Matthew Parris, a columnist with The Times newspaper

I was fascinated and pleased to read that Matthew Parris, a columnist at The Times newspaper wrote

“Now a confirmed atheist, I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts.”

He goes on to say “Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.”

Couldn’t agree more. As one who has over the years campaigned for justice for developing nations – for Fair Trade, cancellation of debt and for political reform – I see the value of these but have long held that only the power of God can bring lasting change.

A truly refreshing, objective bit of media critique. Read more at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article5400568.ece

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The Government has been defeated in the House of Lords over its attempt to repeal a free speech protection from a sexual orientation ‘hatred’ law. Peers voted by 186 to 133 to keep the protection in place. The matter will be passed back to the House of Commons where MPs voted for repeal.

The protection makes clear that criticising homosexual conduct or encouraging people to refrain from such conduct is not, in itself, a crime.

Whilst I have no intention of treating homosexual people with contempt and accept their right to freedom of speech I am glad that at least we all can maintain that right.

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The 2005 story of Joe and Helen Roberts – an elderly Christian couple from Lancashire who were interrogated by police because they criticised a ‘gay rights’ project being run by their local council.

In this new video, Helen speaks about how intimidating it was to be questioned by police officers for over an hour. The officers told them they were near to committing a hate crime which carries a seven year prison sentence.

Joe says Wyre Borough Council kept talking about ‘diversity’ but the council’s brand of diversity didn’t seem to allow him and his wife to express their religious beliefs on sexual ethics.

He says he never thought he would see the day when British police officers would be interrogating citizens because they had expressed a point of view in a telephone call.

A year after the events, following a legal action supported by The Christian Institute, the police and the council admitted they had acted wrongly towards the Roberts and changed their policies to avoid it happening again.

Last year Parliament passed a free speech protection making it clear that criticising homosexual conduct is not, in itself, a crime. But the Government is trying to repeal it. We expect a vote in Parliament sometime in July.

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I noticed that since posting about the rally at the Houses of Parliament last year to protest against abortion a few people have searched this blog for a list of anti-abortion groups. So here are a few that may be worth contacting for resources, campaigning strategies etc. Some aren’t dedicated to abortion issues alone and have a broader scope in tackling other social and moral issues. There may be more but these are the ones I would recommend as I have used their resources for campaigning.

• Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC)
  
• The Christian Institute
• CARE (Christian Action Research and Education)

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Religious and anti-abortion groups have been holding a rally to mark 40 years since abortion was legalised. Activists met at the Houses of Parliament to call for a reduction in the upper time limit for abortion. They later walked to Westminster Cathedral for a service commemorating 6.7m abortions performed since 1967.

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Scary story. Are we moving closer and closer to a full-blown Police State in the UK? It seems that the government is so obsessed with terrorism and crime that it will go to any lengths to get results.

To quote from the article: “..the case of British toddler Madeleine McCann, who went missing in Portugal, has raised questions about modern reliance on DNA evidence after theories multiplied based on the partial results from trace amounts of biological evidence. Alec Jeffreys, the genetics professor who invented DNA fingerprinting in 1984 and went on to help police crack the Pitchfork case, is justifiably proud of his discovery…..Yet he is worried, saying he fears society has failed to grasp the ethical issues of DNA collection, its potential for abuse and the limitations of genetic analysis.

“The legislation is lagging really rather seriously behind the use of the database,” he said. “I take the simple view that my genome is mine. Under some circumstances, I’ll allow the state limited access. But prying into my DNA …? I am wholly opposed to that.”

Yes, I am opposed to terrorism. I’ve lived in Northern Ireland for nearly 12 years so I’ve seen my share of it. But the simple question is this: “Does the end justify the means??”

See more of the story at http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/26/2070838.htm

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Marriage beats all other living arrangements in terms of its benefits to adults and children, an official Government study has found.

Married adults were shown to be healthier and to live longer than cohabiting or single people, whether widowed or divorced, according to the Focus on Families survey by the Office of National Statistics.

See more at the Christian Institute web site.

But the question is: Will the Government take any notice of their own study, or will they choose to ignore it???

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