Anglican Mainstream

By Peter Stanford, Guardian

[.....] To stand up publicly and be counted as a Catholic in Britain right now can be to invite a tirade, as I found when I accepted an invitation from the Oxford literary festival to defend the role of faith schools against an author who had published a book questioning them.

Five minutes before we went on stage, the organisers announced to me that philosopher AC Grayling had kindly agreed to chair the event. That is AC Grayling, the second-best known militant atheist in the country, hardly your typical neutral chair. And then as we were walking into the hall, Grayling informed me that "Richard" had agreed to make a contribution – Richard Dawkins, that is, the best-known atheist in the country on account of his diatribe against religion, The God Delusion. An even playing field? Of course not, and had a representative of any other minority been set up in such a fashion the entire literary world would have been signing petitions. But I was defending the Catholic church, so normal rules didn't apply.

There is, granted, much that many mass-goers feel ashamed about in their church's recent conduct. The number of Catholic priests in this country accused of sexually abusing children may stand at 0.4% of the total – accused, that is, not convicted – but the revelation that they had so degraded a vocation that Catholics have always been taught to hold in the highest esteem came as a profound shock.

Read here

From The Christian Institute

Free speech laws that allow people to express their opinions about homosexual conduct should be scrapped, Labour leadership hopeful Ed Miliband says.

Incredibly, he claims that the law – which has been backed by Parliament on four occasions – makes it harder to convict murderers.

His extraordinary comments appear in an opinion article he wrote for the homosexual website, PinkNews.

The current law says that, for the avoidance of doubt, criticising same-sex conduct or urging people to refrain from such conduct is not, in itself, a crime.

It was inserted by Parliament to a sexual orientation ‘hate crime’ law following a string of alarming cases where Christians had been investigated by the police for their beliefs about sexual ethics.

But Mr Miliband said that he was “angry” that the free speech protection had been introduced.

Read here

From LifeSite News

We face an aggressively secular political vision and a consumerist economic model that result – in practice, if not in explicit intent — in a new kind of state-encouraged atheism.

By Bill Bumpas, OneNewsNow

A federal judge has rejected a graduate student's lawsuit that claimed a university in Georgia was forcing her to abandon her Christian beliefs in order to receive a counseling degree. (See earlier story)

U.S. District Judge Randal Hall ruled Friday that Augusta State University can expel Jennifer Keeton if she does not follow a "remediation plan" assigned by her professors — a requirement Hall described as "academically legitimate." Keeton had been asked to complete the plan after she said she believed homosexual behavior was morally wrong and that she would then help such clients change that behavior.
 
Dr. Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America sees judicial activism in action.
 
"The really horrendous part is that one single judge is able to make a decision that influences so many different aspects of our culture. And we're seeing it over and over again where that judge is imposing his own personal views — which is such a contradiction and is so ironic when this young woman's rights are being taken away from her."

Read here

By Martin Parsons, ConservativeHome (Hat Tip: eChurch Websites)

This is the final part of a five-part series looking at the Conservative Party's relationship with churchgoers after thirteen years of Labour government. Dr Martin Parsons is a regular contributor to CentreRight.

From Civitas

Open societies in which we try to settle our differences without violence have been a great human achievement. However, because freedom of speech is the prevailing view in Britain, we are not as alert to the risk of its overthrow as we should be.

In A New Inquisition, Jon Gower Davies, former Head of the Religious Studies Department at the University of Newcastle, examines the new legal concept of religious hatred and provides striking examples from recent legal cases to reveal the oppressive and bizarre nature of judicial attempts to regulate such things.

Hate legislation removes an increasing quantity of matters traditionally dealt with in civil society, to the domain of the state and the courts. Furthermore, the exercise of such legislation seems to create the very atmosphere it was designed to prevent – hatred. Jon Davies warns against developments which will make traditional public debates about religion and its critics impossible. He hopes for a British culture which validates a public seeking for religious truth and is more or less at ease with jokes and ribaldries, and he is profoundly ill at ease with censorship of them or with threats made against their authors.

The freedom to speak our minds without fear or favour is worth fighting for. In A New Inquisition Jon Davies shows why the liberal majority needs to reassert the convention that the law should be used not as a weapon to suppress unpopular opinions, but rather as the protector of free speech.

Read here

From The Church Mouse

[.....]  Now let Mouse just say right now that he backs the right of this group to hold their meetings and to express publicly whatever opinions they wish to.  But Mouse has a pretty serious question about whether Richmond Council has any business hosting it, even if it is part of a commercial room hire.

There are two main reasons for this concern.  Firstly there is the issue that this meeting is likely to be considered offensive by Catholics, Christians and other people of faith. The second is a question of impartiality and equality.  Richmond Council's policies would not have allowed this room to be used for a religious purpose.  Yet allows it to be used for an anti-religious purpose.

Lets look at these issues in turn.

Peter Tatchell has described Pope Benedict XVI as "the ideological inheritor of Nazi homophobia" and stated his view of religion as "the world’s single greatest fount of obscurantism, prejudice, superstition and oppression."  Keith Porteous-Wood and Terry Sanderson are almost professional rent-a-quotes for the British media providing virtually daily attacks on people of faith.  Terry Sanderson is giving a talk on the reasons why he is opposing the Papal visit, so we can expect a long list of evils perpetrated by the Catholic Church (in his eyes).  It is almost certain, therefore, that the Pope, and the Catholic Church in general, will be accused of all sorts of evils, and followers of that faith will almost certainly be insulted as wicked, ignorant or deluded.

So its a fair assumption that Catholics, Christians and other people of faith will find some of the things which will be said on Thursday evening in Richmond to be offensive.  Mouse simply wonders why Richmond Council wish to be associated with this, by allowing their building to be used for this meeting.

Read here

Watch video here

A message from Duke Amachree to the supporters of CCFON and CLC: (Received by email)

To all who have been supporting me

I am sad to announce that I have lost my case with Wandsworth Council. As you know, last year I suggested to a client with an incurable illness that she should not give up hope but try putting her faith in God, which led to my dismissal by Wandsworth Council for gross misconduct.

Sadly the tribunal has ruled that the Council were right to dismiss me for my comments. They also found that the Council had not discriminated against me on the basis of my religion. In addition, the tribunal took the view that I had breached confidentiality by publicising my case. The decision has come as a huge surprise to me and my legal team.

I had worked for Wandsworth Council for 18 years and had an unblemished record. Yet, as a result of the comments I made in one 45 minute housing interview, I was subject to 6 months of investigations by the Council and put under huge strain. My solicitor was even told by the Council that saying “God bless” to a client would require an investigation if a client complained.

The client herself expressly stated that she did not want me to be dismissed for what I had said and I had never been told that such small talk in a housing interview was prohibited.

I will be appealing the decision with the backing of my legal team. This is a sad day for Christians who simply want to live out their faith in the workplace without fear. But my heartfelt thanks goes to all of those who have supported me, including the Christian Legal Centre, who I know will continue to stand with me as we contend for justice.

Read the rest of this entry »

From ccfon

There is widespread shock following the news that Duke Amachree has lost his case, having been sacked for mentioning God in the workplace. An employment tribunal has ruled that it was reasonable for Wandsworth Council to dismiss Duke, after he was sacked for gross misconduct for suggesting to a client with an incurable illness not to give up hope and to try putting her faith in God. The tribunal also found that the Council had not discriminated against Mr Amachree on the basis of his religion. In addition, the tribunal took the view that Duke had breached confidentiality by publicising his case. The decision has come as a huge surprise to Duke and to his legal team.

Duke, a father of two and committed Christian, had worked for Wandsworth Council for 18 years and had an unblemished record. Yet, as a result of the comments he made in one 45 minute housing interview, he was subject to 6 months of investigations and three interviews with the Council. His solicitor was even told by the Council that saying “God bless” to a client would require an investigation if the client complained.

Read here

By Hilary White, LifeSite News

A teacher who was kicked out of David Cameron’s Conservative party for his unwillingness to go along with the homosexualist agenda will not be sacked for his views, a disciplinary committee has decided.

The Renfrewshire Council, which runs the Rashielea Primary School, had suspended Philip Lardner over his remarks but decided to issue only a written warning, a decision Lardner says he will appeal.

Lardner told the Christian Institute, “If I don’t challenge this, other teachers will never be able to voice personal opinions in the future.”

A primary teacher at the school, Lardner was dropped as a candidate for the Tories just nine days before the May 6th general election after writing on his website that homosexuality was not something that should be privileged by the state. Homosexual behavior, he wrote, is “not normal” and should not be promoted to school children. After being deselected from the Tory candidacy, Lardner stood as an independent candidate.

Lardner later told LifeSiteNews.com that he had no interest in retracting his statements in order to curry favor with the new Tory leadership. “The vast majority of my local membership of the Tory party have been resolute on support for my opinion,” he said. Asked if he expected to suffer repercussions for his views with his employers, Lardner, who had already been placed on “cautionary suspension,” said that he was unafraid.

Read here

From ccfon

By Charlie Butts, OneNewsNow

A homosexual activist group has side-stepped normal procedures to gain a non-government organization status at the United Nations.

By Julian Mann

Though Professor Kenneth Howell has just been reinstated by the University of Illinois after his dismissal for defending Catholic moral teaching to students, his case has major implications for academic freedom. It is surely optimistic to believe that he will be the last academic in the US or the UK to fall foul of a 'hate speech' complaint.

If universities in the US and UK start firing academics for sins of speech against political correctness, consider what they would have to do with some of the texts that are taught on their courses. Here is an extract from John Le Carre's classic novel, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, first published in 1963:

'They picked me up this morning. A man called Ashe.' He lit a cigarette. 'A pansy. We're meeting again tomorrow.'

Control listened carefully to Leamas' story, stage by stage, from the day he hit Ford, the grocer, to his encounter that morning with Ashe.

Read here

From Fox News (H/T Stand Firm)

A federal judge has ruled in favor of a public university that removed a Christian student from its graduate program in school counseling over her belief that homosexuality is morally wrong. Monday's ruling, according to Julea Ward's attorneys, could result in Christian students across the country being expelled from public university for similar views.

“It’s a very dangerous precedent,” Jeremy Tedesco, legal counsel for the conservative Alliance Defense Fund, told FOX News Radio. “The ruling doesn’t say that explicitly, but that’s what is going to happen.”

U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh dismissed Ward’s lawsuit against Eastern Michigan University. She was removed from the school’s counseling program last year because she refused to counsel homosexual clients.

The university contended she violated school policy and the American Counseling Association code of ethics.

“Christian students shouldn’t be expelled for holding to and abiding by their beliefs,” said ADF senior counsel David French. “To reach its decision, the court had to do something that’s never been done in federal court: uphold an extremely broad and vague university speech code.”

Read here

By Bill Bumpas, OneNewsNow

Support is mounting for a University of Illinois professor who was fired for telling students in his Catholicism class that he agrees with the Catholic Church's teaching against homosexuality.

By Helen Pidd, Guardian

A Tory MP has been warned he could face legal action if he follows through on a threat to refuse to meet constituents wearing the veil.

Lawyers for Liberty have written to Philip Hollobone insisting that his stance is unlawful and that they "will be happy to represent any of your constituents that you refuse to meet because they are veiled".

The group warns him that the UK's Equality Act and the European convention on human rights (ECHR) oblige him to avoid discrimination. Because his ban would only affect Muslim women, it would also amount to indirect sex discrimination, the letter says.

Hollobone sparked a row this month when he argued that he needed to see the faces of voters who wanted his help.

He said he would "invite" anyone who did not wish to remove their veil to communicate with him in a "different way", such as by letter. Since a constituent was able to see his face he should be able to see theirs, he argued.

Read here

By James Grant, Mailonline

A revolution is under way in Britain. Power is shifting from elected politicians to unelected judges.

Britain is losing its parliamentary democracy and replacing it with a new form of aristocracy: let’s call it ‘juristocracy’.

This slow, but steady, transfer of power from Parliament to the courts was evident throughout New Labour’s 13 years in office. 

In the Nineties, having concluded it was unelectable, Labour subscribed to a liberal consensus, abandoned its distrust of judges and committed itself to what would become the Human Rights Act 1998.

The framers of that Act did their best to retain a British tradition in which Parliament is supreme.

But, almost a decade after the Act came into force in October 2000, Britain now seems to have moved firmly in the direction of the United States, where the Supreme Court decides almost every political issue.

Read here

From LifeSite News

AUGUSTA, Georgia, July 22, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed suit against Augusta State University Wednesday on behalf of a counseling student who was allegedly told that her Christian beliefs are unethical and incompatible with the prevailing views of the counseling profession. The student, Jennifer Keeton, says she has been told to stop communicating her beliefs and that she must undergo "training" to accept homosexuality in order to graduate from the counseling program.

Augusta State ordered Keeton to undergo a re-education plan, in which she must attend “diversity sensitivity training,” complete additional remedial reading, and write papers to describe their impact on her beliefs. If she does not change her beliefs or agree to the plan, the university says it will expel her from the Counselor Education Program.

“A public university student shouldn’t be threatened with expulsion for being a Christian and refusing to publicly renounce her faith, but that’s exactly what’s happening here. Simply put, the university is imposing thought reform,” said ADF Senior Counsel David French.

“Abandoning one’s own religious beliefs should not be a precondition at a public university for obtaining a degree. This type of leftist zero-tolerance policy is in place at far too many universities, and it must stop."

Read here

By Samantha Singson, C-Fam

NEW YORK, July 22 (C-FAM) The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) voted this week on a US-led initiative to accredit the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC). The move effectively bypassed a subsidiary committee’s decision to defer action on the group until it answered questions about its support of new homosexual ‘rights,’ which many Member States believe directly conflict with recognized rights to freedom of religion and freedom of expression.

The Obama administration has been an active champion of IGLHRC's application to the UN since the June meeting of the committee on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) when US representatives insisted on an immediate vote on IGLHRC even though other committee members still had unanswered questions. In response to the US attempt to force a decision, Egypt called for a procedural "no action" motion.

Opposition to IGLHRC’s application centers around the group’s endorsement of a document called the Yogyakarta Principles, a document which calls for “sexual orientation and gender identity” to be new categories of nondiscrimination in UN human rights treaties. Among other things the Yogyakarta Principles calls for criminal penalties against those who criticize homosexuality.

Read here