Hello and welcome to the Parliamentary prayer update, my name is Gareth Wallace and I work in Westminster for the Evangelical Alliance Public Affairs Department.
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.
These embryos would be destroyed at 14 days but the question remains: what kind of creatures would they be? This legislation also promises to reopen the debate around abortion.
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 PQ magazine.
The tour is entitled “Not on your life..or anyone else’s” and will be hosted by the prominent Christian pro-life MP Ann Widdecombe.
The tour begin’s in Glasgow on the 23rd January before talking in Southampton on the 30th January, London on the 6th February, Liverpool on the 12th February, Coventry on the 13th February, Widnes on the 18th February and concludes in Cardiff on Tuesday the 4th March at 7.30pm.
These rallies will be a wonderful opportunity to learn about the latest developments in the life issues debate, hear about the legislation going through Parliament and find out how you can take action.
Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill
Last month I mentioned that Dr Don Horrocks, Head of Public Affairs at the Evangelical Alliance gave evidence to the House of Commons Committee scrutinising the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill.
He stressed that there was no case for further extending incitement to hatred legislation on grounds of sexuality. While the Alliance supports legislation that prevents the stirring up of hatred, our view remains that the existing law is adequate to deal with offences relating both to religion and sexuality. A number of comedians and members of the Homosexual community have also said that this new law is unnecessary.
We are now at the stage of proposing an amendment to this legislation that will seek to protect freedom of speech. We are currently seeking meetings with MPs whom we are asking to support the necessary changes.
Please Pray for the Evangelical Alliance and other Christian groups as they meet with MPs. Please pray that in particular Christian MPs will feel able to come forward and support this amendment and that there would be widespread understanding amongst all members of the House of Commons that the Government’s proposals need to be revised in order to protect freedom of speech.
Asylum and Conversion
The Evangelical Alliance continues to work with MPs to highlight the plight of Christian asylum seekers, many of whom have the authenticity of their faith doubted by Home Office officials who often appear to know less about Christianity than the converts they are testing! Many Christians face persecution if they were returned to their countries of origin.
Please pray for the opportunity we have in the new year of a Westminster Hall Debate which would allow sympathetic MPs the opportunity to hold the Immigration minister to account.
Please pray that the Home Office would institute compulsory basic training in the key aspects of the Christian Faith. If all Home Office caseworkers had a basic knowledge of Christianity then asylum seekers would not have been asked questions to prove their faith such as “How do you go about preparing a turkey for Christmas”.
Christmas recess
Parliament rises for Christmas on Tuesday the 18th December and returns on Monday the 7th of January. I was chatting to a Christian MP a few weeks ago and he said that this was the time of the year that MP’s could really take a break with their families. Often the summer recess is taken up with constituency work and planning for the party conferences, but Christmas is a chance for members of parliament to take a much needed rest with spouses and children.
Please pray that MPs and Peers will be able to take time out from the stresses and competing demands on their time. Pray that they might be able to spend quality time with their families, especially as most MPs are away from home at least three nights of the week.
Further Prayer and Action
For further insights on these and other issues The Evangelical Alliance Public Affairs department produces a monthly parliamentary magazine, PQ, and a monthly ‘Prayer and Campaigns’ action and prayer sheet. Both of these are available on our website www.eauk.org along with topical political briefing material. If you have any questions please e-mail the public affairs team at: - pub-aff@eauk.org.
May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a very Merry New Year.
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