eChurch Blog

I enjoyed reading this small article by Melissa Clouthier on why men seem to dominate the Blogosphere, she says:-

….Why? Because “the Internet still feels like the Wild West,” writes Melissa Clouthier, where differences of opinion can quickly escalate into personal attacks. With all the “nutjobs” out there, personal safety is a genuine concern. “Most women simply do not want to put up with this garbage.”

How true is that statement! You have to have the skin of rhino to blog nowadays, the comments you receive daily are shocking to say the least! One thing I have learnt is that folks ‘out there’ sure do hate God, religion and Christianity that’s for sure and they are not afraid to voice the fact. I thought participating on Christian forums was like being thrown to the lions, but that was just a mild taster for Christian blogging.

Sometimes the negative comments can get you down, but just at the right time, you receive a positive comment from a fellow believer which just makes all of the difference. I like to think that perhaps Christians in general are less likely to make comments than atheists, I can’t prove that, but I hold on to this as a fact to keep me going through the long nights of abuse

I do delete the personal attacks and the negative comments about our beliefs, I never used to, but due to the sheer quantity and type of comments, I had to resort to moderation, which is a shame. I thought to myself that there are plenty of platforms online for folk to ridicule Christians and our beliefs and so why should I offer my blog as another platform.

I do allow carefully constructed and well thought out arguments and criticisms, but won’t tolerate any longer the ‘troll’ like comments. Censoring comments drives folks crazy and the predictable response, is that I should be more like Jesus who wouldn’t censor anyone? Not sure where they get that one from, but hey ho.

The Internet is like the ‘Wild West’ and is full of ‘nut jobs’ as well as decent folk, so my advise is make sure you have a very thick skin and that you are very sure of your faith and beliefs, before you embark on Christian blogging. Frankly it can be a thankless and lonely job and encouragement is very thin on the ground.

My conclusion, I wouldn’t stop blogging for the world, I love it!

Previous related Posts

Police May Have a Confession in the Ami Ortiz Case

Potential breakthrough in Ami Ortiz case

Cross post by Yeze over at the excellent Rosh Pina Project

At Kineti L’Tziyon, Judah Gabriel discusses the implications of a recent arrest in the case of Ami Ortiz:

First, it confirms the suspicion of anti-missionary vigilante violence carried out by ultra-Orthodox Shamer groups like Yad L’achim.

Second, vindication! The police were initially sitting on their hands, dismissing this as a accidental firecracker accident (!), and the media chimed in with agreement, excusing the violence by claiming Messianic Jews are part of a cult. For example, here’s an original article from the left-leaning, secular Haaretz newspaper that all but excused the bombing:

Police are investigating the possibility that the explosion occurred while the boy was opening a Purim gift basket. Police reportedly believe the blast was caused by some sort of firecracker used during Purim celebrations.

The Parents of the victim are members of the Messianic Jews movement, which the police classify as a cult. The boy’s father is considered to be one of the movement’s leaders.

After previous attempts to harm the family, a security camera was installed at the family’s home. The police were checking the footage to see whether the explosion was documented by the cameras. The police emphasized that there was no proof to support the theory that the explosion was deliberate and malicious.

Fine blog readers, notice the non-sequitur arguments used here: “This cult family has been targeted by attacks before. Therefore, it’s probably a firecracker accident.” (What kind of journalism and police detective work is this?!)

And the article failed to mention that the family’s security cameras caught a man in Orthodox Jewish garb dropping off the bomb at the family home. Yet the police, and apparently the author of this Haaretz article, cite no proof of malicious intent.

This highlights the extreme anti-Messianic bias witnessed in the Israeli media: Messianics are portrayed as a cult, violence against us is denied or excused, and finally dismissed. No one wants to be on the side of the ugly Messianics.

A great goodness has come out of this!

Things are changing. With the Jerusalem Institute of Justice standing up in court on behalf of persecuted Messianics, and the Israeli courts cracking down on evil vigilante anti-missionary Shamer groups, we’ve seen a turn in the Israeli media, with a few lone voices speaking up for the plight of Messianic Jews, praise God.

Additionally, many Jews in the Israeli Orthodox community are distancing themselves from these shameful anti-missionary groups. The Ami Ortiz family reports that when Ami was hospitalized after the bombing, many from the surrounding Orthodox Jewish communities came to visit Ami, and denounced and apologized for whomever carried out this bombing.

In word, the Orthodox communities were denouncing vigilante anti-missionary groups, whether knowingly or not. Praise God!

It would seem a mini war had broken out online between atheists and believers (nothing new there then) after a systematic DDoS attack against the Atheist Foundation of Australia and Global Atheist Convention Websites.

This is the what Atheist Foundation of Australia say about this incident themselves:-

Recently the Global Atheist Convention website suffered a DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack, which caused the Global Atheist Convention and the Atheist Foundation of Australia websites to be taken offline. This was a network attack and we have been informed it was specifically aimed at our websites. While we do not know source or reason for the attacks, they came in the wake of news that Global Atheist Convention has already sold 1,000 tickets and will be the largest gathering of atheists and other freethinkers in Australia’s history. This may have been not just an attack on atheism, but an attack on freedom of speech.

Read entire article

It would appear that as a result of this attack, a revenge attack (against God?) is being organised on Facebook

Minute of prayer in response to the Rise Of Atheism Convention DDOS attack.

As you may already be aware, recently the Atheist Foundation of Australia and the Global Atheist Convention websites were the target of a significant DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack, which began on Monday 19 October.

This is a call to all non-believers and advocates for freedom of speech to join us in a global co-ordinated minute of prayer with the aim of inundating God (in this context, the Christian god, God, as distinct from the Greek god, Zeus, the Egyptian god, Ra etc etc) with so many useless prayers that it causes his divineness to go offline as as result of our own DDOS (‘Divine’ Denial of Service).

The prayer minute will be at exactly 8pm (Eastern Standard Time) and 9am (Greenwich Mean Time) on Sunday 8 November 2009.

The prayer can be about anything you want (but say it as frequently as possible in the minute we have assigned to ensure DDOS is achieved) or to whomever god you want. Its mostly directed at the Christian god so as to ensure we don’t get too many return to senders from other gods.

However, all believers can rest easy as atheist blogger P Z Myers won’t be joining in:-

The Atheist’s Revenge!

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to join in, because whatever I have planned for that time, whatever it may be, will be far more interesting and productive than babbling to an invisible man. I’m pretty sure I won’t be needed, though; I understand all modern prayers are first funneled through a 110 baud modem, then passed further upstairs by telegraph, then pony express riders gallop it over to the Pearly Gates, and then a rewritten version is passed on to a team of long-dead Sumerian scribes for transcription into cuneiform on wax plates, and then and only then is it in a format that a bronze age patriarchal deity can understand. I don’t think it’ll take much to swamp the celestial bandwidth (which actually explains a lot, if you think about it.)

Read entire article

Phew, if P Z Myers is not involved, we’ll all be OK then.

I will say in the atheists defense that it is certainly no fun to be subject to a DDOS attack and so I personally couldn’t and wouldn’t condone such an attack against atheist websites (I agree with the atheists, that if God wants to take down their websites, He is more than capable of doing it Himself). It would seem however, that they do not know the origin or reason for the attack and so I guess, if in doubt, blame God, or His followers…yeah why not!

I don’t know about you, but the more I read of this governments actions, the more my angry stomach knot tightens. This is a dangerous nanny state government, literally out of control and doing more damage every day.

Why should everybody be labelled as a potential paedophile and our lives dictated by the existence of a very small minority of extremely evil predators? This government is deliberately creating an atmosphere of fear and suspicion so that they can extend their hand of control over EVERY area of our lives!

Anyway, I am a loss for further words, so you decide:-

By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor – Telegraph

Only council-vetted “play rangers” are now allowed to monitor youngsters in two adventure areas in Watford while parents must watch from outside a perimeter fence.

The Watford Borough Council policy has been attacked as insulting and a disgrace by furious relatives who say they are being labelled as potential paedophiles.

It will further fuel concerns over a growing nanny state amid the deepening row over the Government’s new national anti-paedophile database.

That will see at least 11 million adults have to be vetted to work with children or vulnerable adults, including parents who give officials lifts to and from social or sports clubs.

Councillors in Watford claim they are only following Government guidelines and cannot allow adults to walk around playgrounds “unchecked”.

But parents branded the ban “a joke”.

The rules have been imposed at Harwoods and Harebreaks adventure recreation grounds.

Activities on the half acre sites include a skateboard half-pipe, a zip line, rope swings, den building, arts and crafts, plus a wide range of indoor and outdoor sports activities.

Play rangers currently patrol both parks – which are specifically for children aged five to 15 – and are fully qualified and have been cleared by the Criminal Records Bureau.

Parents already have to ‘register’ their child on arrival at the free playgrounds so staff have their contact details in the event of an accident.

But now only those who have been CRB vetted by the council can enter the sites, which are surrounded by six foot high steel and wooden fences.

Mother-of-five Marcella Bergin, 35, has been visiting with her three eldest children, Christy, 15, Seamus, 12, and Chloe, 11, for many years without any problems.

She said: “It’s like they are branding all parents potential paedophiles which is disgraceful – 99 per cent of people are great parents and certainly not child abusers.

“The whole thing is just a joke and I will certainly not be adhering to the new rules which frankly are crazy.”

Mo Mills, 62, a retired youth worker who has six grandchildren, added: “This is typical of the nanny state and I am furious – the council should hang their head in shame at this political correctness gone mad.”

Mum-of-eight Jenny Abbasi, 41, said: “I find it insulting that the council are essentially branding everyone paedophiles and telling us we cannot be trusted with our own kids – it’s a disgrace.”

Claude Knights, the founder of children’s charity Kidscape, said the council were “using a sledgehammer to crack nuts”.

“They are encouraging a climate where parents and children are rendered suspicious without any proof of wrong doing or guilt,” she said.

Read Entire Article

FURTHER INTERNET LINKS:-

Playtime Madness

Council ban parents from public playgrounds

Christian Concern for our Nation

A pro-life group is challenging Northern Ireland’s Government guidelines on abortion at the High Court in an attempt to quash the Government’s current advice which was published in March 2009.

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) is claiming that the abortion guidance issued to health professionals is misleading and legally inaccurate. The group is seeking a High Court declaration (judicial review) that it does not properly set out the law.

Abortion is illegal in Northern Ireland, except in circumstances where the mother’s life or mental health are considered at risk.

James Dingemans QC, barrister acting for SPUC, outlined to Lord Justice Girvan, a Belfast High Court Judge, why the government’s guidance was inadequate and needs to be withdrawn and re-examined so that it deals more adequately with the issues. He drew attention to the issue of informed consent. He also highlighted the lack of information in the guidance which doctors could pass on to their patients about the risks and other potential consequences of abortion, in particular the mental health impact.

Mr Dingemans QC also said that, despite the Health Department’s claims, unborn children in Northern Ireland had rights. Sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act and the 1945 Northern Ireland Criminal Justice Act both safeguard those rights. Abortion actually has been an offence under the common law going back much further than that.

Mr Dingemans QC said that women were entitled to treatment which protected their lives, but it was wholly misleading for the health department to portray the law as allowing so-called termination of pregnancy services. He also pointed out that media commentators had mistakenly concluded that the government’s guidance suggested that abortion had been liberalized in Northern Ireland, SPUC reported.

The hearing is due to last two days and it is expected that Lord Justice Girvan will reserve his decision.

The Department of Health’s legal representatives rejected allegations it had failed to make clear that abortion was illegal in Northern Ireland apart from in the most exceptional circumstances.

Pro-life campaigner Liam Gibson told that the law needs clarified.

‘We believe that the guidance does not fully reflect the illegality of abortion in Northern Ireland. Abortion is a criminal offence, it is not a medical treatment.

‘This has almost been sidelined by the way the department has decided to represent the law so it is misleading or potentially misleading,’ he said.

Media links

BBC News

UTV News

I just simply have to replicate this post in its entirety from La Russophobe, as this article literally beggars belief. I have simply never read anything quite this bizarre and had to double check that this is actually for real, and apparently it is and is already in operation on train station clocks throughout Russia

Will Russia outlaw Time itself?

You probably know that if you live in New York City or Moscow, though you may think Christmas comes in the winter that’s not how they see it down under in Australia.  For the Aussies, Christmas is a summertime affair.

Russia is in the process of becoming even more flexible.   Who says morning comes at 9 am?

Why, the Russian parliament is asking, do people in Vladivostok necessarily have to get up and go to work at nine in the morning?  Why not have them do so at, let’s say, 1 am instead?  And instead of calling it 1 am, it would simply be called 9 am, so the time would technically be the same. Except it would be dark outside of course.

If they did that, it would be awfully convenient for Moscow, because they’d be starting work at the same time as Moscow, and could take Moscow’s calls. Now granted, people would be working at night and sleeping during the day, but they could get sleeping masks and heavy curtains, couldn’t they?

You might think it’s odd that folks in Vladivostok would even consider such a bizarre notion for second, but if you did it would mean you don’t fully appreciate how European Russia is bleeding Siberian Russia even whiter than it becomes in the darkest days of winter.  As Moscow sucks up more and more of the nation’s resources, the hinterlands grow ever more desperate and dependent on the Kremlin’s charity to stay alive, ever more fearful of annexation by China.

So folks in Vladivostok are so scared of their future they’re even willing to turn time upside down.  We are fully through the looking glass in Putin’s neo-Soviet Russia, this is is what KGB rule hath wrought.

Anglican Manistream

Andrew Carey drew attention in the Church of England Newspaper (read here) to the appointment of a Muslim to the staff of Bradford Cathedral as an Inter-Faith Development Officer.  Nuzhat Ali will hold “Scriptural Reasoning Workshops” and seek to help Muslims understand Christian faith.  Blackburn Cathedral also has had a Muslim on its staff.

In answer to enquiries, it has been made clear that this appointment does not draw on church finances as the funds for the post come from the Government.

The government’s interest in the post is instructive.  The government is very concerned about terrorism, and therefore wishes to reduce possibilities of religious conflict.  So it seeks to reduce what makes each faith distinctive so that the causes of disagreement are removed.

But whoever funds it the appointment of such a post on a Cathedral staff raises a number of questions.

What is the role of a Cathedral?  It is the mother church of a diocese where the bishop has his cathedra, or seat.  Above all else it is a place for Christian worship and witness which should be clear and not confusing.

A cathedral is also a civic building – a space where ceremonies of significance to a city are held:  services of civic thanksgiving and memorial, university graduations, exhibitions and concerts. In cities with significant communities of non-Christian faiths, Christian hospitality suggests that the cathedral is a space where hospitality and welcome can be given.

If the government wishes to promote community cohesion and inter-religious understanding in pursuit of communal harmony, a city’s Cathedral is a most appropriate venue.  But what will be the message that the Cathedral gives by appointing a Muslim to its staff?

Confusion is not easily avoided.

The task of promoting inter-religious understanding presupposes the need for neutrality so that it may be even-handed.  But if a Muslim is neutral are they being true to Islam and would they even be “owned” by the Muslim community?  If a Muslim is true to the requirements of Islam, can they truly accept the position of Christians as on an equal footing as them as human beings in an even-handed way?

Is a Muslim the best person qualified to explain Christian faith to Muslims? Is an atheist the best person to explain Christian faith to atheists?  There is a failure to grasp the Christian truth here that God has created all people with the capacity for receiving the truth of God from him by his Spirit in favour of the post-modern view that personal experience is the sole qualifier for speaking from or to a position.

This reflection is appearing in a column on the worldwide Anglican Communion  because the Bradford appointment has international implications.  What is intended is not always what is communicated.

Some years ago with another Anglican clergyman I was in discussion in a Muslim country with a senior Muslim official who assured us of freedom of religion in their country.  Our conversation was seen by a local Christian who dissolved into tears.  When asked why, she said: “The man they are talking with is the man who tortured me in prison.”

Western Christians are sometimes keen to involve UK Muslims in visits to  Christians in other countries.  What Western Christians do not often realize is that information gleaned from such encounters can be used against the national Christians, who in the view of their host state are infidels and traitors worthy of death. The national Christians would not find such meetings helpful. They have to be very careful indeed about who attends and what is said as lives could be at risk.

Such moves and appointments are essentially focused on UK policy for UK social cohesion. The communication of the position of the Cathedral as a place where Jesus is honoured and worshipped, and the position of national Christians in muslim countries should also be seriously taken into consideration.

Why cannot the Cathedral be a sponsor of an Institute for Religious Understanding and locate such a post in the Institute, rather than on the staff of the Cathedral along with Christian ministers, preachers and pastors?

Previous related Posts:-

Bradford Cathedral has appointed a Muslim as the Cathedral’s first Interfaith Development Officer. Nuzhat Ali is to be the second Muslim the Church of England has added to its payroll, following the example of Blackburn Cathedral.

Do we need Muslims working in our Cathedrals?

Which English cathedral will be the first to apppoint a government-funded diversity officer to enforce political correctness in its services?

Mercator

The Canadian Human Rights Commission is an administrative body responsible for enforcing Section 13 of the Human Rights Act. This section prohibits phone or internet messages that are likely to expose a person or person to hatred or contempt on the ground of race, sex, religion, etc. In recent years the CHRC and Section 13 have come under attack by activists and bloggers who allege that the CHRC and Section 13 are a danger to freedom of speech and expression.

It was a motley party from the beginning. A confusing mess of die-hard social conservatives and liberals (not to mention libertarians), Jews and Muslims, gay rights activists and priests and pastors who had dedicated their lives to opposing gay rights activists. They were attacking the inaptly named Canadian Human Rights Commissions and most specifically hate speech laws.

The weapon of choice was mostly blogs. You know, those online diaries where people pontificate around like their opinions are the most important things in the world and usually have a readership of — well — not a lot. This collection of rag-tag fire-breathing radicals was attacking a decades-old law and a nicely established government department. A government department, moreover, that monopolized most of the feel-good words — human rights, anti-hate, reconciliation, arbitration, anti-discrimination — and had a whole host of feel-bad words to toss at their opponents — hate-mongerers (sic), bigots, racists, regressive, anti-human rights, right-wing extremists, unfeeling, marginal, obnoxious…

No bookie would have given this collection, held together with as much duct tape and Tim Horton’s coffee as anything else, better than very long odds on getting the Human Rights Commissions to acknowledge their existence, much less anything more. It looked like another tedious social conservative-type stand-off where a few “radicals” stormed around talking a lot and achieving nothing while the status quo slipped blithely along without registering more than an occasional little ripple.

But this time it was different. This time they got publicity. This time they got the attention of their opponents and had them squealing. This time they gained momentum. This time, although it is far to early to be sure, victory is starting to look rather likely, if not very likely. This time they aren’t withering in obscurity, they are not on the defensive, they are on the offensive and the enemy is retreating and deserting rapidly.

How could this happen and what can we learn from it?

The Power of the Active Individual:“The whole course of human history may depend on a change of heart in one solitary and even humble individual – for it is in the solitary mind and soul of the individual that the battle between good and evil is waged and ultimately won or lost.” M. Scott Peck

Okay so this is very clichéd but do I get extra points if it’s true? Every cause needs a hero to rally around or, failing that, a martyr. The free speech movement got a major boost when the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal made the worst mistake in their history. They accepted a complaint against magazine editor Ezra Levant for reprinting the Danish Mohammed cartoons as part of a news story about the cartoon riots. Levant won his case, or rather got it dismissed (which, as he explains, is not really a win), but the experience opened his eyes to the direction that the HRCs were taking. Once he started talking the government quickly realized that he was impossible to shut up. Since then he and others have been incredibly influential in bringing the abuses of the Commissions and the totalitarian nature of hate speech laws to the attention of the public.

The Power of a Dedicated Minority: “History has never been dominated by majorities, but only by dedicated minorities who stand unconditionally on their faith.” R.J. Rushdoony

Without dedicated friends and supporters even the greatest people can accomplish little. Few people have the time, money, energy, eloquence, or just pig-headed stubbornness to lead an activist movement. Most people have the time, money, energy, eloquence, and/or stubbornness to write to a politician, donate $20 to a favourite cause, write a letter to the editor, discuss these issues with their friends, vote for leaders who support their point of view, pray, or just refuse to bow to the self-proclaimed arbiters of political correctness in their own lives. This minority, a minority that is active and concerned, can do great things.

The Power of the Media and/or Alternative Media:“They have an engine called the Press whereby the people are deceived. We should die without ever being heard of.” C.S.Lewis

You can have individuals making heroic stands but if no one ever hears about them it is useless. The free-speechers, or at least their message, won the friendship and support of the entire mainstream media, from conservative to liberal. While the blogs, Youtube, and other forms of alternative media had a pivotal role to play in the fight, the established media is still more widely respected and influential. Many conservatives seem to regard the press as a perpetual enemy. While this may be true for the most part, we are facing an uphill, and probably futile, battle as long as this problem is not adequately addressed. How can people form a dedicated minority if they are ignorant of the issues at hand?

The Power of Polemicism: “Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.” Georg Wilhelm

This idea I stole unapologetically from Mark Steyn. The vast majority of people do not want to be seen as extreme radicals. They want to be seen as left of centre or right of centre. Therefore, although the extremists and polemicists on both sides are not really effective in persuading the majority, they can be effective in moving the centre. Some may not be comfortable with the idea of a “Fire. Them. All.” (Levant) approach but because of it they are emboldened to advocate for reform. After all, they aren’t like THOSE extremists.

The Power of Scratching Below the Surface:“Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.“ Franklin D. Roosevelt. “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” Lenin.

The tension between these two quotations affects us all. A lie repeated often enough can produce a veneer of consensus and the appearance of truth, but it can never really become the truth.

In today’s society we have an ingrained set of politically correct responses to any issue. Hate speech laws: well,of course, we don’t want people spouting hateful speech all over the place. Human Rights Commissions: well, isn’t it good that we have an organization to look after human rights?

But if you scratch below the surface and start to explain to people what these things are really about, they can have an entirely different response. Hate speech laws, you are censoring who for saying what?! Human Rights Commissions, you mean I could get in trouble for doing that?!

The Power of a Greedy Enemy: “Another such victory over the Romans, and we are undone.” Pyrrhus

While this is not really something that we can control, it should give us room for hope in times of discouragement. The free speech movement took off because the Human Rights Commission went too far. They thought that they had carte blanche to define the word “hate-monger” and deal with all forms of “hate speech”. What they didn’t realize was that there was a Canada beyond the doors of their office building which might have different ideas. It was the atrocious cases where they tried to prosecute pastors and popular, mainline media that provoked the storms of outrage. No one really wants to publicly defend a neo-Nazi, but Macleans? Or your local priest? That is something that people can defend and feel good defending.

In Conclusion: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they attack you, then you win.” Ghandi

It is not enough for conservatives to have good ideas. Ideas are a dime a dozen. The ideas that change the world are those which can reach the cabbie and the mechanic. The ideas and issues that get discussed over coffee at work. The ideas that inspire professors and lawyers to speak and write. The ideas that get airtime on every TV and radio network. The ideas that creep into our education system. The ideas that a dedicated minority push in every possible way until they become in the minds of your average Joe to be self-evident truth. If the liberals and social engineers can alter the heartbeat of a nation so that abortion, gay marriage, and censorship becomes the normal status quo, we can alter it back.

Remember: Politicians want to get elected. If they start to lose elections because of their stance on Human Rights Commissions do you think they won’t notice? I promise you, they will.

Rebekah Hebbert is a Canadian homeschool graduate who blogs at

MissMarprelate.blogspot.com.

Previous Posts

Last year Alberta pastor Stephen Boissoin was ordered by the Alberta Human Rights Commission to desist from expressing his views on homosexuality in any sort of public forum, and to pay complainant and homosexual activist Dr. Darren Lund $7,000 in damages

Canadian bishop rebuffs government tribunal’s authority to interfere in Church governance

Questions are being asked about government gagging of the media when reporting offends special interest groups.

US Previous Related Posts

The U.S. Senate sent a landmark bill Tuesday to President Obama that includes hate-crimes protections for homosexuals which critics say will infringe on the religious liberty of pastors and other faith leaders.

Supporters and opponents of legislation that will expand hate-crimes protections to homosexuals continue to wait on a Senate vote on a defense authorization bill that includes the controversial measure.

Despite objections that it would infringe on the religious liberty of pastors and other faith leaders, the U.S. House Thursday passed a defense bill that includes historic hate crimes protections for homosexuals.

UK Previous Related Post

Free speech is not hateful (Lord Waddington) – Civil liberty surely implies the freedom to express your own views, and with it a readiness to defend the right of others to express their views about you.

Petition and Prayer for Life and Free Speech

Miguel Hayworth a street preacher is at the centre of a row over freedom of speech after police threatened to arrest him for reading the Bible in public.

Victory on Euthanasia in the Coroners and Justice Bill

Bishops fight for right to criticise gay lifestyle

Coroners and Justice Bill will undermine both free speech and sanctity of life

Act Now for Free Speech: Coroners and Justice Bill in the Lords

Christian Response to Free Speech and Assisted Suicide: Bill Update

Christian councillor Alan Craig (leader of the Christian People’s Alliance) calls for free speech for Geert Wilders

Guest Post by David Booth – Christian peoples Alliance

The British Dilema: Right, Liberal and Islamic

On 31 October 2009, a march is planned for London, by the group calling themselves “Islam4UK”.  The Daily Express reports that as many as 5,000 muslims may be expected to participate in this demonstration, with the aim of calling on the people of the UK, to either become muslims or accept Sharia law for the UK in place of our present British law.  It also calls for the replacement of our Parliament with Islamic governance.  The Daily Express also reports that the Islamic Society of Britain, claims that only 99.9% of muslims support this activity.  Whether or not this is the case, the fact that we are having this activity at all in our country is not only alarming, but a solemn warning of things to come.

source:
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/134080/Now-Muslims-demand-Give-us-full-Sharia-law

The group is headed by preacher Anjem Choudary, who seeks full implementation of Sharia Law in the UK, including the severe Islamic punishments, such as Stoning to Death for anyone caught in adultery (and by implication also those who are wrongly judged to have committed adultery).  Such a Sharia law would presumably also include executions, amputations of theives hands and feet, whipping etc.

Last spring, the same group, Islam4UK, marched protesting about the Palestinian situation.  This march witnessed an uncontrollable large crowd of muslims, that abused our hard won UK right to peaceful demonstration and which appears on a YouTube video, entitled “The March the BBC didn’t let you see“, to be attacking the police both verbally and physically.  The march exceeded the boundaries of peaceful demonstration and protesters are seen on the video to be riotous, including throwing large metal barriers onto the police, hurling objects at them and verbally abusing them.

Last week, we also witnessed the decision of the BBC to invite Mr.Nick Griffin, the BNP leader to be one of the guests on the Question Time panel.  Almost the entire program was devoted to the question of the BNP and Nick Griffin’s policies, speeches and behaviour.  Some of his answers may at best be judged as ludicrous by the viewers and deceitfully evasive when he felt it in his best interests.  When asked why he said he didn’t believe in the jewish holocaust as reported, he answered that he simply didn’t know why he said and believed those things, but that he had now ‘changed his mind’ on some of the issues he has previously spoken on.  Anyone who does a little searching on YouTube however, will soon realise the already exposed plans on how to get UK support by changing words in speeches to appear to be civilised, but only as a means to the end that non white people in Britain can be dispatched presumably by repatriation.

It remains to be seen, if the appearance on Question Time of Nick Griffin, was an electoral and political advantage for the BNP, but certainly the official focus of the BNP appears to be against militant Islam.  Whilst Mr.Griffin, knows all too well, that to convince people to support his party, he needs to throw in a sufficient number of carrots, truths and half truths into his speeches, it is hoped that the people of the UK will see behind the party’s presentations, and recognise the racist and fascist aims this party clearly has.  The BNP hopes to capitalise on the frustrations of the UK public on issues like immigration, jobs,housing and in particular, islamisation and militant islam, whilst its motivations are based in making the UK a pure white population.  To confuse the matter, the BNP has made repeated ‘concerns’ for the Christian heritage of the UK to be preserved, as if its members were committed Christians.  This confusion is easily clarified when one realises that Christ taught that the greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind and to love our neighbour as ourselves”, not repatriate him.

For those interested in Anjem Choudary’s invitation to the planned Shariah march, he appears on a YouTube video, presenting his more ‘civil invitations’ to us.  Again, to convince hearers of his activities, just like Nick Griffin, he throws in enough truths, half truths and carrots to justify what is actually the overthrow of democracy for good in the UK to be replaced by the iron grip of Sharia Law that would almost certainly stem all kinds of activities in the UK, including preaching the gospel, Church meetings and many legitimate activities.  You can see his video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RIZIBDH35M&feature=player_embedded

It is believed that Mr.Choudary’s group, Islam4UK, has plans for similar marches in Birmingham and other cities in the UK.  Judging by his previous marches, where violent actions occurred and by the likely provocation of some right wing elements in our society, it does not leave a lot to the imagination to realise that we are heading for some pretty stormy waters on our streets.  Such militant muslims are not going to go away, much as many would like them to and their activities are likely to provoke some ugly backlashes on our streets.

Our countries, governments, societies and Christian heritage, are today being overtly challenged by the two above kinds of fascism above and are also subject to a militant liberalism that is stifling the peaceful voice and practice of Christians and the Church.  The UK is facing and will increasingly face a dilema of unexpected proportions and of difficulties it has failed to prepare for.  This has happened in large part, during the Labour years, during which increasing liberalisation has continued the erosion of all or any absolute values in our politics and society, alongside a somewhat socialist ‘protection’ of muslim ‘minorities’ and their religion.  A part of this failure, has been the misconception of islam as simply another ‘religion’ one can choose, instead of the larger picture which historically reveals islam to be a political ideology that penetrates, overtakes and controls vast areas for generations and centuries.  Indeed, which part of the present set of countries dominated by islam, has recently reverted away from Islam to become either Christian or another faith or ideology?  One will be hard pushed to find any and this fact, reveals that once a nation has become islamic, it will stay that way.  Neither is it necessary for muslims to be a ‘majority’ to effect changes in the country of dire consequences.  The idea that it is necessary for people to become ‘muslims’ in order for a country to be controlled by islam is a misconception, as Anjem Choudary points out in his video above.  It is only necessary to dominate some of our cities which are expected to become dominated by Islam in the decades to come, in order for significant political power to be wielded by muslims in the UK.

The next government will have to deal with this complex and difficult situation.  If it fails to provide policies and strategies that will stem and revert the above difficulties, then it too will face immediate social, religious and ideological problems.

David Booth Christian peoples Alliance

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Radical Muslim group Islam4UK has launched a campaign to impose sharia law on Britain, starting with a rally in London, according to a report.

Isn’t a march for Sharia in London bad for ‘community relations’?

‘NOW MUSLIMS DEMAND FULL SHARIA LAW’ screams the Express headline, as yet again the British tabloid press act as a proxy media outlet for Anjem Choudary’s cult.

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US bishops clarify statement on Catholic-Jewish dialogue

A precarious moment in Catholic – Jewish relations

Major Jewish groups and rabbis from the three largest branches of American Judaism said Thursday that their relationship with Roman Catholic leaders is at risk because of a recent US bishops’ statement on salvation.

The Pope and His Jewish Friends. So Near, and Yet So Far – Benedict XVI will visit the synagogue of Rome soon. But the more progress is made in dialogue, the more the two faiths see how far apart they are.

Update from JTA

Catholic bishops to edit interfaith document

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says it will remove language from a document which caused “serious concern” among Jewish leaders.

A coalition of five Jewish organizations had written the bishops in August taking issue with a recent conference statement that described interfaith dialogue as an implicit invitation to baptism and appeared to say that the Mosaic covenant with God was obsolete.

In a letter to the Jewish groups, the bishops said it would change the document to eliminate the disputed passage and affirmed that Catholic-Jewish dialogue “has never been and will never be used by the Catholic Church as a means of proselytism … nor is it a disguised invitation to baptism.” They also said that the Mosaic covenant “endures till the present day.”

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