David Smyth
David Smyth is head of Northern Ireland and coordinates the Public Leader: Northern Ireland course. He is a former solicitor and represents the Evangelical Alliance on a range of government, civic and charitable forums. He serves in the space where faith, law, politics and culture intersect.
Northern Ireland: Who are the good news people?
26 February 2024The 2021 census data for England and Wales shows that 46% of the population identify as Christian, significantly less that the 59% reported just ten years previously. The results for Northern Ireland are, however, very different, with 80% of people here still identifying as Christian. Global markets, the internet and emerging social trends mean that even in North Antrim or South Armagh we can easily connect across cultures with friends or colleagues in New York or Melbourne. And yet, we are…
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Changes to RSE in Northern Ireland
3 August 2023Disturbing stories have emerged about teaching on issues such as gender identities or graphic and sometimes dangerous sexual practices. As a result, many parents, of different faiths and none, have expressed concerns about the methods and content of some lessons. So, the teaching of RSE is being reviewed and challenged in various ways across the UK and the Republic of Ireland. However, there have been some specific and recent changes in Northern Ireland.
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Both Lives Matter: Church leaders gather in Washington
9 February 2023How it all began About 6 years ago, a number of us from different Christian charities in Northern Ireland were growing increasingly frustrated and grieved about the debate around abortion. Talking publicly (and privately) about abortion has always been difficult. And it should be, because we’re talking about the limits of personal freedom and bodily autonomy, the value we place on a developing baby, the proper constraints of medicine and human rights law. Increasingly, we witnessed an already…
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There is no planet B
8 November 2022Today, I have seemingly endless personal choices. I can wake up in Ireland and be in London or New York by lunchtime. I can work from my dining table and ‘meet’ people from across the globe on Zoom or on social media. I can’t buy milk directly from the farm across the road, but I can buy bananas from Sri Lanka in my local shop or have a new coffee machine delivered to my home within hours. It’s a glaring understatement, but in these past few hundred years, even decades, we have lived through…
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The Evangelical Alliance then, now… and tomorrow
10 November 2021I’m the kind of person who likes to understand the big picture. I need to know where I’m coming from in order to plot where I’m going. So just a few weeks into my new job, still learning names and faces, I picked up a dusty copy of One Body in Christ: The History and Significance of the Evangelical Alliance, which traces the organisation from its foundation in 1846 up to 2001. Turning the pages, I quickly realised that working here would be a rare and wonderful privilege. One of the moments in…
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Government’s plans for Troubles prosecutions deeply concerning
20 July 2021The five political parties which make up the Northern Ireland Executive, as well as many victims and survivors of The Troubles, have condemned this approach, which would also end current and future civil cases and inquests. Opposition comes from right across the political spectrum and from groups representing victims of both republican and loyalist paramilitaries, veterans and those killed by state forces. The shared concern is that such a blunt move fails to address the specific and…
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Northern Ireland: Abortion amendment bill passes second stage
17 March 2021In Northern Ireland abortion is permitted up to 12 weeks for any or no stated reason, up to 24 weeks for a threat to the mental health of the woman, and up to birth for ‘severe fetal impairment’. This bill seeks to repeal the part of the law which currently allows for abortion on the ground of ‘severe fetal impairment’ or non-fatal disabilities. In Great Britain similar provisions have been used to regularly allow for abortion in the case of babies diagnosed in the womb with Down’s syndrome,…
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Removal of abortion law has led to over 650 abortions in the past six months
22 October 2020Today, 22 October 2020, marks one year since the law on abortion in Northern Ireland was radically changed by the Westminster Government. Regulations came into effect on 31 March, and since then more than 650 abortions have been carried out in the first six months up to the beginning of October. David Smyth, head of the Evangelical Alliance in Northern Ireland, commented:“Today is a dark day as we remember the events of a year ago, when vital protections for women and unborn children were…
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Bridging the gap
24 June 2020Many times, though, we fail to see any common ground between ourselves and our neighbours, let alone our enemies. When we do, we’re conditioned to believe it can only be entered by way of compromise. So, the idea of hosting on a shared space, or even setting foot there, requires the willingness to take a risk and build a relationship. All this frames a public conversation I hosted recently with the chief commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, Mr Les Allamby. Our…
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Public leadership: Seeking God’s kingdom first
2 September 2019A foodbank, a new business venture, mums and tots in the portacabin at church, recycling your plastic bottles. A teacher bringing knowledge to her students, a lawyer fighting for justice, a nurse compassionately binding up wounds. Kingdom seems to be used as a neat shorthand for everything we used to call church and work or even all that is good in the world. God is before all things and in Him all things hold together (Colossians 1:17), and He is King over all the earth (Psalm 47:7). So, is it…
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Enemies no more
29 August 2019This was just a few days before traditional republican commemorations which take place every year to commemorate the Easter Rising. Public outcry following her death was swift and sincere, contrasting with the hollowness of the ‘apology’ from the IRA which “claimed responsibility” for the killing. They explained that she was “tragically killed while standing beside enemy forces” and went on to conclude that they had instructed their volunteers “to take the utmost care in future, when engaging…
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