After over 40,000 people signed a petition, the Holy Sexuality Conference in London was cancelled.
The Holy Sexuality Conference in London was cancelled after 40,000 dissenters signed a petition calling for its cancellation.
The “Holy Sexuality” Conference in London was cancelledafter 40,000 people signed a petition calling for its abandonment.
Dubbedthe “Gay Cure Summit” by GayStarNews, the 5-day conference was to be held from 21-25 April and aimed at helping people who struggle with unwanted same-sex attraction. According to the advert:
“This conference will be invaluable for those who are struggling with their sexuality or for those who wish to find out more about issues surrounding sexuality and same sex attraction to reach out to others.”
The three people supposed to speakat the event were Americans Mike Carducci, Wayne Blakely, and Danielle Harrison. These speakers explained that they found “redemption, victory, healing and freedom from their [homosexual] lifestyle.”
The conference was organizedby the Seventh Day Adventist Church, a Christian organization that believes homosexuality is a sin and breaks God’s Commandment.
Kirsten Lundquist, the communications and media director of South England Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, was disappointed by the decision to cancel the conference, saying:
“Seventh-day Adventists are a people of peace who believe in hope and dialogue. However, it appeared that rather than drawing people together the conference had the potential to divide. The Adventist Church recognises that the individuals invited to speak at the Holy Sexuality Conference have compelling life stories to share but equally appreciate that there are those who take a different point of view.”
However, many people took offense at the goal of the conference, saying that promoting the idea of curing homosexuality is “dangerous.” The UK Council for Psychotherapy even described “conversion theory” as abuse.
The conference was also denounced by political figures. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said:
“If anything needs curing, it is the outdated belief that being gay is wrong or something to be ashamed of. Sexuality is not an illness but an inherent part of who you are.”
In an article on Change.org, human rights activist Omar Kuddus called for the Government to refuse visas to people who seek to cure people of gay desires. Kuddus started the petition to cancel the Holy Sexuality conference, and he believes the Government should protect gay people from those who want to cure them.
“We are disappointed that in a society that values freedom of speech and divergence of opinion that there are those whose wish it is to silence individuals who hold a different point of view to their own.”
That same week, a similar event called The Transformation Potential Conference took place in Westminster. It was held by Core Issues, a Christian ministry organization. Although more than 13,000 people signed a petition to cancel it, nevertheless the talks were held on 14 April.
Ukip candidate Alan Craig, former leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance, was set to speak at this conference. However, organizers asked him to step aside so the issues discussed at the seminar would not be “associated with any one political party.”
Omar Kuddus also fought for the cancellation of this conference, believing these events are harmful to those who attend them. In a statement to the Evening Standard, Kuddos said:
“You don’t expect two gay cure conferences to take place in London at all, especially in the same week. I find it diabolical someone representing the group is allowed to preach hate in England. At the end of the day that is what conversion therapy is – sexuality is not a choice.”
The irony in this is that the very people who claim Christians want to “silence” gay people are the very ones who cancel conferences and want to refuse visas to people coming to speak at these events. They are the ones trying to silence differing opinions, embodying a tactic that prohibits free speech and cancels conferences.
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Street preacher convicted. Michael Overd with his wife Rachel outside Taunton Magistrates Court when he was acquitted in 2012.
STOP PRESS:
Michael Overd’s appeal was heard at Taunton Crown Court, Shire Hall, Taunton, Somerset TA1 4EU on Friday 11th December 2015 at which he was acquitted when the prosecution’s case collapsed.
A street preacher has been convicted over ‘homophobic’ sermons, the BBC reports.
Michael Overd was preaching in Taunton, Somerset, in June and July 2014.
He was cleared of a second similar charge and another of causing “racially-aggravated” harassment aimed at Muslims. During the case, Mr Overd told the judge he must be born again.
The charges were brought under the Public Order Act.
We were pleased to support Michael Overd when he faced similar charges and was acquitted at Taunton Magistrates Court in 2012.
Mr Overd, 50, was fined £200 and ordered to pay compensation of £250 and costs of £950 totalling £1,400 at Bristol Crown Court.
Sentencing, judge Shamim Qureshi told Mr Overd he “knew full well the power of words to hurt”. We understand the Muslim judge came down from Birmingham to sit in the case, and it was when he referred to Christianity and Islam as joint Abrahamic faiths that Michael Overd urged him to repent and be born again.
He was told to pay £250 to his ‘victim’, Darren Chalmers. Mr Overd said the judgement was “flawed” and told the judge he would have to “answer to the same God”.
After the failed case in 2012, the police began looking for complaints against the long-standing Taunton preacher again last year, appealing in a local newspaper for the public to record him making “offensive remarks”. A number of witnesses said they could not remember what Mr Overd said, just that it was ‘offensive’.
Support for the principle of street preaching came from the Bishop of Peterborough, Rt Rev Donald Allister, who said we should have freedom to express our views, provided it were done in a Christian manner.
A campaign by the Christian Institute to remove the word ‘insulting’ from the Public Order Act was meant to stop preachers being prosecuted, but the police have just switched to charging them with ‘threatening and abusive’ behaviour instead.
Judge Qureshi
Intriguingly, the judge had reserved judgement, which indicates he wanted to take advice from those higher up.
Judge Qureshi told the preacher he seemed to enjoy testing the laws on free speech to their limits. He said: “In my view he enjoys coaxing people into asking him questions so that he can reply loudly into the microphone to answer them.
Mr Overd had “double standards”, the judge said, ‘believing he was right and everyone else was wrong’, according to the BBC, although that does not seem to indicate ‘double standards’, merely settled views. The complainant, Darren Chalmers, appears to have contrary views to Mr Overd which are just as settled.
“He happily shouts out the negative points in any other religion,” said the judge, without acknowledging that the negative points in Islam are not very hard to find.
Asked after the case whether he would tone down his sermons, Mr Overd said: “I follow my Lord and leader, so I won’t tone down.”
Mr Overd had faced two charges of using threatening and abusive words, and a third of causing racially or religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress. Only one charge succeeded.
We understand Michael Overd is being advised to appeal to the Crown Court.
PRAY: Thank God for Michael Overd and pray the Lord will bless him and grant District Judge Qureshi in the case repentance and faith in Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
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As reports of ISIS’ activity have increased, the stories have become more and more discouraging. But despite the atrocities being perpetrated by these terrorists, God is still sovereign over all:
Isaiah 51:8 For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.
Below are two stories showing that some good can come from the horror.
Many have read about the 21 supposedly Egyptian Coptic Christians beheaded by ISIS in late February. However, the story of one of those men has not been widely publicised.
This Chadian man, middle, converted to Christianity after seeing the faith of the other men.
Of the twenty-one Christians that were beheaded, only twenty of these men were Egyptian and already Christians.
Many, seeing the pictures, would have been puzzled by the presence of a black man amongst them. This man, a citizen of Chad, was not a Christian but he had been taken for one by the terrorists.
As he watched the Coptic Christians being martyred for their faith, he was convicted of his own lack of faith. When the terrorist reached him and demanded that he reject Jesus Christ, the man said: “Their God is my God.”
He was then executed like his Christian brothers. We do not know how this story emerged, but Patheos News reports, “the joy in this story is that 21 martyrs to Christ entered heaven that day.”
This man was kidnappedalong with twenty other Christians, and could easily have denied Christ. But the faith of the twenty other men convinced him he was lost without Christ, just as the thief in Luke 23 was convicted of his sin at Jesus’ crucifixion:
Luke 23:39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. 40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
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The Scottish Government has given registrars a conscience clause not to take part in ‘gay marriage’ ceremonies.
The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 provides that local authorities must provide a registrar to conduct a same-sex ‘marriage’ but does not say that every individual registrar is obliged to participate.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Government told the homosexual website PinkNews.co.uk: “Each local authority must provide an authorised registrar to conduct a marriage or civil partnership in the area chosen by the couple, regardless of that couple’s sexual orientation. It is a matter for local authorities to manage the provision of that service.
“There is no opt-out for individual registrars included in the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014.
“However, we have been clear that we expect local authorities to handle with sensitivity any registrar who objects to carrying out a same sex marriage on the basis of their religion or belief.”
Naturally, if the expression does not fall too awkwardly, the pro-gay National Secular Society is upset. It’s homosexual president, Terry Sanderson, complained: “The Scottish Government is putting local authorities in an invidious position of having to decide individually whether it is OK for religious registrars to discriminate against gay couples.
“There should be a clear policy to guide them and that policy should be that gay couples are entitled to equal treatment from all registrars.”
But Sanderson goes on to argue that the conscience of Christian registrars is increasingly being supported by the European Court of Human Rights.
Lilian Ladele
Referring to the case of Lilian Ladele, who was sacked by the London Borough of Islington after she voiced concerns about participating in civil partnerships, he declared: “The court said that any policy aimed at restricting religious opt outs should have been agreed before any case is brought.
“Local authorities will have to make a very strong case for not allowing religious registrars to refuse to even administer same-sex marriages, let alone carry out ceremonies. If Lillian Ladele brought her case today, she would probably win.”
Indeed, a Christian registrar who was previously dismissed by Central Bedfordshire Council after refusing to conduct same-sex weddings was reinstated last year.
Margaret Jones, a senior deputy registrar at Bedford register office, was sacked by her employers after confirming that she would be unwilling to conduct same-sex weddings on the basis of her Christian beliefs.
Margaret Jones
However, Ms Jones was offered her job back after an internal appeal hearing in August last year (2014) found her employer had not taken a “balanced view” of her beliefs.
The tribunal overturned the decision by Central Bedfordshire Council, noting Equality and Human Rights Commission guidance “[encourages] employers and employees to find reasonable solutions to religion or belief issues at work”.
That outcome also had the National Secular Society convulsed by impotent fury, writing to the Council asking it to ‘clarify’ its position regarding employees’ requests to opt out of part of their job requirements.
Margaret Jones declined the job reinstatement offer, but Stephen Evans, National Secular Society campaigns manager, raged: “Discriminatory acts have a moral significance beyond the deprivation of the relevant service and the fact that other registrars could conduct the ceremonies is irrelevant.”
This may be no more than a faint glimmer of good news, but welcome as the homosexual juggernaut rumbles on.
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The number of Christians kidnapped by ISIS has risen every day since their offensive began on Monday.
Terrorist group ISIS has abductedas many as 285 Christians from Assyrian villages beginning on Monday, 22 February.
Originally estimated to be between 70 and 100, the number of those kidnapped has risen every day since the attack began.
CNN reportedThursday that the number has reached 262 Christians kidnapped, and the BBC offers this newest report of 285 kidnapped.
Men, women, children, and the elderly were captured as the militants burned and looted their homes. Most of the captives are said to have come from the Assyrian villages of Tal Shamiram, located 50 miles southwest of the Hassakeh provincial capital of Qamishli, another city to the northeast.
Hassakeh borders Turkey and Iraq, and while it is mainly Kurdish, many Arab, Assyrian and Armenian Christians live in the province.
Over 3,000 people have been displacedsince the early morning raid on Monday forced Syrian villagers out of their homes. ISIS has been targeting Christians for months, trying to force them to convert to Islam, pay a religious tax (called a jizya), or be put to death.
The motive behind these kidnappings is not yet clear, but one correspondent indicated that these captives might be used as part of a prisoner swap with Kurdish forces.
While Isis has not affirmed the kidnappings, photos have circulated online of ISIS’ fighters using machine guns and looking at maps. These pictures were reportedly taken near Tel Tamr, the area in which the abductions happened.
The captured people have been in touch with relatives, and people in Sweden, Germany, Canada, and the United States are worried for the safety of their family members.
Osama Edward of the Sweden-based Assyrian Human Rights Network, who has relatives in the area, told the BBC that his wife’s elderly aunt and her cousin were among the hostages.
“My wife tried to call her cousin’s house and there was somebody who picked up the phone and said: ‘This is not Akram’s house. This is the Islamic State’s house.’”
One Assyrian woman now living in Beirut has been trying to find out what has happened to her parents, brother and his family.
“Land lines have been cut, their mobiles are closed,” she told the Associated Press. “Have they been slaughtered? Are they still alive? We’re searching for any news.”
“I cannot do anything for them but pray,” she said on the telephone. She has not revealed her identity so to protect her relatives’ lives.
Sharlet and Romel David, another couple in Modesto, California, said they have twelve family members in Syria who were among those captured by ISIS.
“We pray, we pray all the time,” said Romel.
“What we’ve heard is it was like a sea of black uniforms marching through all the villages, burning down the churches, desecrating the crosses and wreaking havoc.”
Sharlet’s 59-year-old brother left California two years ago and moved back to Syria in an attempt to bring his family back to the United States. But he was unsuccessful in bringing them back, and now his family is being held captive by ISIS.
In response to this attack, a prominent Christian Syrian leader called for a US-led coalition to aid the Christian and Kurdish fighters to oust ISIS.
In January of this year, the Kurds attacked terrorists with the help of international air strikes. This was a four-month siege that eventually resulted in those terrorists leaving the border of Turkey.
Bassam Ishak, President of the Syriac National Council of Syria, said that foreign aid is needed to decidedly get ISIS out of their country.
Ishak’s appeal to stop the Islamic State advancement has been echoed by Syriac Catholic Archbishop Jacques Hindo of Hassakeh.
“I wish to say quite clearly that we have the feeling of being abandoned into the hands of those Daesh [the Arabic acronym for Islamic State],” Archbishop Hindo told the Vatican’s Fides news service.
“American bombers flew over the area several times, but without taking action,” he said. U.S analysts have confirmed this report. No military airstrikes against IS have been made in the Hassakeh region.
The area is currently being defended by local military units, but they lack sufficient arms to launch an attack. They said they are currently seeking air support to fight the extremists.
This civil war has been going on for years, and many of these Assyrians do not have basic necessities like food, water, and clothing.
“We have 100 Assyrian families who have taken refuge in Hassakeh, but they have received no assistance either from the Red Crescent or from Syrian government aid workers, perhaps because they are Christians. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees is nowhere to be seen,” Archbishop Hindo told Fides.
The cry for help by Archbishop Hindo, Ishak and other Christian leaders follows a church burning and kidnapping spree that began on Monday.
Osama Edward fearsthat these Christians might face the same fate as the 21 Egyptian Christians who were beheaded earlier this month.
In Libya, ISIS fighters were filmed beheading 21 Egyptian Christians. The militants were dressed in black, the Christians in orange jumpsuits. After taking their captives to a beach, the ISIS militants forced the Christians to kneel before beheading them all.
In addition to the kidnappings, ISIS also engaged with Kurdish and Christian militiamen while it seized several villages in Syria.
ISIS has also released a video showing their destruction of artifacts in the lands under their control. The video showed men smashing ancient Mesopotamian artifacts with sledgehammers in the Iraqi city of Mosul.
This video only adds to the mounting fears surrounding the fate of the abducted Christians and other minorities targeted by ISIS’ cruelty.
Osama Edward said that these terrorists are wiping Assyrian heritage in Mosul, and at the same time wiping them geographically from the face of the Earth,” the director of the Assyrian Network for Human Rights in Syria said.
By systematically destroying Assyrian heritage, ISIS is eliminating what it views as heresy. It is also believed that they are acquiring and selling ancient artifacts to fund their cruel campaign.
The Assyrian Christians are an ancient race, and their presence in the area goes back to the ancient Mesopotamians.
Christians are believed to have constituted about 10% of Syria’s 22 million people before the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began almost four years ago.
Assyrians, of whom there were about 40,000 in Syria, are Nestorian Christians and speak Syriac, a form of Aramaic, the language of Christ.
The largest concentration of Assyrians in Syria is in Hassakeh province, but there are also smaller communities in Aleppo, Homs and Damascus.
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Graffiti was plastered on church walls by rebels in Kessab.
Christian churches were destroyed by Syrian rebels in the town of Kessab.
Ruth Sherlock reports in the Telegraph how the Holy Trinity Armenian Evangelical church was destroyed—its library, pews, altar, and graveyard burned and vandalized by Syrian rebels.
Before the assault on Kessab, rebel fighters were instructed to act like “moderate Muslims” and “natural allies of the West.”
Syrian rebels tried to reassureKessab residents in March 2014 that they were not intolerant of Christians and other minority religions. They claimed that they were “non-sectarian protectors” of the city.
Rebels from Syria and the Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham snapped pictures of themselves guarding churches and conversing civilly with locals. Approximately 30 elderly Armenians were driven in buses to Turkey, where they received a warm reception that was covered by state television.
However, the destruction of the churches disproves the above picture of good intentions. As soon as the television cameras turned away, the rebels turned on the people they were supposedly protecting and began burning and desecrating churches.
Sherlock, who works as a Middle East journalist for the Telegraph stated:
The perpetrators had shown both purpose and glee in their destruction of Christian sites in the ancient Armenian town. Statues were riddled with bullets and Islamist slogans were scrawled across the walls of homes and shops.
Father Miron Avedissian, priest of the Armenian Apostolic Church related his story:
“They took photographs to show they were looking after the churches, and then set them alight…It all still happened in the first day.”
“There is no God but Allah” is now plastered on walls, doors, and shop fronts of Kessab’s streets. Father Avedissian’s church suffered the same fate. The crosses outside the church were peppered with bullet holes, and the interior was blackened by fire.
Nothing remained of the nearby Holy Trinity Armenian Evangelical Church but a charred shell. Graffiti covered the church’s walls, naming the rebel groups who participated in the vandalism.
One resident, Zavinar Sargdegian, witnessed one of the churches being set on fire by rebels. She said:
“I was at home with my husband when they raided the house…they broke down the front door. They pushed us on to the street. We were on our knees and they put a gun to our heads. From the road I saw the Angelic Church burning. Fire was coming out of the doors and windows.”
After Kessab was capturedon 24 March 2014 by Muslim and Syrian rebels there was controversy surrounding how much damage was actually done. Some reports claimthat much of the reports were propaganda.
But some facts are not debated. With the help of Turkey, rebels did overrun the Kessab, and its 2,500 Armenian Christian inhabitants were forced to flee for their lives. Numerous photographs show the destruction of churches and other buildings.
Rebels, by nature, are not moderate. Nor are they protectors of innocent people.
Please continue to pray for peace and protection for our fellow Christians in Syria.
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Egypt was plunged into instability following the removal of President Muhammad Mubarak after a series of “Arab Spring” protests in early 2011. As a secular president, Mubarak had been a key ally of the United States in keeping Muslim extremism at bay and protecting the ancient Christian population throughout Egypt.
ARAB SPRING TURNS TO WINTER
The American-supported uprisings culminated in the establishment of a new democratically elected government in June 2012. The new president, President Mohamed Morsi, took power amid hopes of reform and freedom. However, he quickly began to abandon democracy and leading the country towards Sharia law. He was the Chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood and was accused of concentrating power in their hands. In November 2012, President Morsi passed an interim constitutional declaration granting unlimited power to himself, and also a new constitution that had strong Islamist leanings.
Coptic Christians protesting
President Morsi’s power was undermined in the beginning of 2013. The army deployed troops and suspended the constitution, leading to a state of emergency in August. At this time the persecution of Christians peaked as many radical Muslims sought revenge for the removal of their beloved Morsi, using the chaos as an opportunity to unleash terror against believers. Thirty-eight churches were burned and many more were damaged. Christians were even murdered on the streets in broad daylight while the police did little or nothing to stop it.
In one typical event, radical Muslims broke into a Christian school in Bani Suef, looting the establishment and replacing the cross on the gate with an al-Qaeda flag. Female Christian workers who tried to escape were sexually assaulted.
In February this year Arabic media reported the murder of a Syrian Christian family who were living in Alexandria. The attackers stabbed to death a 44-year-old man, his 35-year-old wife, their six-year-old son and the wife’s brother.
The Egyptian flag bears the eagle of Saladin
In another incident, reported by CNS news in April this year, a young Coptic Christian woman, Mary Sameh George, was killed while driving through the Cairo suburb of Ain Shams to deliver medicine to an elderly woman. After Muslim bystanders spotted a cross hanging in her car, they dragged Mary out of her vehicle and proceeded to maul and beat her, before finally stabbing her to death.
FORCED CONVERSIONS AND MARRIAGES
During this time the kidnapping of Christian girls reached crisis proportions. There have been over 550 cases of kidnapping reported in the past 3 years. Some of the kidnappings lead to ransom requests, but others appear to be for the express purpose of forcing Christian girls into conversion to Islam and/or forced marriage.
The Egyptian Association of Victims of Abduction and Forced Disappearance says many Christian girls and women are being kidnapped by Muslim men and forced to convert and marry their captors.
An Egyptian Christian woman mourns her daughter.
Their report said: “The victims are often subjected to violence and rape. The problem dates back to before the revolution but has increased dramatically since. Pre-2011, five or six girls would go missing each month, but this figure has increased nearly three-fold. The revolution and subsequent security breakdown emboldened Islamic extremists, who previously had been kept on a tight leash by strongman president Hosni Mubarak. The electoral success of the Muslim Brotherhood in the wake of the Arab Spring gave them further confidence.”
Pressing Christian girls into Muslim marriages is a way to systematically reduce the population of the Coptic community. These kidnappings have been largely unreported and demonstrate that, despite reduction in public persecution, Christians in Egypt remain in great danger. The Egyptian police have largely turned a blind eye to this problem, which means that Christian families in Egypt live in continual fear.
In June this year, Fox News reported on one such kidnapping case:
Fifteen-year-old Amira Hafez Wahim slipped out of the Christian church in Luxor, Egypt, where she had attended services with her mother in February, promising to dash to a nearby store and return quickly.
Five months later, she has not been seen since, although her parents immediately suspected a 28-year-old Muslim man named Yasser Mahmoud, who had tried to kidnap her before, had succeeded this time. When her father went to the Civil Status Authority for a copy of her birth certificate, his fears were confirmed. Her name had been changed and she was now listed as Muslim. She had been told that ‘apostatising’ is punishable by death.
CONTINUING CHALLENGES
Egypt’s President Sisi
Egypt was run by martial law until June 2014 when President Sisi, former head of the Egyptian army, was sworn into office. President Sisi has cracked down on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and brought relative stability to the area. President Sisi has even allotted government funds to enable the rebuilding of the churches that were burned.
But as recently as 4th September the Christian Post reported:
‘Not only are the churches, monasteries, and institutions of Egypt’s Christians under attack by the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters – nearly 100 now have been torched, destroyed, ransacked, etc. – but Christians themselves are under attack all throughout Egypt, with practically zero coverage in Western media.
‘Days ago, for example, Copts held a funeral for Wahid Jacob, a young Christian deacon who used to serve in St. John the Baptist Church, part of the Qusiya diocese in Asyut, Egypt. He was kidnapped on August 21 by “unknown persons” who demanded an exorbitant ransom from his impoverished family – 1,200,000 Egyptian pounds (equivalent to $171,000 USD). Because his family could not raise the sum, he was executed-his body dumped in a field where it was later found. The priest who conducted his funeral service said that the youth’s body bore signs of severe torture.’
READ: Ex 15:1-3; Psalm 10:1-18, 44:22-26, 62:1-8, 116:15; Prov 24:11-12; Lam 1:12; Matt 10:23; Luke 21:12; Rev 12:11
PRAY: The international media covered the abduction of 300 Nigerian school girls who were kidnapped by the Muslim terrorist group Boko Haram. By contrast, the Christian girls kidnapped in Egypt have been ignored. Pray that these atrocities could receive increased publicity and that governments would bring pressure on President Sisi to act. Even more, pray for the girls who have been kidnapped, that they would stay strong in their Christian faith and be released.
Also pray that the increased social stability under Sisi would continue and that he would make good on his promises to help rebuild the churches destroyed by Muslims in the revolution. Many people throughout Egypt are suffering from hunger. Pray that poor Christians would be taken care of and that other Christians would be a witness by helping the poor.
WRITE: To your MP at House of Commons, LONDON, SW1A 0AA. Ask what Her Majesty’s Government are doing to support Christians in Egypt. Ask your MP to ask the Foreign Secretary what representations they have made to the Egyptian Government over the hundreds of Christian girls abducted by Muslims and what has been the response.
WITNESS: Outside the Egyptian Embassy, 26 South Street W1K 1DW, on Friday 21st November from 2pm to 4pm. South Street is off Park Lane (by the Dorchester Hotel) and is equidistant from Hyde Park Corner and Marble Arch Tubes.
The Ambassador is His Excellency Mr Ashraf Elkholy.
Secretary of State for Education Nicky Morgan believes it is “crucial” for all schools to promote tolerance for beliefs that are different from those the school might believe.
Faith schools must promote “British Values” such as gay rights and other religions.
The Equality Act, effective last week, gives inspectors the authority to censure schools that do not “encourage respect for lesbian, gay and transgender people, and other religions and races.”
Inspectors will look for schools that are intolerant of same-sex “marriage” or engage in practices such as forcing girls to sit at the back of the classrooms.
These new rules were inspired by Michael Gove, MP for Surrey Heath, in response to the “Trojan Horse” incident in Birmingham, which revealed that extremist views were being taught in state schools.
In response to news about the policy, the Department of Education tweeted: “Nonsense to say schools ‘must teach gay rights’. We want schools to teach broad curric based on British values.”
The tweet, which was later deleted, offended many people because it seemed to make a distinction between promoting gay rights and “British values,” which many believe are the same thing.
Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt responded: “LGBT rights are British values. The Department for Education must back compulsory sex and relationship education, including LGBT rights.”
According to Andy Slaughter, the Labour MP for Hammersmith, the DfE needs to clarify whether it considers gay rights to be “British values.”
Christians have opposed the new policy, fearing that it will threaten their religious liberty. The DfE says that teachers who disagree with gay “marriage” are allowed to express their opinions in class, but they must respect gay children or parents and not discriminate against them.
Antonia Tully, national coordinator of Safe at School, a parents’ rights campaign of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, called Morgan’s announcement an “attack on every parent in the country.”
Tully said in a statement that “it’s quite clear that the new rules for schools actively to promote so-called ‘British values’ are all about indoctrinating children with a homosexual ideology. The prospect that schools will have to champion homosexuality or risk being downgraded by Ofsted strips all parents of their right to educate their own children about sexual morality.”
She added, “It is misleading to suggest that same-sex issues must be embedded in the school curriculum in order to protect children. Parents will be left powerless to keep their children safe from harmful sexual lifestyles. Nicky Morgan’s zeal to further the gay agenda is undermining every parent in the country.”
However, Nicky Morgan, secretary of education who succeeded Michael Gove, told the Sunday Times that it was “crucial” for Christian and Jewish schools to follow these rules as well as Muslim schools, despite the fact that the schools targeted in the Trojan Horse Plot were not faith schools.
Already an all-girls Jewish schools was punished last week and downgraded from good to adequate ratings for not meeting the new standards. According to inspectors who visited the school, there were “major gaps in students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Students are not provided with sufficient opportunities to learn about or understand people of other faiths or cultures. The school does not promote adequately students’ awareness and tolerance of communities which are different to their own. As a result, the school does not prepare students adequately for life in modern Britain.”
Despite this development, the DfE claims that faith schools are not being forced to teach gay rights, a notion that one spokesman declared was “complete nonsense.” Commenting further, he said that “Ofsted are rightly ensuring that schools do not indoctrinate pupils about gay people – or any other people – being inferior. The same goes for schools that do things like make girls sit separately at the back of the class. Both are practices which go directly against the fundamental British values of tolerance and respect.”
Morgan will soon begin a consultation suggestingthat students taking GCSE religious education must study more than one faith, exposing students to views other than their own and offering them a more well-rounded education.
The question many parents will want to ask is this: Where will inspectors differentiate between upholding Christian beliefs, on the one hand, and teaching students intolerance, on the other? Contrary to popular belief, many Christians do not want to discriminate against others when they teach their views in faith schools. There is a big difference between teaching about other views and condoning them. Unfortunately, Nicky Morgan seems to be leaning toward making schools enforce the latter.
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President Assad inspects damage left by Islamist rebels in the Christian town of Maaloula
Tobias Ellwood MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
Her Majesty’s Government is stubbornly blaming President Assad for the rise of Islamic State despite the funding and encouragement it sent to Islamist opposition groups in Syria.
In an obdurate letter sent out to Members of Parliament and forwarded to constituents, Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood MP says ‘Assad has been one of the leading causes for the rise of ISIL (Islamic State – SG) and other extremist groups in Syria. He has created the conditions that have allowed terrorism to flourish – by destroying the social and physical fabric of the country, fuelling sectarianism, and leaving a trail of insecurity and ungoverned space across Syria’.
3 The inability and unwillingness of any Syrian opposition group to guarantee the safety of the Syrian Christians and Shi-ite Muslims, including the Alawites,
President Assad inspects damage left by Islamist rebels in the Christian town of Maaloula
5 The reality, as President Obama confirmed in a meeting with Eastern Patriarchs last month, that President Assad protected the Christians (Mr Obama even referred to ‘the Syrian government; rather than ‘the Regime’),
6 That it is the UK which has fuelled the rise of Islamic State by the support it gave when the uprising started to anyone opposing Assad, including Al-Qaeda and its offshoots Al-Nusra and Islamic State,
7 That the destruction of Syria is not the responsibility of President Assad but of the UK and US Governments and NGOs encouraging a destructive uprising against a man who just fell out of favour with them,
The US funded Al-Qaeda-affiliate Al-Nusra Front
8 That the closure of the Syrian Embassy in London and the British Embassy in Damascus has made any possible defeat of Islamic State more difficult,
9 That the ‘Houla Massacre’, quickly used by William Hague to expel the Syrian Ambassador and his mission, was actually perpetrated by the Free Syrian Army and used to blame the Syrian government. (Der Spiegel & GlobalResearch)
Mr Ellwood concludes his letter by arguing that ‘Most of the opposition are ordinary people, fighting to protect their homes and their loved ones, fighting in the hope of a better future for their country. They deserve our support.’
No, Mr Ellwood, the ‘opposition’ is a fractured basket-case of rival groups, with the ‘ordinary people’ of IS and Al-Nusra competing with the ‘ordinary people’ of Islamic Front, the Free Syrian Army and the well-connected Syrian National Council (see this amazing article by Charlie Skelton for the low-down on SNC), with every armed faction fighting in the hope of an Islamic future for their country. All the militias will increase the possibility of terrorism on our streets and they all need to be opposed.
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Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Christian sentenced to death for blasphemy, has had her conviction and sentence upheld by Pakistan’s high court.
There will be a witness outside the Pakistan High Commission in London on Friday 31st October 2014 from 2pm – 4pm. See directions below.
Asia Bibi, also known as Aasiya Noreen, was found guilty in 2010 of making derogatory comments about the Prophet Muhammad during an argument with a Muslim woman.
The BBC reports that the Lahore High Court rejected her appeal against the sentence passed by a lower court. Her lawyers have vowed to take the case to the Supreme Court.
One problem with the entire process is that any judge allowing Asia Bibi to walk free will endanger his own life. Justice Arif Bhatti, who acquitted two Christians in a 1995 blasphemy case, was killed in his office in 1997.
Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer who intended to present a petition for mercy on Asia’s behalf, was killed by his own police guard on 4th January 2011. Two months later, the only Christian member of the cabinet, Shahbaz Bhatti, was killed for supporting Asia and seeking to reform Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which often are used to settle personal scores and put pressure on religious minorities.
Wikipedia has summed up the altercation which led to her arrest like this:
‘In June 2009, Asia Bibi was harvesting falsa berries with a group of other farmhands in a field in Sheikhupura. She was asked at one point to fetch water from a nearby well; she complied but stopped to take a drink with an old metal cup she had found lying next to the well. A neighbor, who had been involved in a running feud with her family about alleged property damage, saw her and angrily told her that it was forbidden for a Christian to drink the same water as a Muslim, and some of the other workers considered her to be unclean because she was a Christian. Some arguments ensued. Asia Bibi recounts that when they made derogatory statements about her religion, she responded, “I believe in my religion and in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for the sins of mankind. What did your Prophet Mohammed ever do to save mankind?”
‘Later, some of the workers complained to a cleric that she had insulted Muhammad. A mob came to her house, beating her and members of her family before she was rescued by the police. The police initiated an investigation about her remarks, resulting in her arrest under Section 295 C of the Pakistan Penal Code. She was imprisoned for over a year before being formally charged.’
Asia Bibi’s sentence in 2010 sparked global condemnation – but she is still in jail.
1John 4:15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
WITNESS Friday 31st October 2014
On Friday 31st October 2014, there will be a witness from 2pm to 4pm again outside the Pakistan High Commission, 34-36 Lowndes Square, London SW1X 9JN (nearest tube, Knightsbridge). Please pray for a good attendance.
An independent Scotland won’t join an American/RUK coalition to defeat Islamic State, the Scottish First Minister has just said.
Responding to a question from Laurence Lee of Al Jazeera, Mr Salmond said in a press conference today that Scotland would only support military action against Islamic State if it were sanctioned by the United Nations. Presenting this as a ‘lawful’ way of going about things, it rules out action specifically requested by Iraq and puts an impossible obstacle in the way of intervention.
‘We will only participate in military action which has been sanctioned by the United Nations in accordance with international law,’ the First Minister said.
Mr Salmond added: ‘It is a vital matter and one in which we are being successful that we hold our own communities together in a difficult international circumstance’. He went on to say that the Muslim community of Scotland are ‘a vital part of our community and are not in any way responsible for the atrocities of the Islamic State and indeed have roundly condemned such atrocities in forthright terms.’
Community cohesion was an interesting context into which to place his opposition to action against Islamic State.
THE PURPOSE OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Mr Salmond raised the matter of the illegal invasion of Iraq, saying quite rightly that there was no United Nations sanction for it.
The need for a United Nations resolution would be perfectly valid in the context of the invasion of a sovereign state by another sovereign state, as was the case with the US/UK invasion of Iraq. The UN was founded to prevent war in the wake of the destruction of World War II. The UN Charter prohibits member states of the UN attacking other UN member states. That is central to its purpose. The United Nations deals, well or badly according to one’s perspective, with affairs between nations, or criticises or supports the actions of nations.
Iraqi Ambassador His Excellency Faik Nerweyi has asked the UK for military assistance to defeat Islamic State.
It can also call for peace between rival factions in a sovereign state or call for stability, as it did in Resolution 2103over instability in Guinea-Bissau. In Resolution 1701, it called for the withdrawal by Israel from Lebanon. Calls in the Resolution for the cessation of hostilities by Hezbollah against Israel and the territorial integrity of Lebanon were inserted at the request of those country’s allies balanced the resolution.But the rise of Islamic State, a rogue army arising and invading sovereign states, is quite different. There seems to be little precedent for a United Nations resolution for military action against some rag-bag international movement, however powerful or well-funded it is. (Check out this list of recent UN resolutions)
If a sovereign state requests the help of another state in an internal emergency such as the one faced by Iraq, and is not doing anything remotely hostile against its own citizens, that state does not appear, under international law, to require the permission of the United Nations to come to its aid. That is why people who were completely opposed to the invasion of Iraq, such as ourselves, are strongly calling for the UK and the US to help Iraq with military intervention against Islamic State now.
There is a big difference between the two and it is strange that Mr Salmond cannot see that.
SCOTLAND WILL FIDDLE WHILE IRAQ BURNS
Given that Iraq has actually asked the United States and the United Kingdom for military assistance against Islamic State, Mr Salmond is saying that Scotland will not help the Iraqi government to recover land lost to the Christians around Mosul, ancient Nineveh, even though the Iraqi government has requested it. Scotland will insist on a United Nations resolution. Of course Scotland would not immediately be a member of the UN in any case, and would need to apply, as Israel did in 1948, and a resolution on defeating Islamic State in Iraq will not be forthcoming.
So an independent Scotland under Salmond will fiddle while Iraq burns. That is very sad if it is indicative of future foreign policy of an independent Scotland under Mr Alex Salmond.
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Two top retired generals and the chairman of parliament’s intelligence and security committee are calling for collaboration with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria in order to defeat Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL.
But HM Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs refuses even to pick up the phone.
Former army chief and committed Christian Lord Dannatt, General Sir Richard Shirreff and Sir Malcolm Rifkind have all called on Philip Hammond to work with President Assad.
Lord Dannatt told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme: “I think whether it’s above the counter or below the counter, a conversation has got to be held with him. Because if there’s going to be any question of air strikes over Syrian air space, it’s got to be with the Assad regime’s approval.”
Sir Malcolm, the chairman of Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, and a former foreign secretary and defence secretary, said that the US and its allies must be prepared to work with the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad to have any hope of defeating Isis. He said history had shown that “sometimes you actually have to make an arrangement with some nasty people in order to get rid of some even nastier ones”. Sir Malcolm also called for Saudi Arabia and Qatar to stop “the private funding and help that has been given to jihadi extremists by supporters in their countries for several years”.
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad
But Philip Hammond rejected the calls, saying: “We may very well find that we are aligned against a common enemy but it would poison what we’re trying to achieve in separating moderate Sunni opinion from the poisonous ideology of Isil if we were to align ourselves with Assad.”
“There can be no eradication of Islamic State as a threat without a regional approach,” he said. “Islamic State is operating and has spread into Syria and therefore, there is likely to be – or inevitably going to be – a need to sit down and talk to difficult bedfellows.”
Christian Voice believes that Mr Hammond, like his predecessor, over-estimates his ability to turn the Syrian rebels into some sort of democratic body respecting the human rights of minorities such as the Christians and Alawites of Syria.
The Syrian regime was destabilised at the bidding of fanatical pro-democracy agitators like George Soros. Soros funded Syrian activists directly and through his links to avaaz.org. (See March 2011 in the link) (More on Avaaz here). It was only by the grace of God that a government motion to take military action against the Syrian Government was defeated in the UK House of Commons on 30th August 2013. But US intervention and UK and European logistical support inevitably fueled the rise of ISIS. Weaponry delivered to the rebels has inevitably found its way into the hands of Al-Qaeda and now ISIS.
We have held a consistent view that only President Assad stood between Christians in Syria and a blood-bath, that the UK Government was wrong to support the Islamic militants trying to oust him. Our Government are responsible for a colossal loss of life and property, in fact for what Sir Malcolm calls the ‘destruction’ of Syria. They now have a face-saving opportunity to switch sides.
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Iraqi Christians are valued, the Iraqi Ambassador told a group of Christians earlier today.
His Excellency Faik Farik Abdul Aziz Nerweyi crossed Queens Gate in central London to speak with protesters opposite the Iraqi Embassy.
The witness, for Christians in Iraq, was organised by Christian Voice.
The Ambassador pledged to recover all territory lost to Islamic State, and said he was asking the British Government for help.
He said the ancient Assyrian Christian community made a valued contribution to modern Iraq.
His Excellency rejected any idea of negotiation with Islamic State.
‘You cannot negotiate with a wild animal,’ he said. ‘Either you kill it or it kills you.’
Over twenty believers came from around London and from as far as Canterbury, Cheltenham, Manchester, St Leonards, Stevenage, Walsall and west Wales to stand for their brothers and sisters.
HAMMOND WON’T WORK WITH ASSAD
The Iraqi Embassy is in Queen’s Gate, London SW7
In other developments, UK Secretary of State for Defence Philip Hammond disappointingly rejected a call from former army chief and committed Christian Lord Dannatt and ex-Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind to work with President Assad of Syria to defeat Islamic State.
Lord Dannatt told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think whether it’s above the counter or below the counter, a conversation has got to be held with him.”
Sir Malcolm, the chairman of Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, said history had shown that “sometimes you actually have to make an arrangement with some nasty people in order to get rid of some even nastier ones”.
Christian Voice has held a consistent view that only President Assad stood between Christians in Syria and a blood-bath, that the UK Government was wrong to support the Islamic militants trying to oust him. Our Government are responsible for a colossal loss of life and property. They now have a face-saving opportunity to switch sides.
Over twenty Christians came from all over England and Wales to stand for their brothers and sisters in Iraq.
FRANCE TAKING IRAQI REFUGEES
Iraqi Christians with connections to France are being offered asylum. About 40 Iraqi Christian refugees flew to Paris from Irbil in Iraqi Kurdistan earlier today to be welcomed by Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.
The British Government has yet to offer asylum to Christians from either Iraq or Syria.
It could of course be argued that it is better to stay and fight, and we expect Christians in the Qaraqosh Protection Committee and other militias will be of that mind. But we have to realise that they will return home to nothing. Buildings will be torched by the retreating forces, fields plundered and livestock slaughtered to feed Islamic State militants. It will take a massive aid effort to provide for people just to get through this winter, let alone to restock them and help them to get up and running again.
Christian Voice has asked members to pray that the UK Government will respond with aid, arms, air cover and offers of asylum for Christians in Iraq and to contact their members of Parliament.
PERSECUTION ELSEWHERE
We need also to recognise that it is not just Islamic State who are persecuting Christians. The Christian minority are under intolerable pressure in areas under Iraqi Government control and even in the Kurdish autonomous region. In a letter delivered to the Ambassador, we have urged the Iraqi Government to safeguard real religious freedom.
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Thousands of Iraqi Christians have fled to the Khazer refugee camp after the ISIS ultimatum.
By Robin Phillips:
Since America’s invasion of Iraq in 2003, Christians there have faced increasing persecution. The instabilities in the government have led to the growth of extremist Muslim groups whose attacks on Christians have been largely ignored. Most recently, a jihadist offshoot of Al Queda, known as ISIS, has been marching through Syria and Iraq, taking towns and villages, imposing Sharia law and expelling Christians.
HISTORY OF IRAQ
The land of modern-day Iraq, in the heart of the Middle East, has been home to some of the oldest and greatest civilizations the world has known. Sometimes called “the cradle of civilization” it has seen the rise and fall of Sumerian, Chaldean, Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian and Ottoman empires.
This land has also been intertwined with the story of God’s people. In Genesis 10 we are told that the descendants of Nimrod built the great city of Nineveh (modern-day Mosul, Iraq). A few chapters later, Genesis describes how Abraham was called by God to leave Ur in the land of the Chaldeans (modern-day Tell el-Muqayyar, Iraq) and travel by faith to God’s promised land.
As the empire of the Assyrians grew in modern day Iraq, God increasingly used them in dealing with his people. At times God miraculously saved his people from the clutches of this great empire, while at other times He used them as instruments of His judgment.
God also extended His grace and salvation to the people of Nineveh through the prophet Jonah. In a remarkable conversion, 120,000 persons and much cattle were saved from God’s judgment, as they turned to the Lord in sackcloth and ashes.
GROWTH OF CHRISTIANITY
In the first-century, not long after Christ’s ascension, St Thomas and St Thaddeus brought the gospel to Mesopotamia and the Parthian and Persian empires. The church grew rapidly, leading to the founding of the Assyrian Church of the East. St Peter even mentions this Church in his first letter: “The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you.” (1 Peter 5: 13).
The Assyrian Church of the East continued to spread and at its height took the gospel all the way to India, China and Central Asia.
ISLAM TAKES OVER
However, in the seventh-century, the Muslim conquest took over much of the Middle East and modern-day Iraq began to be ruled by Muslim Caliphs. The current capital of Iraq, Baghdad, was founded under the Muslim Caliph Al-Mansur in 762. His intention was to make it a reflection of Paradise as described in the Qur’an.
The Ottoman Empire conquered the region in the 1500s and ruled until its dissolution after the First World War. After a short period under the British Empire, Iraq was granted independence in 1932. The country has been unstable since the 1980s, with the Iraq-Iran War under Saddam Hussein, the Gulf war in the early 1990s and constant tensions between the Sunni and Shia Muslims.
Throughout the history of Iraq, Christians have experienced persecution from the majority Muslim population. At times Christians have been subject to paying the Jizya tax imposed upon Christians by Muslim leaders. They have also experienced bouts of extreme persecution and massacres, as in the late 14th century when a Mongol warlord conquered Mesopotamia and had 70,000 Assyrian Christians beheaded in Tikrit, and 90,000 more in Baghdad. Nevertheless, there has always remained a Christian presence in the land of Iraq.
THE LEGACY OF BUSH AND BLAIR
When President Bush led the invasion into Iraq in 2003, there was much concern from various Christian communities around the world that Western intervention in Iraq would lead to greater instability and provide opportunities for much more vicious persecution of Christians by Islamic extremists. These fears have been more than realised. In 2003 it was estimated that there were around 1.5million Christians in Iraq; now the estimates are optimistically around 400,000, not taking into account the recent exodus.
In the past few years the Church in Iraq has faced unprecedented persecution at the hands of Islamic extremists, and in recent months thousands of Christians have been forced to flee by the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS.)
ISIS AND THE CALIPHATE
In May 2006 Nouri Al-Maliki was elected as Prime Minister of Iraq. Al-Maliki is now coming to the end of his second term, but his 8 years in office have provided little stability and have increasingly alienated the Sunni Muslims. Some argue that the rise of ISIS is due to the weakness of the Iraq state and the lack of unity in community and society.
ISIS troops have swept through Iraq butchering and raping Christians in the name of Jihad.
The group ISIS was formed in April 2013 amongst the Syrian rebels encouraged by Britain to the tune of £32.5m. It grew out of Al Qaeda but has since been disowned by them for being too radical, which is some feat. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the current leader of ISIS and is seen as more of a tactician and battlefield commander than a theologian. This emphasis makes the group even more attractive to young jihadists. The group is one of the wealthiest militant groups in the world with income from oil fields in Eastern Syria, and reportedly from selling looted antiquities. They are also reported to have an extremely high level of bureaucracy and tight central control of operations that are locally implemented.
Throughout 2013, ISIS conducted around 10,000 operations in Syria and Iraq and made huge advances in taking towns and cities in both countries. ISIS currently holds territory spanning 415 miles , from Al-Bab in Syria all the way to Suleiman Bek in Iraq. The borders of the countries seem to matter little, and the goal is to create a united Islamic State or “Caliphate” ruled according to Islamic law. On 29th June, the first day of the Muslim fast of Ramadan, ISIS declared the restoration of the “Caliphate” and their aim to grow the “Islamic State.”
In the towns controlled by ISIS, women are forced to wear the hijab and only go outside “if necessary.” Female Genital Mutilation is mandated. Drugs, alcohol and cigarettes are banned. Monuments, shrines and graveyards, seen as idolatrous in Sunni Islam, are to be destroyed.
The destruction of monuments and shrines has led to many ancient Christian and some rival Muslim landmarks being defaced. Ten ancient Shia mosques have been destroyed across Iraq, along with countless Christian Churches, the Shrine of Jonah in Mosul, and a fourth-century monastery in Quaraqosh.
“NOTHING BUT THE SWORD”
Having gained smaller territories throughout Syria and Iraq, ISIS attacked the town of Mosul in early June. Mosul is situated beside the ancient city of Nineveh, and has been the traditional heartland of Iraq’s Christian community. As the militant ISIS troops advanced, police advised Christian leaders to flee and thousands left the city. But this was just the beginning. Once ISIS gained control over the city of Mosul they looted and torched Churches, hung black jihadist flags and declared that they had “come to liberate the city.”
A few weeks later on 18th July, ISIS issued an ultimatum to be read in all the mosques, that all Christians must convert to Islam, pay the tax for non-Muslims or die. “We offer them three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract – involving payment of jizya; if they refuse this they will have nothing but the sword.” The Christians were given 24 hours to convert, pay or leave.
Thousands of Iraqi Christians have fled to the Khazer refugee camp after the ISIS ultimatum.
A local news source reports that on 21st July, ISIS soldiers barged into the house of Christians in Mosul and demanded that they pay the jizya tax. When the father explained that they did not have the money to pay, the three soldiers proceeded to rape his wife and daughter in front of him. The husband and father was so distraught that he later took his own life.
In the face of such brutality, thousands more Christians fled north to Kurdistan where the Kurdish Regional Government is providing food, water and shelter. As the Christians fled they were not allowed to take anything with them. All of their money, belongings and property was seized by the ISIS soldiers. Wadie Salim, a Christian refugee from Mosul, told CNN “They told us, ‘You to leave all of your money, gold, jewellery, and go out with only the clothes on you.'”
More than 300,000 refugees have fled to Kurdish refugee camps, which are increasingly overwhelmed. There seems to be no hope of returning home in the near future. The Archbishop of Mosul Amel Nona said “We have received threats…now all the faithful have fled the city. I wonder if they will ever return there.” The Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk, Yousif Mirkis, says that he “quite definitely” fears the end of Christianity in Iraq.
IRAQ ‘FAILING TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY’
There has been little response by world leaders to the crisis for Christians in Iraq. The Prime Minister of Iraq, al-Maliki, issued a statement on 19th July saying “What is being done by the Daesh (ISIS) terrorist gang against our Christian citizens in Ninevah province, and their aggression against the churches and houses of worship in the areas under their control reveals beyond any doubt the extremist criminal and terrorist nature of this group.” But there is not much evidence of action being taken by the Iraqi government to aid the thousands of refugees.
The Kurdish Prime Minister, Nechirvan Barzani, spoke against the Iraqi government, complaining that “The number of refugees is on the increase while the Iraqi government has so far failed to take responsibility and help these refugees who have sought asylum in Kurdistan.” He also called for international aid to help provide for basic needs. Christian communities themselves have been contacting the UN, the United States and international NGOs for help.
In an outspoken article in the Telegraph, Dr Tim Stanley condemned the lack of interest given by westerners to the suffering of Christians in Iraq. He observed “it would indeed be awful to think that the West might remain silent as violence rages purely out of a failure to recognise that Christians can be victimised, or out of a reluctance to cast aspersions on certain brands of Islam. It would make this the first genocide in history to be tolerated out of social awkwardness.”
ISIS continues to advance, with hopes of enlarging their “Islamic State.” They have been closing in on cities located near Baghdad, and have made small scale attacks on Baghdad. On 19th and 20th July there were 4 bombings in the city, killing at least 27 people. The main website used by ISIS claimed responsibility for these bombings.
On 17th July, Louis Raphael Sako, Patriarch of Baghdad for the Chaldean Catholic Church, wrote a letter “to all who have a living conscience in Iraq and all the world”. He explained that “in recent days there has been written the letter ‘N’ in Arabic on the front wall of Christian homes, signifying ‘Nazara’ (Christian), and on the front wall of Shiite homes, the letter ‘R’ signifying ‘Rwafidh’ (Protestants or rejecters).” He spoke of the dangers and power of sharia law, and appealed to those around the world to take notice:
“We call with all the force available to us; we call to you fraternally, in a spirit of human brotherhood; we call to you urgently; we call to you impelled by risk and in spite of the risk. We implore in particular our Iraqi brothers asking them to reconsider and reflect upon the strategy they have adopted and demanding that they must respect innocent and weaponless people of all nationalities, religions, and sects.
“We call Christians in the region to act with reason and prudence and to consider and to plan everything in the best way possible. Let them understand what is planned for this region, to practice solidarity in love, to examine the realities together and so be able together to find the paths to build trust in themselves and in their neighbours. Let them stay close to their own Church and surround it; endure the time of trial and pray until the storm will be over.”
READ: Ex 15:1-3; Psalm 10:1-18, 44:22-26, 62:1-8, 116:15; Prov 24:11-12; Lam 1:12; Matt 10:23; Luke 21:12; Rev 12:11
PRAY: That God would protect the Christians throughout Iraq from violence. That there would be a halt to the progress of ISIS and cities would be freed from their law. That there would be enough resources to take care of the hundreds of thousands of refugees and that they might be able to return home soon. That the persecution of Christians would not be ignored by the West, but that effective action would be taken by those in power to protect our brothers and sisters.
WRITE: To your MP at House of Commons, LONDON, SW1A 0AA. Ask what Her Majesty’s Government are doing to protect Christians in Iraq. Ask what they are asking the Iraqi government to do. Ask if they will be offering asylum to Iraqi Christians. Ask if they are still supporting the rebels in Syria or if they have at last decided it’s time to switch sides. Stress that it was Her Majesty’s Government who got Iraq into this mess and funded what has become ISIS in Syria.
WITNESS: Outside the Iraqi Embassy, 21, Queen’s Gate, London SW7 5JE, on Friday 22nd August from 2pm to 4pm. Nearest tube: Gloucester Road.
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Christians in Iraq have been forced to flee Mosul with nothing but the clothes they wore after the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) issued this statement to Christians: convert to Islam, pay a tax, or die.
Zaid Qreqosh Ishaq, 27, fled from Mosul with his family after receiving ISIS’ ultimatum.
“We had to go through an area where they had set up a checkpoint,” he said. ISIS militants “asked us to get out of the car. We got out. They took…our things, our bags, our money, everything we had on us.”
They took refuge at the St. Joseph Church in the Kurdish city of Irbil, but they may be forced to move on as the violence follows them.
Nawzad Hadi, Irbil’s governor, pledged to protect Christians and other minority groups fleeing Isis. Around two million refugees from Iraq and Syria call Irbil home.
France offered refuge to Christians fleeing from Iraq and ISIS.
“We are providing aid to displaced people fleeing from the threats,” France’s foreign and interior ministers said in a joint statement. “We are ready, if they wish, to facilitate their asylum on our soil.”
Another Christian from Mosul, Noel Ibrahim, said that while he was fleeing with his family a group of ISIS members stopped them and stole cash and gold from the women.
“One of the gunmen told us, ‘You can leave now, but do not ever dream of returning to Mosul again,” Ibrahim said.
ISIS told Christians in a statement: “We offer them three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract—involving payment of the jizya; if they refuse this they will have nothing but the sword.”
The dhimma is a historic contract that says any non-Muslims living in a Muslim country who refuse to convert to Islam must pay the jizya tax if they wish to ensure their safety.
ISIS believes they have the right to make this demand because in June they declared a caliphate, an Islamic state ruled by one leader.
The Muslim jihadists have since converted churches into mosques and confiscated the homes and properties of Christians.
In order to know which properties they are confiscating, the jihadists have been marking Christians’ homes with the letter N for “Nassarah,” the term used for Christians in the Koran.
Muslims spray paint the houses of Christians in order to know which houses to confiscate.
Patriarch Louis Soko, one of the most senior Christian clerics in Iraq, said that “for the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians.” Approximately 10,000 Christians have fled Mosul after Isis took control in early June.
Once home to a thriving Christian population, Iraq now has around 35,000 Christians as compared to the 60,000 that lived there before 2003. This number began to decline in 2003 when the U.S. invaded Iraq.
Pope Francis, along with the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, have pleaded for help from the U.S. for these Christians, but President Barack Obama and other Western leaders have remained silent on the issue.
Among other travesties, ISIS destroyedthe Biblical prophet Jonah’s tomb, which is located in Mosul. They allegedly put dynamite around the tomb and detonated it by remote control.
By destroying Jonah’s tomb, one of the last physical traces of Iraq’s Christian heritage, the members of ISIS are directly attacking the Christian faith.
Mosul is the second-largest city in Iraq and partially rests on the site for the ancient city of Ninevah, the ancient capital of Assyria and the setting of Jonah’s story.
Isis issueda similar statement in February to the city of Raqqa in Syria. They told Christians to pay half an ounce (14g) of pure gold in order to secure their safety.
The Islamic State group says it will continue its offensive until it reaches Baghdad, although its progress seems to have slowed after taking over Iraq’s Sunni areas.
To learn more about ISIS, watch the brief video below
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A Christian occupational therapist was disciplinedfor “bullying” a Muslim colleague, and is now making a legal challenge against the NHS.
Victoria Wasteney, a 37-year-old Head of Occupational Therapy at the East London NHS Trust, was summarily suspended with full pay for nine months and is forbidden to discuss her faith at work. The NHS also gave her a formal warning that will remain on her record for one year.
Wasteney maintainsthat she was always respectful of her colleague and never spoke of her faith unless the woman invited it in their conversations.
“One of the earliest conversations I can recall was one in which she said she had just moved to London. She felt that God had a real plan and a purpose for her,” said Wasteney, who is from Essex. Wasteney was “very cautious because our environment is such that these things can be misconstrued and, with her being from a different faith background, I was mindful of being respectful of that,” Wasteney told the Daily Telegraph.
Eight complaints were originally brought against Wasteney, three of which she was eventually charged for: inviting her colleague to her church events, praying with her colleague, and giving her coworker a book that tells the story of a Muslim woman who converts to Christianity.
Wasteney first invited her colleague to a church event when she found out the coworker was interested in the anti-trafficking work that her church does. After that, she invited her Muslim colleague to other church events.
When her colleague was going to the hospital for treatment, Wasteney gave her the book about a Muslim conversion. She had never read it, but a friend recommended it to her.
“Because we had had these conversations it did not seem abnormal. It certainly was not an attempt to convert her to Christianity, as it was put to me later.”
Later, the Muslim coworker tearfully came to Wasteney’s officeseeking advice, because she had health issues and problems at home that she wanted to discuss.
I said to her that she had strong faith and she should draw on that faith,” said Wasteney.
I said ‘Pray!’ She told me she could not pray, so I replied ‘Maybe I can pray for you?’ And she said ‘OK’.
I asked if I could put my hand on her knee, and she said yes. I don’t know if I said ‘Lord’ or ‘God’ but I said what I thought was the most neutral. Then I said ‘I trust that You will bring peace and You will bring healing.’
She affirmed that she would have stopped praying if she believed her colleague was distressed in any way. She says that they openly discussed their respective faiths and that the Complainant “welcomed” such conversations.
Four months later, the formal complaint against Wasteney was made by her Muslim colleague on 13 June 2013, which included accusations of bullying and harassment. The next day she was called before the Associate Director of Therapies and immediately suspended while the investigation was carried out.
A February hearing upheld the three previously-mentioned charges of misconduct.
“I fear I may have been entrapped by a colleague who encouraged me to discuss my faith, who willingly agreed that I could pray for her and who even accepted an invitation to a church charity event,” she says.
“For nine months I was made to feel I was a danger to my colleagues and the public despite no evidence of wrong-doing. I had email evidence clearly showing the Complainant wanted to come to my charity church event and I only put my hand on her knee in friendship after asking her permission while I prayed for her,” she insists.
Wasteney challenged the NHS in court because she believes the NHS is “stifling ordinary conversations about faith.”
Throughout all of this, Wasteney has tried to show the importance of being tolerant to all religions and not to discriminate against Christians.
“I believe in tolerance for everyone and that is why I am challenging what has happened to me.”
She finds it hard to believe that after all her faithful service to the Trust they are so willing to bring charges against her.
“I’ve had an unblemished 15 year career and suddenly I am confronted with vague and unclear complaints by the Associate Director. I didn’t receive a written complaint until four months later. Now my file shows a nine-month suspension and a Final Written Warning for simply responding in a loving and compassionate way to a young colleague who seemed genuinely interested in talking about my faith as a Christian,” she says.
Wasteney believes the trust took a “one-sided, politically correct decision to punish her despite the fact that the complainant had initiated discussions about faith and never complained to her personally.”
In addition, Wasteney saidthat Christian groups must work around managerial arrangements in the Trust, whereas joint staff and Muslim fellowship meetings are facilitated by the Trust regardless of staffing issues.
“There is undoubtedly a pattern of inequality of treatment of Christians and Muslims in the NHS. Regardless of allocated break times, Muslim staff can pray five times a day, which I am not objecting to, but Christians are often denied time off on Sundays or permission to take breaks during their lunchtime for prayer or religious worship. However, I never expected to be persecuted by the very Trust I have been dedicated to over the past seven years.”
She is appealing to the 2010 Equality Act, and is being represented by Human Rights barrister Paul Diamond through Christian Legal Centre.
Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of the Christian Legal Centre, arguesthat Wasteney’s case indicates a move away from the very values on which the NHS was built.
“The NHS was founded and inspired by Christian principles and precepts. Such heritage meant that the NHS was a model of how to deliver health care across the world; a place of safety, care, freedom and flourishing with a staff inspired by their chosen career,” she has said in a statement.
“Sadly, this case, along with others, demonstrates that today’s climate in the NHS is increasingly dominated by a suffocating liberal agenda that chooses to bend over backwards to accommodate certain beliefs but punishes the Christian.”
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Theresa May: in favour of increased internet surveillance in Britain.
Theresa May has resurrectedplans for a “snooper’s charter” in order to counteract, she says, terrorist threats from British jihadists in Syria.
She stated againthat she wants to “equip the state with greater surveillance powers—including the ability to access citizens’ email and social media accounts.”
May claims that it is vital for security authorities to have enough power to counteract terrorist in a world with ever-increasing internet capabilities. She claims that having this power is a matter of “life and death, a matter of national security.”
She related how many Britons have travelled to Syria to fight the Assad regime, and how this could represent a threat when they return to the UK.
May also claimed that at least 20 cases, 13 of which involved a threat to a child’s life, were dropped by the National Crime Agency in the past six months for lack of communication data.
Speaking at the Lord Mayor’s Defence and Security Lecture, May said that “the real problem is not that we have built an over-mighty state but that the state is finding it harder to fulfil its most basic duty, which is to protect the public.”
She believes that internet technology has given criminals more ways to commit crimes, and that the Government needs to be able to match these criminals in technological advances, which includes accessing information that can help stop them. She even referred to the internet as a “breeding ground for criminals.”
Emma Carr, acting director of privacy campaigner group Big Brother Watch, assertedthat May differs from the majority opinion on this issue.
“Yet again the Home Secretary is clashing with the broad political consensus that no new powers should be introduced until a full independent review into the currently available surveillance legislation and oversight mechanisms has taken place,” she said in a statement.
“We know from surveillance transparency reports published by private companies that they largely comply with law enforcement requests for communications data.
“Therefore, if the Home Secretary is stating that communications data was unavailable in specific cases, then that would suggest that a warrant was either not submitted to, or was rejected by, the companies in question. The question therefore should be why is this the case?” Carr added.
May introducedthe “snooper’s charter” proposal last year to increase surveillance of people’s internet and phone communications, but it was blocked by Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister. He believed her plans would be opening up doors for all sorts of mass surveillance by the government.
If passed, the proposed legislation would require internet firms to keep records of all email and social media interactions for up to a year, in case these records need to be accessed in an issue of national security.
Based on recent reports, May appears to want this legislation passed before the next general election.
May also denieda “surveillance state” programme as alleged by Edward Snowden, and she affirmed that Britain did not rely on the US to illegally obtain internet records.
“There is no programme of mass surveillance and there is no surveillance state,” May asserted.
However, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has already been accused by privacy campaigners of spying on citizens by hacking unlawfully into personal information.
Privacy International allegesthat GCHQ was illegally spying on people and has broken the European Convention of Human Rights by doing so. This document ensures citizens a right to privacy and freedom of speech.
Privacy International claims that, based on information from whistleblower Edward Snowden, that the GCHQ and the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) used a monitoring programmed called Tempora, which “taps into the network of fibre-optic cables which carry the world’s phone calls and online traffic.”
The deputy director of Privacy International, Eric King, said this was the “modern equivalent of the government entering someone’s house and reading their diary, correspondence and journals.”
May denied these allegations as well, calling them “nonsense” and affirming that everything the Government is doing in surveillance is perfectly legal.
The Government received more criticism when Charles Farr, Britain’s most senior security official, said in a statement in mid-June that the Government is allowed to access citizens’ personal messages on social media sites because they are regarded as “external communications.” These include searches on Google, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, in addition to emails from non-British citizens.
This is the first time that the Government openly stated that they intercept, without a warrant, what citizens believed were private messages.
Farr said that today the biggest threat to national security in the UK and beyond is from “militant Islamist terrorists,” and it is therefore necessary to find these suspects before it becomes too difficult to trace them. If the government was only allowed to monitor individual people or locations, this would not provide an adequate degree of protection which the people expect.
In addition, ministers have proposed this week to enact emergency laws that would require phone companies to keep records of people’s phone calls, texts, and internet history. Labour and Liberal Democrats are supporting this move but also warnedthat they will not allow this new law to reinstate a more extensive “snooper’s charter.”
Many allegations have been recently made against the Government regarding surveillance, followed by profuse denial from Theresa May. Are online terrorists really a threat to our national safety and is this the only way we can counteract terrorist threats? It is hard to say. But one thing remains certain: as much of a danger as terrorism may be, an even greater danger arises when a populace is willing to surrender substantial liberties for the promise of security. As we pointed out earlier this year, the normalization of the modern surveillance state arises from the universal human temptation to surrender freedom for the often illusory promise of increased security. That is why, when Government officials begin talking about “matters of life and death,” one must be cautious about the motivation behind it.
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A bakery firm in Northern Ireland is facing a discrimination case after refusing to bake a cake with a slogan supporting ‘gay marriage’
Ashers Baking Company, which is owned and run by the McArthur family, who are Christians, declined an order from a gay rights activist asking for a cake featuring the Sesame Street puppets Bert and Ernie with a slogan saying ‘Support Gay Marriage’.
Marriage between people of the same sex is illegal in Northern Ireland. In April 2014 the Stormont Assembly rejected a Sinn Fein motion to change the definition of marriage for the third time in eighteen months.
The customer also wanted the cake to feature the logo of a Belfast-based campaign group called “Queerspace”.
The cake was ordered for a civic event in Bangor Castle Town Hall, County Down, to mark the invented ‘International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia’, ‘IDAHOT’ in May.
Homosexual Cllr Andrew Muir campaigns for ‘gay marriage’ by cutting the ‘QueerSpace’ cake.
The event, hosted by Councillor Andrew Muir, the openly-homosexual Mayor of North Down for the divisive Alliance Party, went ahead after another company provided a cake.
But now, six weeks after the event, the County Antrim firm has received a letter from a self-important quango called the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.
“We thought that was the end of it, but approximately six weeks later we received a letter from the Equality Commission. The Equality Commission’s letter said that we had discriminated against the customer on the grounds of his sexual orientation.
“It asked us to propose how we would recompense the customer for this discrimination. It also said it would pursue legal proceedings if we didn’t respond within a seven-day time period,” Mr McArthur said.
The watchdog confirmed it is assisting the customer. In a statement, it said: “The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland provides advice and can provide assistance to people who complain to us that they have suffered unlawful discrimination.
“In this case the commission has granted assistance to the complainant, and has written to the company concerned on his behalf. The commission will consider any response before taking further action.”
Sammy Wilson, MP for East Antrim, left, presents the Newtownabbey Business Person of the Year award to Colin McArthur of Ashers Baking Company.
But the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) said the Equality Commission had overstepped the mark and the complaint highlighted the need for a “conscience clause” to protect Christians and others who have deeply held beliefs.
DUP MP Nigel Dodds said: “The case re-opens the debate about how exactly religious belief is respected within the United Kingdom and the need for someone’s conscience to be protected whilst ensuring that discrimination does not occur.”
Mr Dodds could point out that Ashers have not discriminated against the complainant on the grounds of his sexual orientation, although this should in conscience be their right.
They have instead objected to manufacturing a product carrying a contentious political message.
Ashers could equally have objected to producing icing depicting the Sesame Street’s ‘Bert’ and ‘Ernie’ out of respect for the copyright protection attached to those characters.
The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland is now considering its next step.
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A Christian woman sentenced to death and 100 lashes in Sudan has been released, it is reported, two weeks after our witness for her outside the Sudanese Embassy in London.
Meriam Ibrahim was convicted of apostasy and adultery. Although brought up as a Christian, she was considered a Muslim because that was the faith of her father, and when she married a fellow Christian, her marriage was not recognised by the court and she was convicted of adultery.
But Sudan’s Appeal Court has quashed the lower court’s verdict and ordered her release.
It is not yet known where she is staying. Her husband, Daniel Wani, said he was looking forward to seeing her.
Mr Wani, who is originally from South Sudan, said he wanted his family to leave Sudan as soon possible.
Christians from the UK outside the Sudanese Embassy in London on Friday 6th June 2014
Mrs Ibrahim’s lawyer Elshareef Ali told the BBC: “They have released her… she’s on her way to home.” Mr Ali said Mrs Ibrahim had shown “extraordinary courage” during her ordeal.
The case led to a witness for Meriam outside the Sudanese Embassy on 6th June organised by Christian Voice and joined by the Pakistan Christian Association.
After singing hymns and praying for the mother-of-two and prisoner of conscience, those assembled signed and delivered a letter to the Sudanese Ambassador.
IT was the only demonstration for Meriam Ibrahim to be held at a Sudanese Embassy. We believe it changed the spiritual dynamics and we regard her release as an answer to prayer.
Her lawyer, Mr Ali, also told the BBC: “It’s a victory for freedom of religion in Sudan… By Meriam’s strong position, we believe that in the future no-one will be subjected to such a trial.”
It will be very welcome if that is the case, but since the secession of South Sudan, the position of Christians in the northern remainder has become difficult.
The position of Christians in Sudan is now precarious.
Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has pursued an Islamic identity after the Southern secession. It is hard now to argue for multi-culturalism in Sudan. South Sudanese resident in Sudan were told soon after the South’s independence to leave or register as foreigners, but were provided no details about where and how to register. Christianity is regarded as a South Sudanese religion.
In a report on Christianity in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, the French research group CEDEJ concluded: “the current situation of Christian communities and churches in Khartoum is characterized by uncertainty and intimidation rather than a systematic violation of the religious rights from part of the Sudanese authorities”.
However, Churches have been closed, burned by mobs and looted by criminals while the police stood by. Some church leaders report of a requirement by the authorities to register the land their churches stand on which is difficult to meet. High registration fees and corruption mean that a lot of land in Sudan is unregistered and for churches to be singled out and required to produce registration documents shows a level of harassment. Sudan is a precarious place to be a Christian, despite Sudanese assurances to the contrary.
We give thanks for the release of Meriam Ibrahim, but must continue to pray for our Christian brothers and sisters in Sudan.
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Baroness Hale, pictured, has called into question whether or not the law makes accommodation for Christians beliefs.
In an unexpected turn of events, Supreme Court Deputy Baroness Hale has said that she “may have been wrong” in her earlier ruling against Christian bed and breakfast owners who refused a double bed to a homosexual couple.
The UK’s senior female judge called for a re-think concerning her decision to condemn Peter and Hazelmary Bull of discrimination against homosexuals. In addition, she said that the law has done little to protect Christian beliefs.
Baroness Hale’s remarks,which have come more than six months after the Bulls’ final appeal was refused, call into question the relationship between gay rights and religious rights
In 2008, the Bulls refused to rent a double bed to a homosexual couple in their Marazion Bed and Breakfast called Chymorvah House. The same-sex couple, Steven Preddy and Martyn Hall, took the Bulls to court, where Lady Hale and four other judges eventually ruled that the rights of the gay couple trumped the religious freedom of the Bulls.
Lady Hale declared that the Bulls will not have to pay Preddy and Hall’s legal costs for the case, which was in the original sentence. In addition, she said that laws which ignore the consciences of Christians will not be and may need to be adjusted to include a “conscience clause” for Christian business owners like the Bulls.
Speaking to Irish lawyers, Hale used the Bull case as one example among many recent cases that may have been unfair to Christian beliefs. In this speech she asked: “Should we be developing an explicit requirement upon providers of employment, goods and services to make reasonable accommodation for the manifestation of religious beliefs?”
“It is fascinating that a country with an established church can be less respectful of religious feelings than one without”, Hale was quoted in the Telegraph as saying. “It is not difficult to see why the Christians feel that their religious beliefs are not being sufficiently respected.”
Mrs. Bull was glad to be relieved of the case costs, and hoped that her case would pave the way for other Christians in similar situations.
“It is too late for us, which is a shame, but at the same time I hope her comments will restore some kind of balance back to the issue,” Bull said. “I am glad that something positive looks as though it will come out of this although I would not call it a victory.”
The Bulls nearly closed their B&B because business had declined, and they could no longer keep up their advertising. However, thanks to financial support from different supporters they were able to stay in business.
Mrs. Bull added that she had no hard feelings toward anyone, but thinks that the Supreme Court “missed a big opportunity to put something right.”
“We are certainly not homophobic but hopefully the pendulum is being corrected. I have never been able to understand why two different lifestyles cannot live together harmoniously,” Bull added.
Mrs. Bull’s comments touch on issues of concern in cases like these. Christians have been given the blanket reputation of “homophobe,” while gay people have refused to allow others to disagree with their lifestyle at the expense of their own convictions.
Christians do not call non-Christians “Jesus-phobes” or some other nonsensical term. Contrary to popular belief, it is indeed possible for Christians to have different views and to still treat other people as humans created in the image of God.
While gay rights activists are very fond of calling Christians “homophobes,” in reality they are usually even more intolerant of Christians than Christians are intolerant of homosexuals.
It is hoped that the courage shown by Peter and Hazelmary Bull, together with Lady Hale’s recent remarks, will pave the way for rulings in the favor of Christians to practice their beliefs.
