Christian parents win over school’s transgender policy
A Christian couple has won a change in government policy and £22,000 costs following a five-year legal battle.
Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Nigel and Sally Rowe took legal action against the Department for Education after they and their six-year-old son were labelled ‘transphobic’ by a Church of England primary school for refusing to accept transgender ideology.
They suffered abuse from local people
The local Church of England diocese backed the school’s position, and the parents suffered abuse from local people and activists who accused them of bigotry, leading to the Rowes having to home school their sons.
The Government decided to settle the case after the Rowes won permission at the High Court for a judicial review of transgenderism policies. Now the Government has promised to reform the policies in primary schools.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Government has paid out nearly £150,000 in legal fees after attempting to change the definition of woman to include men. Women’s rights group For Women Scotland (FWS) took legal action against the Government for including men who identify as female in a law designed to increase the number of women on public boards.
Street preachers vindicated
Evangelist Hatun Tash, who frequently witnesses to Muslims at Speakers’ Corner in London, has been awarded £10,000 and given an apology by the Met Police for twice arresting her.
“There is always someone who will be offended”
(Photo: Guy Corbishley / Alamy Stock Photo)
Tash was also stabbed in July 2021 at the same place, with no one yet charged. The apology concerns two other incidents.
Meanwhile, a street preacher who suggested Muslim prophet Mohammed was a paedophile has been found not guilty of hate speech.
Shaun O’Sullivan was arrested after passers-by told the police he was being racist by criticising Mohammed and Buddha while preaching in March 2020 in Swindon. Swindon Magistrates Court found O’Sullivan not guilty. O’Sullivan told Premier: “My intention was to tell the truth based on the evidence in the Bible and Islamic scripture, and when you do that in public there is always someone who will be offended.
He added: “Offending someone is not and never should be seen as a crime.”
‘Mark of the Beast’ reaches Britain
A West London man has become the first British person to be implanted with a bank microchip for making purchases – and it’s in his hand.
Echoing the Bible’s warnings about no one being able to buy or sell without the Mark of the Beast in the hand or forehead (Revelation 13:16-18), former MP Gyles Brandreth predicted that implants are “the future for all of us”.
Daytime TV programme This Morning revealed in October that Arnie Szoke can now make purchases with a tap of his hand. The NHS healthcare assistant told The Sun: “It means I don’t have to keep a wallet with me all the time.”
However, like normal bank cards, his implant has an expiry date, meaning that he will need a £130 replacement operation in 2029.
Gyles Brandreth called the technology “marvellous” and, according to The Daily Mail, said: “It’s going to be the future for all of us… I want that to happen. And even in my forehead.”
LifeSiteNews reports that thousands of people in Sweden already have the microchips, replacing not only cash and payment cards but ID and keys.
Pro-life politician faced “lynch mob”
Former BBC journalist David Campanale is considering legal action to retain his position as Liberal Democrat candidate for Sutton and Cheam.
He told The Christian Institute that he had faced “direct harassment and hostility” from local Lib Dem activists who tried to have him deselected after they became aware of his pro-life views.
Campanale, an award-winning journalist who exposed Russian military involvement in Ukraine,
became the Lib Dem candidate in “an overwhelming vote” in January. Shockingly, Lib Dem members have since told him: “We do not recognise your right to have a conscience.”
Campanale told Premier News: “I was subjected to a two hour interrogation for my Christian views… people were mocking me, saying, ‘I suppose you think you’re being persecuted, like Jesus was?’… Another even said… ‘If I’d known about your Christian beliefs, I would never have agreed for you to be shortlisted as the candidate.’”
He added: “This was a lynch mob determined to root me out when they discovered that I go to church.”
Earlier this year, the SNP (Scottish National Party) gave one of its own MSPs a formal written warning for expressing pro-life views in public.
News in brief
‘Buffer zones’ extended across England and Wales
MPs have voted to ban pro-life volunteers from offering help to women outside abortion clinics across England and Wales.
Anyone breaking the law could face six months in jail for a first offence and two years for repeat offences. Stephen Green of Christian Voice calls the new law “a gross infringement on freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.”
Christian pro-life group 40 Days For Life Birmingham has launched legal action against Birmingham City Council’s ‘buffer zone’ round a clinic in Kings Norton.
Christian campaigner arrested
Caroline Farrow, CitizenGO’s Campaign Director for the UK and Ireland, was arrested in October for making “malicious posts” online.
CitizenGo says the accusations are completely false. A petition in support of her can be signed at citizengo.org.
Franklin Graham wins again
A Scottish court has awarded damages to evangelist Franklin Graham after a venue cancelled his booking after LGBT campaigners complained. It ruled he had been discriminated against for his beliefs.
The SSE Hydro backed out of Graham’s event in 2020. Graham had many venues cancel bookings for his UK tour. So far, five cases have all been resolved in Graham’s favour and two more are still being disputed.
‘God’s smuggler’ dies
Open Doors founder Brother Andrew died in September aged 94. Famous for smuggling Bibles across the Iron Curtain in his early days, the Open Doors charity went on to support thousands of persecuted Christians around the world.
GP secures freedom to pray for patients
Christian doctor Richard Scott challenged NHS England over its disciplinary measures for GPs who offer to pray for patients, and has reached a settlement. NHS England has agreed that Scott “may discuss spiritual care with patients”.