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In the News

  • Guardian: May says Islamophobia is a form of extremism, marking shift in rhetoric
    June 19th, 2017

    Theresa May's Downing Street declaration that the Finsbury Park terrorist attack was "every bit as sickening" as Manchester and London Bridge and description of Islamophobia as another form of extremism marks a distinct and important change in rhetoric from the prime minister.

    The Queen's speech on Wednesday will include flagship legislation to confront the menace of extremism, especially Islamist extremism, including a statutory commission to identify and expose examples.

    May, throughout the election campaign and in her post-election speech on the steps of Downing Street a fortnight ago, made clear that the focus of her "drive against extremism" was aimed at radical Islamist ideology.

    Read more.

  • British Humanist Association: First legal humanist wedding ceremony in Northern Ireland will go ahead, Thursday
    June 19th, 2017

    Humanists Laura Lacole and Eunan O'Kane have been granted legal authority by the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland to have their Humanists UK-accredited humanist celebrant be authorised to conduct a legal marriage ceremony.

    The decision follows a hearing at the court today on an appeal by Northern Ireland's Attorney General, General Register Office, and Department of Finance, against the landmark High Court ruling on 9 June which gave legal recognition to humanist marriages.

    Laura and Eunan's wedding will be the first legal humanist ceremony in Northern Ireland and the first in the UK outside of Scotland.

    Read more.

  • Psephizo: Ministry at Grenfell Tower
    June 19th, 2017

    On Wednesday 14th June, like the rest of the UK, I awoke to the most harrowing pictures of Grenfell Tower on fire. Like many others, when the circumstances began to emerge around how 24 storeys could burn to the ground that easily, I was utterly speechless: How could something so simply prevented be happening in our day? Whilst I have plenty to say about it, my purpose here is not to unpack the politics behind what's happened, but to share a few thoughts on the response of English churches to this disaster, in particular, the response of the Church of England in which I am ordained. I am a curate in the Kensington Episcopal Area - in fact several miles out of town, but the diocese stretches out a long way.

    Unable to get over on Wednesday and Thursday, I was kept up to date by friends who live within sight of Grenfell, by social media and by emails to all the clergy in the area. It was clear to me that the churches were really stepping up, offering donation space, food, clothes and water. On Thursday, all the clergy received an email from Graham Tomlin, Bishop of Kensington, suggesting that if possible we should wear our dog-collars and walk through the streets, offering a listening ear and prayer for those who wanted it. He said that people were keen to talk.

    Read more.

  • Australian Christian Lobby: Where Sexual Fluidity Is Heading
    June 19th, 2017

    The Victorian government has been urged to rethink its commitment to teaching gender fluidity after the latest claims by Safe Schools architect, Roz Ward, undermined any credibility in the current teaching material, says Australia Christian Lobby.

    "As reported in The Australian today, Roz Ward admits that Safe Schools aims to challenge heteronormativity, calling a key statistic used in the Safe Schools material a 'joke', and claiming up to 50 per cent of teens were not exclusively heterosexual," Australian Christian Lobby Victorian director Dan Flynn said.

    "Originally it was claimed that Safe Schools was introduced to prevent bullying of a small percentage of those who were attracted to their own sex, but Roz Ward has again made it clear that it is more about the promotion of gender as non-binary or fluid."

    Read more.

  • NSS: NSS calls on European leaders to robustly promote the "democratic value" of separation of religion and state
    June 19th, 2017

    The National Secular Society today called on EU presidents to promote "democratic values", warning that past assumptions about the place of religion in politics and modern society being settled may no longer apply.

    The warning came at a high level meeting with non-confessional organisations hosted by European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans to discuss "The Future of Europe: a values-based and effective Union". The NSS was represented at the meeting by its executive director, Keith Porteous Wood.

    Mr Wood told the meeting that many factors including segregation, sectarianism and rising religious conservatism cast doubt on the "historic pattern of gradual integration of successive generations of those of minority religions".

    Read more.

  • Jihad Watch: Theresa May vows to stamp out "Islamophobia"
    June 19th, 2017

    A non-Muslim who reportedly declared that he wanted to "kill all Muslims" plowed into a crowd at the notorious jihad terror-tied Finsbury Park Mosque. Any attack on any innocent people is reprehensible and to be condemned, and this one is no different. It does, however, present a tremendous opportunity to the British political and media establishment. They have declared that "far-right extremism" is just as much of a threat as jihad terror, but they haven't had any "far-right extremism" to validate their narrative aside from an occasion strip of bacon at a mosque - only highlighting how hysterical this narrative is as the casualties of Islamic jihad attacks continue to mount.

    But now they have this, and it is clear that Theresa May and her cohorts are determined to make the most of it to take even more actions against "Islamophobia" - by which they mean not just vigilante attacks against innocent Muslims, but also honest analysis of how jihadis use the texts and teachings of Islam to justify violence and supremacism. The Finsbury Park Mosque has a record of jihad terror activity, but reporting on that will be seen as inciting violence against innocent Muslims, and all vestiges of any sane response to the jihad terror threat that may remain in Britain now will be shut down.

    Read more.

  • MercatorNet: Transgender laws threaten to erase women
    June 19th, 2017

    A lawsuit known as Gavin Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board is working its way through the courts in the United States. Gavin is a transgender high school student from a town in rural Virginia who has been pushing for three years to use male bathrooms. The case has become a cause célèbre for the transgender movement. Gavin was even given a spot on the op-ed pages of the New York Times to express his point of view.

    One of the best amicus briefs about the issue comes from a surprising partnership: a group of radical feminists and a pro-family Christian organization. The Women's Liberation Front and the Family Policy Alliance together argue that the transgender ideology will hurt women. Below are some excerpts.

    Read more.

  • PinkNews: Denmark approves same-sex marriage in the Faroe Islands
    June 19th, 2017

    The road to approving same-sex marriage in the Faroe Islands has finally been completed.

    The islands have become the final Nordic country to legalise marriage equality.

    The archipelago known as the Faroe Islands, which is self-governing, voted to make it legal for same-sex couples to marry last year.

    Read more.

  • BBC: Finsbury Park attack: Theresa May condemns 'sickening' terror attack
    June 19th, 2017

    Prime Minister Theresa May says the terror attack near a north London mosque is "every bit as sickening" as other recent ones to hit the UK.

    She was speaking after a man died and 10 people were injured when a man drove a van into worshippers close to the Muslim Welfare House in Finsbury Park.

    A white man aged 48 has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

    Read more.

  • Archbishop Cranmer: London mosque attack: to kill a worshipping Muslim is to murder us all
    June 19th, 2017

    Another night, another horror. It seems this time that a white van man thought a mosque attack would be justifiable satisfaction for the Islamist attacks on Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge. Ploughing into Muslims outside Finsbury Park Mosque as they finished their Tarawih prayers during Ramadan, the terrorist is reported to have screamed, "I want to kill all Muslims." And he did manage to kill one in the name of unholy vengeance – an eye for an eye; measure for malevolent measure.

    There are some who won't be able to bring themselves to classify an attack on innocent Muslims outside a mosque as quite the same thing as the recent onslaughts against children at a pop concert, tourists on a bridge or lovers in restaurants and bars, but it is the selfsame, and arguably worse. These Muslims were British Londoners going about their daily acts of worship: the dead and injured were not a randomly targeted crowd of unknown faiths and feelings, but a worshipping group expressly selected for their religious beliefs. Some might call it 'Islamophobia': it is, in fact, Islamomisia – it is hatred, not fear.

    Read more.