Last updated: 30th April, 2008
The Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill
The Government included within the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill a provision to outlaw incitement to hatred on grounds of sexual orientation. This is in line with similar provisions in the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill with reference to religion and belief.
Don Horrocks, Head of Public Affairs at the Alliance, gave oral evidence to the House of Commons Bill Committee and also met with the Ministry of Justice where assurances were given that any offence would include essential elements of intention to incite hatred and threatening behaviour. Nevertheless, when dealing with religious hatred in the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill, it was regarded as important to include a saving clause to make it clear what type of speech was or was not permissible in deciding what might or might not be deemed to count as inciting hatred.
The Alliance and other Christian groups were concerned about the absence of any equivalent clause in the Criminal Justice Bill and a very carefully worded equivalent free speech clause was consequently prepared and tabled in the House of Commons. This was initially defeated by Government and Liberal Democrats whipping voting against the clause.
However, in the House of Lords a slightly improved commonsense, reasonable amendment was retabled by Lord Waddington. A great deal of work was done by the Alliance and others to brief Lords about the merits and fairness of this amendment. On the evening of Monday 21 April, the Government attempted to catch out proponents of the clause by extending debate until midnight on the first day back from recess, in anticipation that peers would not turn up.
In fact, in a wonderful answer to prayer, peers did turn up and defeated the Government by 81 votes to 57. So we give thanks to God that freedom of speech has been clearly preserved. This amendment is crucial to ensure, for example, that the police do not have to investigate every malicious, trivial or subjective complaint, thereby chilling the fundamental civil freedom to critique e.g. homosexuality.
Please pray that the Government does not seek to overturn the amendment in the Commons.
London Mayoral Elections
The London Mayoral election does not take place until Thursday the 1st May but already the first televised debate has been held between the main candidates. For the last London Mayoral election in 2004 a Hustings event held in Methodist Central Hall was attended by all the major candidates including Mayor Livingstone and a cross section of London church members.
This year the Evangelical Alliance in partnership with the London Churches Group are hosting a London Mayoral Election hustings in St Martin-in-the-Fields Church on the evening of Wednesday 23rd April.
Members of the audience will be able to listen to each of the Mayoral candidates making a short pitch for their votes and then the floor will be open for anyone to question the candidates vying to be the future Mayor of London.
Pray that Christians will turn out in force for what promises to be a hugely significant opportunity to ask the Mayoral candidates their questions. London churches are encouraged to publicise this event.More details will be published on the Evangelical Alliance website closer to the time.
The Charity Commission and Public Benefit
On Wednesday 16 of January the Charity Commission published its guidelines on the public benefit test for charities.
The Evangelical Alliance has been active in helping the Charity Commission to draw up guidance that is helpful to Churches and Christian groups. This follows several years of constructive engagement between the Evangelical Alliance and the Government on the new Charities Act 2006.
The latest guidelines explain the new legal requirement that all charities must have charitable aims that are for the public benefit. The Evangelical Alliance believes that effective Christian charities, whether they are churches, schools, social projects or development organisations should not find it difficult to demonstrate how they are of benefit to society.
Please pray for a fair and smooth implementation of the new public benefit test.
You can view the Guidelines on the Charity Commission website:-
www.charity-commission.gov.uk/publicbenefit/default.asp
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill is now being debated in Parliament and has reached committee stage in the House of Lords. The Bill still has to finish all of its stages in the Lords before going to the House of Commons. The Bill would permit experiments that much of the world would like to see outlawed. Scientists will be permitted to create ‘true hybrids’, embryos that would have a human parent and a nonhuman parent. This legislation may also to reopen the debate about abortion. Please pray: for wisdom in the debates taking place in Parliament. Pray that Peers and MPs will be able graciously and effectively to speak out for the unborn who are not able to speak out for themselves. Act: the All Party Parliamentary Pro-life Group have asked for our support during a national tour that will be taking place over the coming months. Full details will be available in the December edition of the Evangelical Alliance PA magazine which you can download at www The tour is entitled “Not on your life..or anyone else’s” and will be hosted by the prominent Christian pro-life MP Ann Widgeon. The tour will be taking place nationwide:-
Glasgow:The University Union, 2 University Avenue:- Wed 23 Jan at 7.30pm
Southampton:Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton:- Wed 30 Jan at 7.30pm
London:Central Hall Westminster, SW1:- Wed 6 Feb at 7.00pm
Liverpool:The Liner Hotel, Lord Nelson Street:- Tues 12 Feb at 7.30pm
Coventry:Coventry Cathedral:- Wed 13 Feb at 7.30pm
Widnes:The Foundry, Lugsdale Road:- Mon 18 Feb at 7.30pm
Cardiff:The City Temple, Cowbridge Road East:-Tues 4 Mar at 7.30pm
For further information tel. 01925 220999 or 0203 1760032 or email:
gill@epiphany.org.ukor ian.lucas@appplg.co.uk
Asylum
Asylum seekers should be treated fairly and with respect. Those are the conclusions in “alltogether for Asylum Justice: Asylum seekers’ Conversion to Christianity” a study by the Alliance’s Parliamentary Research Assistant Jennifer Coton.
The Alliance is working alongside the Home Office with member organisations and other Christian groups to ensure the questions asked to test asylum seekers’ faith are appropriate and that information about safety for Christian converts in countries like Iran and Afghanistan is up-to-date.
Advice for church leaders and details of organisations working in this field are included in the report.
Pray:That the Home Office would take our submissions into account as they deal with asylum seekers and that converts will not be persecuted for their faith, either in this country or in their country of origin.
Act:Download the report: alltogether for Asylum Justice
Fairtrade Chocolate and Stop the Traffik
The issue of fairly traded chocolate is steadily rising up the political agenda. BBC’s Newsnight programme recently highlighted the link between modern day child slavery and cocoa production.
The anti-slavery campaign Stop the Traffik is running a chocolate campaign on this issue and has even given evidence in Parliament to a committee of MPs. Nearly half the world's chocolate is made from cocoa grown in Cote D'Ivoire where 12,000 children have been trafficked into farms.
Stop the Traffik is calling for people everywhere of all ages to persuade chocolate manufacturers to give a guarantee that their chocolate is ‘Traffik Free’: www.stopthetraffik.org/chocolatecampaign
Act:Please consider, for example, sending your favourite chocolate bar back to the manufacturer telling them that you won’t buy it again until it’s guaranteed free of child labour.
Act:Write to your local supermarket manager asking them to stock Fairtrade chocolate.
Prayfor the children who have never tasted chocolate yet pay for it with their freedom.
Micah Challenge
Micah Challenge focuses on the Millennium Development Goals to halve extreme poverty by 2015 – agreed by world leaders at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000. The half way point for meeting those goals is 2007.
The Micah Challenge coalition held a worship service on the 2nd June at Methodist Central Hall at the culmination of its ‘Blow the Whistle” Campaign. There was an impressive line-up of Christian leaders, activists and speakers at the event, but perhaps none as inspiring as the Rev Ashley Lovett, Minister of Gligal Baptist Church.
The congregation of Gilgal Baptist Church in Porthcawl, Wales blew whistles down the telephone during a phone call to the office of their MP, Madeleine Moon, during a Blow the Whistle Sunday service on 20 May.
The church’s unusual phone call led Ms Moon, Labour MP for Bridgend, to ask a question at Prime Minister’s Question Time on Wednesday, 23 May: “At 10.42 on Sunday morning, my office answer phone picked up a message from the congregation of Gilgal Baptist Church during their morning service.
“They asked me to bring a message to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor that they should continue to force through the standards and changes in the Millennium Development Goals. What answer can I take to them?”
Mr Blair replied: “one of complete support.”
This is testimony of how a small action by Gilgal Baptist Church can have a national impact.
Pray:That the momentum that was gathered through Micah Challenge’s Blow the Whistle campaign would continue to grow as people become ignited with a passion for the alleviation of poverty.
Act:Please consider writing a letter to your local MP so that we can hold our Government to account for the promises that have been made on tackling Global poverty. If you don’t know who your MP is visit www.theyworkforyou.comYou can find out more information about Micah Challenge and how you can get involved at www.micahchallenge.org.uk
