How long will it be before Christianity is illegal in Britain? Not long, argues Melanie Phillips. The author of Londonistan writes in the Daily Mail (September 7, 2006) that Christianity is quickly heading to extinction. It is being hounded out of existence by the forces of Political Correctness, especially the radical homosexual lobby.
Consider this example: “An evangelical Christian campaigner, Stephen Green was arrested and charged last weekend with using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour. So what was this behaviour? Merely trying peacefully to hand out leaflets at a gay rally in Cardiff. So what was printed on those leaflets that was so threatening, abusive or insulting that it attracted the full force of the law? Why, none other than the majestic words of the 1611 King James Bible.”
The leaflet talked about the need to turn from sin and to God. Nothing too horrendous there. “But to the secular priests of the human rights culture, the only sin is to say that homosexuality is a sin. Admittedly, Mr Green is not everyone’s cup of tea; other Christians regard him as extreme. But our society is now so upside-down that, by doing nothing more than upholding a fundamental tenet of Christianity, he was treated like a criminal. And yet at the same time, the police are still studiously refusing to act against Islamic zealots abusing British freedom to preach hatred and incitement against the West.”
Radical minority groups are effectively shutting down the religious majority. “The Bible is the moral code that underpins our civilisation. Yet the logic of the police action against Mr Green surely leads ultimately to the inescapable conclusion that the Bible itself is ‘hate speech’ and must be banned. This bizarre state of affairs has arisen thanks to our human rights culture which automatically champions minorities against the majority.”
Phillips gives other examples. “Author Lynette Burrows received a warning from the Metropolitan Police merely for suggesting that gay people did not make ideal adoptive parents. The former leader of the Muslim Council of Britain, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, also had his collar felt by police after he said that homosexuality was harmful. Notably, in his case the matter was swiftly dropped. If there’s one thing that terrifies our PC police even more than being called homophobic, it’s being called Islamophobic – even though Islamic fundamentalism poses a real threat to the human rights of gay people. If this wasn’t all so frightening, it would be hilarious. Christians, by contrast, get very different treatment.”
Or consider these examples: “An elderly evangelical preacher, Harry Hammond, was convicted of a public order offence after he held up a poster calling for an end to homosexuality, lesbianism and immorality. Although he had been the victim of a physical attack when a crowd poured soil and water over him, he alone was prosecuted. And Lancashire pensioners Joe and Helen Roberts were interrogated by police for 80 minutes about their ‘homophobic’ views after they had merely asked their local council to display Christian literature alongside gay rights leaflets in civic buildings.”
The PC brigade and radical secularists have declared war on Christianity: “Christianity is fast becoming the creed that dare not speak its name. It is being written out of the national script by ideologues seeking to hasten its disappearance. . . . Local authorities and government bodies are systematically bullying Christianity out of existence by refusing to fund Christian voluntary groups on the grounds that to be Christian means that they are not committed to ‘diversity’.”
The strange thing is that “Christianity is still the official religion of this country. All its institutions, its history and its culture are suffused with it; Britain would lose its identity, its values and its cohesion without it. But minority rights are now being wielded against it like a wrecking ball. What started as a commendable desire to ban hatred of the gay minority has morphed into a hatred of the Christian majority. Behaviour which was previously considered to transgress the moral norms of the Bible has now instead become the norm – and it is biblical values that are treated as beyond the pale of acceptable behaviour. This is no accident.”
Concludes Phillips: “Christianity is being steadily removed from the public sphere. Various councils have banned Christmas on the grounds that it is ‘too Christian’ and therefore ‘offensive’ to people of other faiths, and are replacing it with meaningless ‘winter festivals’. This attack on Christianity is not merely something that seems straight out of Alice In Wonderland. It is not merely a threat to freedom of speech and religious expression. It is a fundamental onslaught on the national identity and bedrock values of this country – and as such will destroy those freedoms which Christianity itself first created.”
Exactly. And the situation is the same here in Australia. Christians are being stripped of their rights on a regular basis. The question, will the church wake up and do something about, or will it stay asleep at the wheel?
One could say the Victorian R&RT legislation is the gag that will be used nefariously on those who stand for the Lord. We cannot expect to be innoculated from persecution
“Now when they bring you to the synagogues & magistrates & authorities,do not worry about how or what you should answer,or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you oaught to say.” – Jesus – Luke12:11,12 NKJ
G Weedall
To borrow your metaphor, the church is not just asleep at the wheel but the car has also run out of petrol and run off the road and into a ditch.
Regrettably I think the church will only wake up when one future Sunday the congregation find the church doors chained up by order of the State!
Ewan McDonald, Victoria
Don’t think that these anti christian attitudes are solely those of outsiders. Some one within my church recently expounded dare I say glorified Bill Gates of microsoft for his philanthropy siting the millions he alledgedly gives to causes. I reminded the speaker that he also gives heavily to the abortion proponants and new life stem cell research.
Personally I believe that we can only attain extreme wealth by ripping off our fellow humans by charging to much for our product, services or artistic ability. If the high flying individuals tycoons were less greedy then perhaps there wouldn’t be world poverty and the consequent need for charity.
Dennis Newland
I knew John Hammond. I used to pick him up for Church. I visited his home. He was living proof that Britain is a Police state that is ruled by minority groups such as muslims and homosexuals. I feel sorry for everyone living there. Before I emigrated someone once asked me what my favourite part of England was and I said “The airport”.
Victor Wan
One could say the Victorian R&RT legislation is the gag that will be used nefariously on those who stand for the Lord. We cannot expect to be innoculated from persecution
“Now when they bring you to the synagogues & magistrates & authorities,do not worry about how or what you should answer,or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you oaught to say.” – Jesus – Luke12:11,12 NKJ
G Weedall
To borrow your metaphor, the church is not just asleep at the wheel but the car has also run out of petrol and run off the road and into a ditch.
Regrettably I think the church will only wake up when one future Sunday the congregation find the church doors chained up by order of the State!
Ewan McDonald, Victoria
Don’t think that these anti christian attitudes are solely those of outsiders. Some one within my church recently expounded dare I say glorified Bill Gates of microsoft for his philanthropy siting the millions he alledgedly gives to causes. I reminded the speaker that he also gives heavily to the abortion proponants and new life stem cell research.
Personally I believe that we can only attain extreme wealth by ripping off our fellow humans by charging to much for our product, services or artistic ability. If the high flying individuals tycoons were less greedy then perhaps there wouldn’t be world poverty and the consequent need for charity.
Dennis Newland
I knew John Hammond. I used to pick him up for Church. I visited his home. He was living proof that Britain is a Police state that is ruled by minority groups such as muslims and homosexuals. I feel sorry for everyone living there. Before I emigrated someone once asked me what my favourite part of England was and I said “The airport”.
Victor Wan