Search results for Danny Webster
The challenges around conversion therapy
The Government’s 2018 LGBT Action Plan set out its intention to end conversion therapy in the UK. Proposals on how the Government will do this are now imminent. In the four-year action plan, and in recent parliamentary statements, the Government has sought to reassure churches and other faith…
Danny Webster
Exclusion in the name of inclusion
“We don’t do God” as Alistair Campbell put it was for several years the go-to reference point for any such discussion. Then Tim Farron resigned as leader of the Liberal Democrats because he felt unable to reconcile his faith with leading the party. And now, Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour…
Danny Webster
Are COVID-status certificates a passport to restricted religious freedom?
New regulations have been frequently published hours before they come into force, subject only to a simple vote for subsequent approval without any scope for amendments or meaningful debate. All of this could fade into comparative insignificance if vaccine passports are used and required in some of…
Danny Webster
Emerging from lockdown: changes for churches from 17 May
UPDATED 17 MAY 2021
Danny Webster
Why our elected representatives need connection
It wasn’t that I was one of the few in Great Britain that missed out on the great tapestry of different polls, nor was it utter indifference to the impact my cross would make. I knew the elections were taking place (in my case, being London based, for Mayor of London and the London Assembly), and I…
Danny Webster
New plans to allow assisted dying must be strongly opposed
This week parliament is being asked to consider the issue again as Baroness Meacher, who also serves as chair of campaign group Dignity in Dying, formerly the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, brings a private members’ bill in the House of Lords. The Sunday Times wrote in its editorial last weekend…
Danny Webster
Why creating jobs should matter to Christians
The latest statistics show that across the globe young adults have been the worst hit by job losses, with those under 25 twice as likely to be economically inactive. In the UK, people under 35 accounted for 80 per cent of job losses (635,000) in the year to March 2021. While some sectors have…
Danny Webster
Churches muted by government inconsistency and intransigence
When churches were allowed to resume meeting in July last year a number of restrictions were put in place through both law and guidance to ensure they could operate safely and limit the spread of coronavirus. Churches have diligently followed these rules and advice, from limiting numbers, tracking…
Danny Webster
Why 'Freedom Day' misses the point of freedom
Throughout out the coronavirus crisis I have been broadly supportive of the Government taking action to suppress the virus and restrict its spread. I’m no epidemiologist but it has seemed necessary medically, unless we were willing to pay a scandalously high price in loss of life when we could have…
Danny Webster
Counting the cost of being counter-cultural
Christian leader John Stott, whose legacy was recently commemorated on the centenary of his birth, spoke frequently of double listening, of holding the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. Our commitment to follow what the Bible teaches does not negate the need to listen and to…
Danny Webster
Campaigners push to remove all safeguards on abortion
The impact of this move, if passed, could potentially allow abortion without restriction up to birth and for any reason including on the basis of the unborn child’s sex. Abortion is currently regulated through the 1967 Abortion Act which created a set of exemptions to a much older piece of…
Danny Webster
England: Legal restrictions on church gatherings set to end
The Prime Minister has set out how England would proceed to step 4 (the removal of all legal limits on social contact) from 19 July. Advice will replace most legal restrictions and decisions on whether to uphold certain measures will be left to personal conscience. Despite case numbers continuing…
Danny Webster
Widely criticised aid cuts expose limits of the law
At the 2021 budget the chancellor announced that development assistance would reduce from 0.7 per cent of gross national income to 0.5 per cent. The Conservative Party had pledged in their 2019 election manifesto that they would maintain the level of spending. It had been a centre piece of the…
Danny Webster
It’s time to be salt and light and encourage our MPs
Speaking in the House of Commons Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “When he died, he was doing what he firmly believed was the most important part of any MP's job – offering help to those in need". Johnson went on to add that Sir David was "dedicated, passionate, firm in his beliefs but never…
Danny Webster
Government plans to ban conversion therapy need scrutiny to protect human rights
Since the government first pledged a ban in 2018, the Evangelical Alliance has consistently pressed for detail about what this would involve and clarity as to the definition, to ensure that human rights are kept central and religious freedom is protected. More recently, the Evangelical Alliance…
Danny Webster
