STARMER’S ‘SUPERMAJORITY’ ALARMS EVANGELICALS
BABIES, MARRIAGE AND PRAYER ARE THREATENED
Britain has elected “the most godless parliament in its history”, with 40 per cent of MPs, including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, choosing to ‘affirm’ their allegiance to the King rather than swear on the Bible.
Half the new cabinet also declined to express any religious belief on being sworn into the Commons after July’s general election radically changed the make-up of parliament.
The increase in secular MPs is up from 24 per cent at the start of the last parliament in 2019.
The Times said, “Britain elected the first parliament as godless as the nation at large.”
The big jump in irreligious MPs was the result of the Labour landslide in which Starmer’s party won 412 seats. Almost half of Labour MPs — 47 per cent — affirmed, compared with only 9 per cent of Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats, who won a record 72 seats, also had 47 per cent of their MPs make an affirmation.
Christian campaigning organisations have expressed their worries about the new Labour government’s agenda, which is also being seen as a reflection of a godless society.
With its so-called ‘supermajority’ of 181, Sir Keir Starmer’s government has almost free rein to implement its radical manifesto.
Many MPs with a strong pro-life voting record have lost their seats and CitizenGo expects Labour to promote abortion and euthanasia.
Marriage
Traditional marriage is in danger of further denigration, according to Coalition for Marriage. Its director, Dr Tony Rucinski, told supporters in July that although Sir Keir Starmer had only been in office for two weeks, “the evident shift in support for LGBT ideology among senior Government figures is already sparking concern from real marriage supporters and more widely.”
There are fears that Labour’s draft legislation to ban ‘conversion therapy’ could criminalise prayer or even conversations about unwanted same-sex attraction, because such conversations and prayer are confused with drastic and abusive practices, which are already illegal.
A group of church leaders representing more than 1,300 churches has written to the Prime Minister, warning that new laws could criminalise them as they put into practice their teaching on marriage.
Co-signatory of the letter Rev Dr Matthew Roberts told Premier the plans don’t account for or understand Christian teaching. He said proposals for the bill include “anyone who wanted to negate or suppress people’s sexual orientation or gender identity”.
Roberts said: “A Christian sermon that calls people to repent of their sin and to live in a godly way is also about negating and suppressing our sins.”
The letter reads: “Campaigners often imply that expressing mainstream, traditional Christian beliefs on sexuality or gender identity in pastoral
conversations is, inherently, a form of ‘conversion therapy’.”
The letter also offers to help the Government understand traditional Christian teaching on marriage and distinguish it from abusive behaviours. Campaigners are hopeful that the Government may be open to listening.
Earlier in the year, then-Shadow Equalities Minister Anneliese Dodds stated that “any ban must not cover legitimate psychological support and treatment”. She also said any new legislation in this area must not criminalise “non-directive” pastoral relationships between “religious leaders and their worshippers” or “discussions within families”.
Rucinski said, “Life-long marriage between a man and a woman is the foundation of a flourishing society. It must not become a crime to defend it.”
Babies’ safety
Campaigners are concerned that pro-abortion Labour MPs Dame Diana Johnson and Stella Creasy, who have been re-elected, will double down on their efforts to decriminalise abortion – which would allow abortions to take place for any reason, right up to birth. Right to Life UK also worries that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) and biotech firms will push for more freedom to experiment on human embryos.
State-sponsored suicide
The new Prime Minister has not only voted in favour of assisted suicide in the past, but, along with all the major parties, has promised to hold a parliamentary vote on introducing assisted suicide.
“GODLESS” PARLIAMENT
The Greens are the most irreligious party, with all of their four MPs affirming rather than swearing on the Bible, as did six of the SNP’s nine MPs. Tim Farron of the Lib Dems also affirmed rather than swore on a Bible. He told Premier his decision was based on Matthew 5:34-37, where Jesus says: “But I tell you, do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool;… And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply, let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”
Only one of Nigel Farage’s five Reform MPs affirmed.
However, the majority of MPs, 338, swore on the Bible, usually the King James version.
There were 14 Muslim MPs, who swore on the Quran, and Rishi Sunak was one of three MPs to swear on the Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu holy book.
AN “OVERWHELMING AND SOBERING” WEEK OF PRAYER FOR BRITAIN
The week of prayer and fasting for Britain advertised in the last paper (June/ July), culminated in a ‘Day of Repentance’.
Convenor Rev Jennifer Abigail Lawson-Wallace told HEART, “These occasions were sobering, overwhelming and humbling! On the last day, the awesome presence and glory of God descended, almost tangibly, in our midst as the Lord met with us to hear our petitions on behalf of Britain.
“The call to repentance was an urgent invitation from God to the people of Britain, to re-orient our philosophies and ideologies, values, thinking and behaviour, back in alignment with his Word, ways and worship.”
Every evening on Zoom people from many nations, including Kenya, Ghana, Cameroon, Uganda, Nigeria and the Caribbean, joined the group to pray for mercy on behalf of Britain. (Hebrews 4:14-16; Hebrews 10:19-22)
Rev Jennifer says, “We acknowledged the ‘fundamental sin of Britain’, that is the rejection of the Lord God as Creator and our pursuit of other philosophies, ideologies and gods. We also acknowledged the sins of the Church (the entire Body of Christ), the Government and the people of Britain; we humbly asked God to forgive us, withhold judgement, turn and bring us to the place of true repentance and restore us back to himself. Many wept as the weight and enormity of what we were dealing with bore on us.”
After the Day of Repentance there were many testimonies of God’s presence and the sense of the importance and urgency of the call to prayer for Britain.
THE COMING STORM
This paper has been publishing prophecies and urgent warnings of judgement to the UK for over a decade. Now it seems that we could well see the prophesied famine, war and economic collapse.
There is certainly a new boldness in the Islamic presence in the nation, which was prophesied, to the extent that the US Vice-President nominee, JD Vance, has called Britain an “Islamic” nation.
But there is always hope with God, especially when his people turn back to him in repentance on behalf of their nation.