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In the News

  • Hunts Post: Former prison worker to challenge tribunal ruling over his right to read Bible passages to inmates
    April 27th, 2017

    Barry Trayhorn claimed he was discriminated against because of his Christian faith when he was disciplined by Littlehey Prison for explaining a Bible passage during a Christian chapel service.

    In March 2016, an employment tribunal ruled there was no discrimination and that the prison, in Perry, had acted properly in disciplining him.

    Mr Trayhorn, an ordained Pentecostal minister, worked as a prison gardener and volunteered in the chapel at HMP Littlehey, a prison for sex offenders. He started work at the prison as a gardener in May 2011, and in 2012 started to assist at some chapel services on a voluntary basis.

    Read more.

  • Life Site: Christian dad expelled from college for quoting Bible on homosexuality, wins right to appeal
    April 27th, 2017

    Felix Ngole, a 39-year-old father of four, caregiver and supply teacher, knows he's never going back to the University of Sheffield's social work college.

    But he will get his day in court to argue that he was wrongfully expelled because he quoted on Facebook a passage from the Old Testament condemning homosexuality.

    Ngole and his legal counsel provided by the Christian Legal Centre argued Tuesday in the British High Court for the right to a full judicial review of the Sheffield decision. They won. Deputy High Court Judge James Lewis said Ngole and the CLC made enough of a case that his expulsion was disproportionate to his offense to warrant a judicial review. The trial will be held in the fall, according to the Metro news organization.

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  • Premier: Christian prison worker to challenge Tribunal ruling
    April 27th, 2017

    A Christian prison worker in Cambridgeshire will on Thursday challenge a ruling that he was not discriminated against because of his faith.

    Rev Barry Trayhorn, who resigned from HMP Littlehey Prison, said his treatment after he spoke about forgiveness during a chapel service made it impossible for him to return to work.

    An Employment Tribunal ruled the ordained Pentecostal minister had spoken about forgiveness in an "insensitive" way, which "failed to have regard for the special nature of the congregation in the prison".

    Read more.

  • TGC: How Do Evangelicals Around the World Respond to Persecution?
    April 27th, 2017

    The Story: A landmark new report conveys the findings of the "world's first systematic global investigation into the responses of Christian communities to persecution."

    The Background: The global persecution of Christians has been frequently documented and reported on over the past decade. But "Under Caesar's Sword: Christian Response to Persecution" reveals for the first time how Christians around the world respond to persecution. The project is a partnership of the University of Notre Dame's Center for Ethics and Culture, the Religious Freedom Institute, and Georgetown University's Religious Freedom Research Project.

    According to the report, a team of 17 leading scholars of global Christianity carried out the project through qualitative field research, including interviews with persecuted Christians, conducted between October 2014 and November 2015. The purpose of the investigation was to "achieve a better understanding of these responses in order to assist persecuted Christians and those who wish to act in solidarity with them."

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  • Evening Standard: Theresa May criticised by Muslim MPs for scheduling election during Ramadan
    April 27th, 2017

    Prime Minister Theresa May has been accused of ignoring Muslim voters after she scheduled the General Election in the middle of Ramadan.

    Muslim politicians from Labour and the Scottish National Party fear reduced voter turnout among Muslims on June 8, which falls during the holy month where fasting from dawn to sunset takes place.

    Ramandan takes place between May 26 and June 24.

    Read more.

  • BBC: British High Commission helps gay couples marry in Australia
    April 27th, 2017

    Gay couples can't get married under Australian law, but hundreds of gay weddings have taken place since 2014 using British law, with the help of the British High Commission.

    Watch here.

  • Telegraph: Ban parents from pulling children out of religious education classes, Church of England says
    April 27th, 2017

    Parents should be banned from pulling their children out of religious education classes because they are preventing students from learning about Islam, the Church of England has warned.

    Derek Holloway, the Church's lead on religious education (RE) policy, said that those with "fundamentalist" religious beliefs are "exploiting" laws which give them the right to withdraw children from the lessons, in order to stop them from learning about the Muslim faith.

    He said that parents are using a "dubious interpretation of human right legislation" to pull students out of the classes, warning that such actions create a "dangerous" precedent.

    Read more.

  • Telegraph: Children want social media sites to protect them from pornography and cyber bullying, NSPCC report warns
    April 27th, 2017

    Four out of five children want Facebook and other social media sites to protect them from pornography and bullying, an NSPCC report has warned.

    The charity said that from the 1,696 children and young people surveyed, the majority - 1,380 - felt that companies are currently not doing enough to protect them from pornography, self-harm, bullying, and hatred on their sites.

    The findings follow calls from campaigners for the Government to crack down on the content published by social media sites.

    Read more.

  • The Sun: Thrown out of uni, Felix Ngole's 'crime' was using Facebook to express a common 'Christian' view on gay marriage
    April 26th, 2017

    One of these days the LGBT police are going to catch up with you, believe me.

    I don't know what you've said or done. But there will be something. And they will know about it.

    And you'll lose your job and be out on your uppers before you can say: "I now pronounce you husband and husband."

    Read more.

  • Telegraph: Britain to be bound by European Convention on Human Rights until 2022
    April 26th, 2017

    Britain will be bound by European human rights laws for another five years, with the Conservatives expected to abandon a pledge to withdraw the UK from the ECHR.

    Theresa May is expected to make no mention in the Tory election manifesto of pulling out of the European Convention on Human Rights.

    Mrs May, who served as home secretary from 2010 to 2016, said last year she wanted to quit the ECHR, which for a time frustrated her plans to extradite the hate preacher Abu Qatada.

    Read more.