
    -
    19
    'Insulting': John Richards with his poster

    The website of Richard Dawkins is full of the story of a pensioner in Lincolnshire who has allegedly been told by police not to display an ‘insulting’ poster rubbishing religion.

    The story has also appeared on the website of the National Secular Society.

    Atheists have been desparate to find just one case where the police try to use Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 against one of their own, in order to counterbalance the multitude of recorded heavy-handed police actions against Christian preachers.

    Now they think they have it.  John Richards, of Vauxhall Road, Boston, has been told that if he displays in his window a modest A4 landscape paper with the words ‘Religions are fairy stories for adults’ he could be in breach of the Section’s provisions which state that:

    ‘a person is guilty of an offence if they display a sign which is threatening or abusive or insulting with the intent to provoke violence or which may cause another person harassment, alarm or distress.’

    The Boston Standard makes it clear that Lincolnshire Police have said they will only attend if someone makes a complaint.  In a statement, they said: ‘If a complaint is received by the police in relation to a sign displayed in a person’s window, an officer would attend and make a reasoned judgement about whether an offence had been committed under the Act.’

    So yet again, Section 5 is not the great bogey-man some are pretending it is.  The Police and CPS quite often prosecute Christians under it – this author was prosecuted under Section 5 in 2006 – but to our knowledge, with the exception of Harry Hammond in Bournemouth, and his was a special case, not least because he died before an appeal could be heard – not one person has been convicted.

    We need to realise the true reason the National Secular Society want Section 5 amended is that the constant stream of stories of police clamp-downs on freedom of speech against Christians is a thorn in their flesh, garnering public sympathy and publicity for the Christian viewpoint.

    Unlike Peter Tatchell, who although wrong is at least honest, It is not remotely because they champion freedom of speech for their opponents.

    For most people, and certainly most Christians, the truly laughable aspect of this poster is that it is written by a man who, if he is like every atheist this author has met, believes the fairy stories of abiogenesis and evolution. 

    If he is true to his preconceptions and if he has actually thought about it, by rejecting the reality of a creator God, John Richards believes that nothing exploded and became everything, that life just happened spontaneously, that fish grew legs and lungs for no apparent reason and decided to walk around on the sea-shore, that whales, fed up with life on land, swivelled their spines round, grew flippers, developed blow-holes and resistance to water pressure and flopped back into the sea, that bats were rats who grew wings (overnight or over millions of years and how did they get around with no front legs and emergent non-functioning wings?), and so on and so on into millions of totally farcical scenarios.

    The Bible says: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7).

    The truth is that the poster is truly insulting.  It is an insult to the intelligence.  But what do you expect from an atheist?

    Join Christian Voice today and stand up for righteousness in the land:

    Swedish Court Vindicates Johansson Parents

    By
    Robin
    -
    2
    Relatives of Domenic Johansson

    The parental rights of Christer and Annie Johansson will not be terminated, a Swedish district court ruled.

    Last week’s ruling comes three years after Domenic Johansson was forcibly abducted from his parents by social services minutes before the family’s departure for India.

    In a press release issued last Thursday, the Alliance Defence Fund commented

    The court stated it could not ignore the unanimous and extensive testimony of first-hand accounts of friends, family, and others that Domenic Johansson’s parents, Christer and Annie, were properly caring for him prior to Swedish authorities seizing him in 2009.

    “The government shouldn’t abduct and imprison children simply because it doesn’t like home schooling,” said ADF Legal Counsel Roger Kiska. “We encourage Swedish authorities to release Domenic to his parents in light of the court’s ruling, and we hope the European Court of Human Rights will reconsider its recent rejection of Domenic’s case in light of the Swedish court’s determination. This family’s human rights have been unimaginably violated.”

    “This is a tremendous day for the Johansson family,” said HSLDA Director of International Relations Mike Donnelly, one of more than 2,100 attorneys in the ADF alliance. “HSLDA and ADF have been supporting them since Swedish officials took their child–a grotesque abuse of their human rights. Dominic has not been returned home yet, but we have every hope that he will be soon.”

    HSLDA is a 29-year-old, 80,000 member non-profit organization advocating the legal right of parents to home-school their children.

    Swedish authorities forcibly removed Domenic from his parents in June 2009 from a plane they had boarded to move to Annie’s home country of India. The officials did not have a warrant nor did they charge the Johanssons with any crime. The officials seized the child because he was home-schooled, even though home schooling was legal in Sweden at the time he was taken into custody.

    In December 2009, a Swedish court ruled in Johansson v. Gotland Social Services that the government was within its rights to seize the child. ADF and HSLDA attorneys filed a lawsuit, Johansson v. Sweden, with the European Court of Human Rights in June 2010 over the matter. That court recently declined to hear the case even after additional submissions from ADF and HSLDA attorneys, but the new ruling from the Swedish court determined that Domenic’s mother and father are suitable to exercise parental rights over their son, bringing new hope that the child will be returned home.

    Following the ruling, Christer Johansson commented,

    It feels pretty good to win. The social authorities have been running around winning for the last three years. It was pretty important that we won this because, if we didn’t, we would have permanently lost our only child. There is something very wrong with people who would keep a family separated this long for no legitimate reason….
    I don’t think we’d be here today if it weren’t for the support of many thousands of people through their emails, telephone calls and letters,” he said. “We know many people have been paying attention to this, and we are so grateful for their constant and consistent support. We want to say thank you to all of our supporters!

    It remains to be seen if Swedish officials will take prompt action to end the separation of three years. Even though the specific issue of Domenic’s restoration was not discussed by the court last week, one would hope that the ruling will make it difficult, if not impossible, for social services to continue to keep the child in state custody.

    PRAY

    Now that the court has recognized that the Johansson parents were offering Domenic proper care and that it would be unjust to remove their rights, it remains only a small step to recognizing that he ought to be returned to the parents. Pray that officials take this final step to end this family’s misery.

    Also pray for Domenic’s health. HSLDA reported that “A review of Domenic’s medical records shows that there have been health issues since he was placed in foster care.”

    WRITE

    HSLDA Attorney and Director of International Relations Michael Donnelly said, “Many thousands of families have supported the Johanssons with letters and emails and with their prayers and concern. Now is the time for all concerned supporters to call on the Gotland social services authorities to do the right thing—return Dominic to his parents now!” You can do that by contacting the following:

    Swedish Social Services Committee
    Socialnämnden
    Gotlands Kommun
    621 81 Visby
    SWEDEN

    The social workers
    Marica Gardell
    marika.gardell@gotland.se
    Marie Kransberg
    marie.kransberg@gotland.se
    Gunvor Allqvie
    gunvor.allqvie@gotland.se

    Head of social board
    Hanna Westerén
    hanna.westeren@gotland.se

    Previous Christian Voice Posts on This Issue

    Join Christian Voice today and stand up for righteousness in the land:

    Free pro-marriage briefing

    By
    Stephen
    -
    12

    A few days ago, people calling in to Premier Radio were challenged to say what was wrong with David Cameron’s plans for ‘gay marriage’.  In the main, they knew it was wrong, but they could not articulate why.  You may feel the same, but you don’t have to be tongue-tied any longer.

    Our pro-marriage briefing The Trivilisation of Matrimony opposes Cameron’s ‘gay marriage’ plans, firstly from a biblical perspective, and then by unpacking all the other arguments (see contents below).  We are not ashamed of the Cross in Christian Voice, and the words of Jesus Christ on this issue form the cornerstone of our objections. We are so keen to get this accessible 16-page booklet into your hands, we are giving it away free if you join Christian Voice today.

    Join Christian Voice today, and get The Trivilisation of Matrimony and our latest newsletter, leading on the ‘gay marriage’ issue, absolutely free! We’ll also send you Britain in Sin, which lays out the anti-Christian legislation passed in the last sixty years and our information-packed briefings Understanding Islam and Labelling Halal – all by return of post. You won’t want to miss any of those! Join over the weekend and we’ll have everything in the post for you on Monday.

    Click here: https://www.christianvoice.org.uk/?page_id=1003

    Matthew 10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

    Let’s do it! Join Christian Voice today:

    THE TRIVIALISATION OF MATRIMONY

    Table of Contents

    1. Introduction
    2. Marriage instituted by God as the first social institution
    3. Marriage endorsed and affirmed by the Lord Jesus Christ
    4. The limits of earthly government
    5. The consummation of marriage
    6. The exclusivity of marriage vs homosexual promiscuity
    7. The Government cannot define ‘gay’ consummation or adultery!
    8. Marriage as the bedrock of society
    9. Marriage and children
    10. Same-sex ‘marriage’ is not a human right
    11. Same-sex ‘marriage’ threatens religious freedom
    12. Same-sex ‘marriage’ strips the meaning out of marriage
    13. The public are opposed to same-sex ‘marriage’
    14. What about civil partnerships?
    15. How to make your views known

    Persecution of Christians in India

    By
    Stephen
    -
    1

    We have received this at the Christian Voice office:

    SUBJECT: RADICAL MUSLIMS ARE CONSTANTLY THREATENING ME & FAMILY TO MURDER US AS WE ARE CHRISTIANS

    Dear  Bro. Stephen Green in Christ,

    Greetings to you in the name of our Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ from Nutangram village in India!

    I would like to introduce myself with you that I am Aimazan Bibi. I live in the village named Nutangram under Murshidabad Police station, Dist. Murshidabad, West Bengal State, India.

    My husband name is Gaffar Shaike. I and my entire family accepted Jesus as our Lord & Saviour and we are followers of Lord Jesus Christ. I am conducting House Church fellowship at my own house on every Monday and few other Christian brothers & sisters are attending at our fellowship from last few years.

    On 30th March 2012 , while I had invited few Christian families for lunch and for prayer meeting at my own house. While we had started prayer service, numbers of radical Muslims forcibly entered to my house and attacked our prayer meeting at around 2.P.M.

    Annu Shaike, son of Nizammuddin Shaike started to kicked my stomach & head mercilessly and injured my hand. Even he twisted my hand very tightly and tried to break my hand but God saved my hand.

    Later on radical Muslims mocked, abused to my Christian brothers & sisters.  A mob of about 100 Islamists gathered and they were shouting anti-Christian slogans and threatening to murder us. Even they pushed, kicked and slapped us.

    When my Christian brothers & sisters tried to flee, the radical Muslims blocked their way. Ahammed Shaike, son of Late Kalimuddin Shaike, leading the extremists group to beat all the Christians and killed them for the sake of Allah. Mohammed Kuran Shaike, son of Ahammed Shaike  beat  to my mother who is 65-year-old widow Moyazan Bewa.  Ahamed’s wife Mrs. Salema Bibi started to beat to another Christian women Selina Bibi. All other Christian men & women received minor injuries. Two small children present at the meeting were crying in fear. 

    Christian brothers & sisters somehow made their way out and scattered, but Mohammed Aanu Shaike with a sickle chased us and wanted to murder us as Ahammed Shaike encouraging him and all other extremists as we are Christians.

    Ahammed Shaike, his family members and their extremists group always threatening me & my family that they are openly telling us that they will murder us as we are Christians. 

    My hasband, Gaffar Shaike submitted written complaint to the local Police station on 31st March 2012 and copied to District Magistrate & Superintendent of Police in Murshidabad district. But, so far police or Administration didn’t take any action. Therefore, Ahammed Shaike, his family members and their extremist groups are giving more troubles to us and forcibly coming to my house and telling us publicly that they will murder us as we are Christians.

    I humbly request you kindly pray for God’s protection for me, family & all other Christians in Nutangram village. Also I request you kindly write a letter to the Authorities of my country & State and request them to look after our situation. So, that they might take necessary action and provide protection for me & family and other local Chistians in Nutangram.

    With regards,

    Aimazan Bibi

    * Please write to the authorities : such as

    1.       President of India: MRS. PRATIVA SINGH PATIL, Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi – 110 004 Fax: 011-23017290 & 011-23017824  Email:  presidentofindia@rb.nic.in

     2.       Prime Minister of India: Dr. Monmohan Singh Fax: 91-11-23019545 / 91-11-23016857 Email: manmohan@sansad.nic.in

    3.      Ministry of Home Affairs,  Mr. P. Chidambaram Phone: 23092161,23092011 Fax: 23093750, 23092763 Email: websitemhaweb@nic.in          

    4.       Chief Minister of West Bengal State, Miss. Mamata Bannerjee Office Fax : +91 33 22145480  Email : cm@wb.gov.in

     5.      Governor of West Bengal State, Mr. M. K. Narayanan Raj Bhavan, Kolkata 700 062  Phone: 033-2200 1641  Fax:  91 – 33 – 2200 2444 / 2200 1649  Email: secy-gov-wb@nic.in or  governor-wb@nic.in

    Note: UK residents may approach the High Commissioner of India, London: His Excellency Dr. J. Bhagwati: India House, Aldwych, London, WC2B 4NA Tel: 020 7836 8484  Email: hc.office@hcilondon.in

     US residents may approach the Indian Ambassador Her Excellency Ambassador Mrs Nirupama Rao 2536 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest  Washington, DC 20008, United States (202) 939-7000 Contact page through www.indianembassy.org 

    British Christians are being ‘Vilified’, Lord Carey Warns

    By
    Robin
    -
    44

    Christians in the UK are being ‘driven underground’ and ‘vilified’ by British judges, former archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey has warned.

    Lord Carey condemned British judges who ‘consistently applied equality law to discriminate against Christians.’ The result, he warned, is that Christians are being progressively driven out of the public sphere.

    The former archbishop’s remarks form part of a written submission he is presenting to the European Court of Human Rights, in advance of a hearing in Strasbourg on 4 September which will look at the cases of various British employees who have been discriminated against in the workplace because of their Christian beliefs.
    He will be asking the European Court of Human Rights to intervene to safeguard Britain’s religious freedoms.
    Among the concerns he is raising is the fact that believers are being treated as ‘bigots’, while many face being fired from their jobs simply for expressing their Christian beliefs. He blamed this on a ‘secular conformity of belief and conduct’ which is resulting in the Christian faith being effectively ‘banned’ from public.

    He continued: ‘In a country where Christians can be sacked for manifesting their faith, are vilified by state bodies, are in fear of reprisal or even arrest for expressing their views on sexual ethics, something is very wrong….’

    “Christians are excluded from many sectors of employment simply because of their beliefs; beliefs which are not contrary to the public good”.

     

    Further Reading


    Persecuted Christians take Government to European Court so they can express their beliefs at work

    Lord Carey: Christians ‘vilified’ by courts

    The Persecution of Christians in Britain (Part 1)

    The Persecution of Christians in Britain (Part 2)

     

    Bus Ads Expose Homosexual U-Turn

    By
    Stephen
    -
    26
    Brendan O'Neill, editor of Spiked

    A blog on the Daily Telegraph has shown how the bus advert storm has highlighted a homosexual activist U-Turn.

    Brendan O’Neill, editor of Spiked, says it used to be ‘the gays’ who emphasised their choice of sexuality and said they had a right to whatever orientation and lifestyle they wanted.

    Now, he says, organisations like Stonewall have switched their position.  Now it is all: ‘Be nice to poor us; we cannot change who we are; we are stuck like it; get over it!’

    He also says that nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century Christians held to the determinist position, but that they have switched around as well.  He is on less sure ground there, although it depends on which theology a certain Christian holds.  The evangelicals, such as the prison psychiatrist of Liverpool nick in the 1950s, Dr F H Brisby, who wrote an article for the BMA cataloguing homosexuals who had changed which was submitted to the Wolfenden Committee, have always maintained that Christ can heal and transform our pathological nature.

    (Read O’Neill’s article here: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/brendanoneill2/100150707/the-bus-advert-storm-confirms-that-christians-are-now-more-progressive-than-gay-rights-activists/)

    But as for ‘the gays’, he is bang on target.  When I researched my book ‘The Sexual Dead End’, I found a strong emphasis amongst homosexual writers of the 1970s and 1980s on sexual freedom and the right to choose our ‘orientation’.  Agreed, it was strongest amongst the lesbians, where ‘going gay’ is seen as a logical feminist rejection of what they see as a male-dominated society.

    Books like ‘Pink Triangles’ and ‘With downcast gays’ had a theme of sexual freedom, but it was at its strongest in the Gay Liberation Front Manifesto.  In other words it was the radical end of homosexual activism which emphasised freedom of choice, while the political savvies saw that determinism was a better way to achieve their aims.

    All the same, Leo Abse, when bringing in the Sexual Offences Bill 1967, which started the whole gay machine rolling, attributed the curse, as he put it, of homosexuality to a lad growing up without a father figure with whom to identify.  The lack of a proper identification as a member of one’s one sex is still seen as one of the routes into homosexuality by conservative psychiatric professionals – and Christians in healing ministries, today.

    Homosexual behaviour was looked upon as just a matter of sin until people like Carl Ulrichs and Magnus Hirschfield came along in the l880s and proposed the ‘third sex’ idea.  Sigmund Freud opposed their determinism and rejected a genetic or hormonal predisposition in a move which was catastrophic to homosexual political aspirations.

    It was when Simon Le Vay found differences in the brains of homosexual men as against a heterosexual control group that the determinists got really exited, despite LeVay himself admitting:

    “It’s important to stress what I didn’t find.  I did not prove that homosexuality is genetic, or find a genetic cause for being gay.  I didn’t show that gay men are born that way, the most common mistake people make in interpreting my work.  Nor did I locate a gay center in the brain (as quoted in Byrd, et al., 2001).”

    Hard on Le Vay’s heels came Bailey and Pillard’s ‘gay twins’ in 1992/1993 and Dean Hamer’s ‘gay gene’ in 1993.  Now the determinists and the homosexual politicos were cooking.  Hamer’s results have not been replicated, and he didn’t claim to have found a ‘gay gene’ responsible for all homosexuality either.

    The ‘gay gene’ studies are criticised here: http://www.trueorigin.org/gaygene01.asp

    So to come right up to the present, the Christians behind the proposed bus ads are emphasising what gay activists were in the 1980s, that a homosexual lifestyle is chosen, learnt behaviour.  Where they differ is in mainataining that such a lifestyle is not a good thing and that the underlying pathologies can be dealt with and a person restored to how God intended him or her to be through the healing power of Jesus Christ.

    And it works; men and women have walked away from the homosexual lifestyle and had their orientation changed by Jesus Christ.  Their stories are the ones which cannot be allowed to be heard in today’s politically correct climate, but they will not go away.

    And it is because Christian healing is such a political time-bomb that Stonewall have to reject it, with all the determist fervour they can muster.

    Stephen Green

    Order The Sexual Dead-End here: http://www.repentuk.com/resources.html

    Boris snubs Christian bus adverts

    By
    Stephen
    -
    126

    The Conservative Mayor of London has banned London buses from carrying adverts promoting an ex-gay ministry.

    Boris Johnson, who is running for re-election next month, told Transport for London to pull the adverts booked by two conservative Anglican groups within two hours of the story about the adverts appearing in the Guardian.

    The ads were due to run on 24 buses on five routes and were booked on behalf of the Core Issues Trust whose leader, Mike Davidson, believes “homoerotic behaviour is sinful”.

    Core Issues Trust funds “reparative therapy” for gay Christians, which it claims can “develop their heterosexual potential”. The campaign was also backed by Anglican Mainstream.

    The advert was due to say: “Not gay! Post-gay, ex-gay and proud. Get over it!”

    It was an obvious and timely send-up of the Stonewall homosexual lobby group’s bus adverts which say “Some people are gay – get over it!”

    The Christian groups used the same black, red and white colour scheme as Stonewall and in a statement announcing the campaign accused it of promoting the “false idea that there is indisputable scientific evidence that people are born gay”.

    Johnson, who contacted the Guardian to announce he was stopping the adverts within two hours of their contents becoming public, said: “London is one of the most tolerant cities in the world and intolerant of intolerance. It is clearly offensive to suggest that being gay is an illness that someone recovers from and I am not prepared to have that suggestion driven around London on our buses.”

    The Christian groups insisted the advert had been cleared with Transport for London (TfL), which is chaired by the mayor. Davidson said: “I didn’t realise censorship was in place. We went through the correct channels and we were encouraged by the bus company to go through their procedures. They okayed it and now it has been pulled.”

    CBS Outdoor, the media company that sells the bus advertising sites, said the ad had been passed for display by the Committee of Advertising Practice. It is understood TfL was due to make around £10,000 for allowing the adverts to run on about two dozen buses across five routes.

    Mayor Johnson’s decision will fuel concerns over religious discrimination by showing that there is one rule for homosexual activists and another for Christians. 

    The move by Boris is also certain to be seen as anti-Christian by an electorate which includes a large number of evangelical Christians.  Half of all Christians in London are black African or Caribbean and other fast-growing churches are heavily evangelical or pentecostal.

    ‘God can heal today’ say MPs

    By
    Stephen
    -
    31
    Bath Healing Leaflet
    Bath Healing Leaflet
    Bath Healing Leaflet
    Bath Healing Leaflet

    Three prominent Christian MPs have challenged the Advertising Standards Authority to produce evidence to support their assertion that God cannot heal, reports Total Politics.

    The ASA ruled on 1st February 2012 that Christians in Bath may not say in an advertisement:

    “NEED HEALING? GOD CAN HEAL TODAY! … We’d love to pray for your healing right now! We’re Christian from churches in Bath and we pray in the name of Jesus. We believe that God loves you and can heal you from any sickness”.

    In a letter (on the Total Politics link above) to the Chairman of the ASA, Lord Smith of Finsbury, the MPs, Gary Streeter MP (Con), Gavin Shuker MP (Labour) and Tim Farron (Lib-Dem), from the all-party group Christians in Parliament, mention the prayer that has gone up for Fabrice Muamba and ask if those praying for him are wrong.

    The openly-‘gay’ Chris, Lord, Smith of Finsbury who is also a vice-president of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality, spent his years as an MP doing just that.  In 2009, the ASA cleared the atheist bus ads which claimed there was no God.

    As the MPs point out, a belief that God can heal today is based on ‘two thousand years of Christian tradition and the very clear teaching in the Bible’.

    The Lord Jesus said: Mark 16:17  ‘And these signs shall follow them that believe; … 18 … they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.’

    The Apostle James said: James 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

    One of the claims made by the ASA is that belief that God heals might stop people going to the doctor.  In fact, none of the Bath Christians would advise against medical assistance.  Christian theology views medicine as a gift from God and being a doctor or nurse as a vocation.  One of the evangelists, Luke, was a doctor.  No Christian is going to tell a man with gall stones not to have the operation.

    But just as God did not step in to save the Israelites from the advancing Egyptian army in Exodus 14 until they had exhausted all human ideas, and the woman with a flow of blood in Luke 8 had seen all the doctors before she came to Jesus, so it is often when the efforts of medicine can do no more that the miracle comes.

    At other times, as in Fabrice Muamba’s case, prayer covers the whole pattern of events, such that an operation and healing go more swiftly and smoothly than anyone could imagine.  And then the doctors speak of ‘a miracle’.

    Faith is also important. Both the Lord Jesus and the Apostle James tell us not to doubt.  The ‘double-minded’ will receive nothing from the Lord, says James.  We must not pray and then say to ourselves ‘I don’t think the Lord will do it, but it’s worth a try.’  And prayer has to be fervent, from the heart.

    Just put “miraculous healing” into any search engine, be encouraged, and confound the ASA!

    North Korea Resources

    By
    Robin
    -
    1
    North Korean Soldier

    Those who have joined Christian Voice receive our newsletter every month. In every issue, our newsletter features a column titled,  ‘The Persecuted Church,’ which reports on a different country where believers face challenges, alerting our readers to prayer needs for the Christians there.

    This year we have run a number of articles looking at the challenges Christians are facing in North Korea. Because of the seriousness of the issue, we are making these articles available online.

    First, however, it may be helpful to have some historical background behind the worst totalitarian regime in the history of the world.

     

     

    A Brief History of North Korea

    The ancient principality of Korea was a unified sovereign nation since the 7th century. During and following the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95, Japanese forces occupied the peninsula.

    In 1910, Japan officially annexed the nation. It was not until after WWII that Korea finally regained its independence after being liberated by Soviet and American forces. However, this “independence” meant little in practice since the Communist Russians took possession of the industrial north while the United States (under the auspices of the United Nations) took control of the agricultural south. The reason the US took possession of the South was to prevent the Soviets from occupying it in the massive land grab which followed the second world war.

    Both the U.S. and the USSR approved Korean-led governments in their respective halves, each of which were favourable to the occupying power’s political ideology. The communist North, known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, supported the government of Kim Il-sung, who had been a Guerrilla fighter with the Chinese Communist forces. The US-supported South, on the other hand, was known as the Republic of Korea and officially came into existence in 1948.

    Almost from the beginning of this division, the South had to contend with the North’s guerrilla movement. By the time the guerrillas were defeated, a massive concentration of troops had been amassed along the border on both sides. On June 25, 1950, a North Korean armoured brigade crashed through the line and marched toward the Southern capital of Seoul, beginning the three-year period of conflict known as the Korean War. Communist China assisted North Korea in this bloody war, while American forces fought for the South.

    When the armistice agreement was finally signed on July 27, 1953, the borders simply reverted to what they had been prior to the war. To this day, it remains the most heavily fortified border in the world.

    Resources

    You find download links below, in addition to links to some of our recent website articles and videos about North Korea.

    • Kim Jong Il’s Death Highlights Concerns for Christians. This is a report we ran the day that Kim Jong Il’s death was reported. We lamented the bias in much of the mainline media in downplaying Kim Jong Il’s atrocities when covering his death. We used this as an opportunity to highlight his crimes against the Christian in the country.
    • Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag. This post gives the background to Kang Chol-Hwan’s chilling exposé of the concentration camp system, together with a video giving satellite images of the country’s concentration camp system. 
    • Review of Kang Chol-Hwan’s book. This is a PDF download to a full review of The Aquariums of Pyongyan: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag.
    • Persecution of Christians in North Korea. This is a PDF download of our February report assessing the situation in North Korea under the new leadership of Kim Jong-un.

     

     

    1...111213...15Page 12 of 15
    Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube

    EVEN MORE NEWS

    POPULAR CATEGORY

    © Newsmag WordPress Theme by TagDiv