Speaking of Jesus Christ in Public Life
Government – Law - Media www.christianconcern.com

VISION

Encourage and empower individuals to live and speak out for Jesus in public life
Equip and envision the Church to be salt and light in their community and to society
Put Christian Truth at the heart of public life in this country

Campaigning
Freedom to speak of Jesus Christ in public life
• Government
• Law
• Media
• Policy
• Informed debate

Mark Chapter 8
Jesus predicts his death
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. ‘Get behind me,
Satan!’ he said. ‘You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’

The way of the cross
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
wants to save their life [ b ]
35 For whoever will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.
36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?
37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of
Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.’

Visible and Vocal for Jesus Christ in Public Life

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the Word of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Him. Where the battle rages there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battle front besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.

The State of the Nation
1. The Protection of Life
2. The Promotion of Family
3. The Place of Jesus Christ

The most striking and current example of how we have abandoned God in UK law is with regard to
‘beginning of life’ issues.

A. The mother’s life at risk;
B. Risk of physical or mental problems to the mother or the child greater than if the pregnancy were terminated;
C. Substantial chance the child will suffer from severe physical and/or mental abnormalities.

1967
1968
1970
2000
2011
Abortions
Abortions per year
21 400
25 195
91 900
197 372
208 553
Abortions since 1967
~ 25 195
~ 175 000
~ 5 500 000
~ 7 700 000
Figures for England, Wales and
Scotland

The Legislation
• Human Fertilisation &
Embryology Act 1990
• Human Fertilisation &
Embryology Act 2008
The Consequences
• Cloning (Legal challenge)
• Animal Human Hybrids (Legal challenge)
• Saviour Siblings
• Genetic screening
• ‘Fatherless’ children and liberalisation of surrogacy

Dr Tammie Downes – Investigated by
General Medical Council

Joanna Jepson – challenge to late abortions for disability – cleft palate

Margaret Forrester –
Prohibited viewpoint in NHS

Abortion – charged under Public
Order Act 1986
Scared of the truth?

Illegal Abortions
Crown Prosecution
Service claims prosecution of abortion doctors would not be in the public interest

Illegal Abortions
Letter to Metropolitan Police Commissioner:
…One of the fourteen clinics, Kings College Hospital, which is managed by the Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation
Trust, falls within your jurisdiction as Commissioner of New
Scotland Yard. As Commissioner, I ask you to investigate the legality of the use of pre-signed HSA1 forms at Kings
College Hospital.

Illegal Abortions
Letter to Metropolitan Police Commissioner (cont.):
Failing to adhere to the statutory requirements of the
Abortion Act is a potentially serious breach of criminal law.
Abortions which do not meet the requirements of the
Abortion Act 1967 and the Abortion Regulations 1991 remain illegal under sections 58 and 59 of the Offences
Against the Person Act 1861.

Illegal Abortions
Letter to Metropolitan Police Commissioner (cont.):
…If the staff of Kings College Hospital have been carrying out illegal abortions, then both the doctors pre-signing the forms would appear to have committed perjury, and those carrying out the procedure could be criminally liable for unlawful killing.

Illegal Abortions
Letter from Metropolitan Police Commissioner:
‘…the CPS decided that although they did consider there was sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction, they decided the public interest test was not met, and therefore no further action will be taken concerning the respective two
Doctors.’

Illegal Abortions
Letter from Metropolitan Police
Commissioner:
‘…It also does not appear to be the case that certain “rogue” individuals are ignoring clear guidance. The evidence indicates that some service providers and management team considered the practice to be compatible with the legislation and acted accordingly.’

Illegal Abortions
Jeremy Hunt, Health Secretary:
"We are clear that gender selection abortion is against the law and completely unacceptable…this is a concerning development and I have written to the Attorney General to ask for urgent clarification on the grounds for this decision. "

Illegal Abortions
David Burrowes:
“I would be extremely disappointed if they [the CPS] were seeking to put themselves in the position of politicians and Parliament by trying to suggest that this is not an offence that should be prosecuted. That is a matter for
Parliament and not for prosecutors, I would be very concerned and very interested to look at whether they have overstepped the mark.”

Assisted Suicide
Continual pressure:
Law – Politics - Media

Assisted Suicide
“If you’re demented, you’re wasting people’s lives—your family’s lives—and you’re wasting the resources of the
National Health Service…if somebody…wants to die because they’re a burden to their family, or the state, then
I think they too should be allowed to die.
Baroness Warnock (2008):House of Lords Ethics Committee
“There’ll be a population of demented very old people, like an invasion of terrible immigrants, stinking out the restaurants and cafes and shops. Like a silver Tsunami”
Martin Amis (2010) The Times Author

Belgium votes for child euthanasia
Belgian parliament votes 86-44 to extend euthanasia to children of all ages.
200,000 EU citizens ask King
Philippe to stop the Bill.

The State of the Nation
1. The Protection of Life
2. The Promotion of Family
3. The Place of Jesus Christ

Biblical definition of marriage
Matthew 19:4-6 New King James Version (NKJV)
4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said,
‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Rise of Co-habitation
Matrimonial Causes Act 1973
Concept of irretrievable breakdown; No fault divorce.

Adoption Act 2002
Definition of family changes
Gender Recognition Act 2004
Legal recognition of a transsexual’s ‘acquired gender’
Civil Partnerships Act 2004
Allows same-sex couples to register as civil partners

“We were sexual liberationists and social revolutionaries, out to turn the
world upside down. GLF espoused a nonviolent revolution in cultural values and attitudes. It questioned marriage, the nuclear family, monogamy and patriarchy – as well as the wars in
Vietnam and Ireland.”
Peter Tatchell: Outrage

Conservatives rightly encourage and approve loving, stable relationships because enduring care and commitment are good for individuals, families and for the well-being of society as a whole. If marriage is a Conservative value, then same-sex marriage is consistent with this value. Far from undermining marriage, gay marriage strengthens it. Conservatives believe in marriage. They should therefore support same-sex marriage precisely because they are Conservatives.
Peter Tatchell
2011

“So I don’t support gay marriage despite being a
Conservative. I support gay marriage because
I’m a Conservative.”
David Cameron
October 2011

“Continued trouble in the economy gives the bigots a stick to beat us with, as they demand we 'postpone' the equalities agenda in order to deal with 'the things people really care about”
Draft speech released to the media by Nick
Clegg’s (Deputy Prime Minister) office, 10 th
September 2012
(emphasis added)

Marriage Bill (Same-sex couples), House of Lords
Second Reading
“It is clearly essential that stable and faithful same-sex relationships should, where those involved want it, be recognised and supported with as much dignity and the same legal effect as marriage.”

Group organised by
Stonewall blew horns and shouted to
‘drown out hate’

Peers rejected amendment to defeat Bill
390-148

Section 28 of the Local Government Act stated that a local education authority "shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality" or "promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship". It was repealed on 21 June
2000 in Scotland and on 18 November 2003 in the rest of Great Britain by section 122 of the Local Government Act

Education Act 1996
403. (1A) The [Minister] must issue guidance designed to secure that when sex education is given to registered pupils at maintained schools —
(a)they learn the nature of marriage and its importance for family life and the bringing up of children, and
(b)they are protected from teaching and materials which are inappropriate having regard to the age and the religious and cultural background of the pupils concerned.

Children, Schools and Families Bill 2010
13(4). The [Minister] must issue guidance designed to secure that when sex education is given to registered pupils at maintained schools —
(a) they learn the nature of marriage and its importance for family life and the bringing up of children, and
(b)the nature of civil partnerships, and
(c) the importance of strong and stable relationships.
Clause 11 (4)(7)
[Sex education] should be taught in a way that –
(a) endeavours to promote equality;
(b)encourages acceptance of diversity; ...

Bishop of Oxford:
“Stonewall is indeed involved, as one of the consultants, and other organisations too, with a good track record in this field. We are committed to having the very best consultants and experience that we can get.”

Advert displayed at
General Synod

House of Bishops’
Working Group on Human
Sexuality recommends same-sex prayers of blessing

1. The Protection of Life
2. The Promotion of Family
3. The Place of Jesus Christ

‘The Law Society believes in and promotes equality for all regardless of their sexual orientation…
Your partner organisation for this event demonstrates through its website a homophobic attitude. Its views do not accord with our policies on diversity, inclusion and equality and represent views which many of our members find offensive.’

Facing challenge in seeking counselling qualification because of his views on homosexuality and the possibility of change

Practice Certificate removed after a ‘sting’ by homosexual activist who pretended to be a
Christian seeking help with unwanted samesex attraction

Green Party
Councillor expelled local party group for her views on marriage

Christian adoption agencies and welfare projects closed

Consultant
Pediatrician not allowed to abstain from voting to place children with samesex couples

Forced to resign as family magistrate because he challenged whether placing children with same sex couples was in the best interest of the child.

Dismissed for complaining that a staff training day was used to promote homosexual agenda

Stopped from fostering children because they wouldn’t affirm homosexual practice to children in their care

Equalities and Human Rights Commission

We start with the common law.
Although historically this country is part of the
Christian west, and although it has an established church which is Christian, there have been enormous changes in the social and religious life of our country over the last century. Our society is now pluralistic and largely secular.
We sit as secular judges serving in multicultural community of many faiths. We are sworn to ‘do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of this realm, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will’. But the laws and usages of the realm do not include Christianity, in whatever form. The aphorism that
‘Christianity is part of the Common law of England’ is mere rhetoric.

Suspended for offering to pray for a patient

Sacked for gross misconduct offering the hope of healing to a woman who was terminally ill

Sacked for offering to pray with student and parent

Disciplined for displaying a palm cross in his van

Christian Doctor of 28 years standing reported to General Medical
Council for discussing faith with patient

Forced to resign as children’s worker when made to work on Sundays.
Judge:
Sabbath not a core component of the
Christian faith

Removed from front line nursing because she wanted to continue to wear her confirmation cross as she had done for over 30 years

“In neither case is there any suggestion that the wearing of a visible cross or Crucifix was a generally recognised form of practising the
Christian faith.”

Dismissed as a Relate counsellor after having indicated that he might have a conscientious objection to providing sex advice to homosexual couples

The promulgation of law for the protection of a position held purely on religious grounds cannot therefore be justified. It is irrational, as preferring the subjective over the objective. But it is also
divisive, capricious and arbitrary. We do not live in a society where all the people share uniform religious beliefs. The precepts of any one religion—any belief system—cannot, by force of their religious origins, sound any louder in the general law than the precepts of any other. If they did, those out in the cold would be less than citizens; and our constitution would be on the way to a theocracy, which is of necessity autocratic .

“Where the individual in question is free to resign and seek employment elsewhere or practise their religion unfettered outside their employment, that is sufficient to guarantee their Article 9 rights in domestic law.”

“As in the other cases, the applicants were also free to resign if they considered that the requirements of their employment were incompatible with their religious beliefs.”

The Judgment
• Finds British
Government in breach of Article 9
• Holds that wearing the cross and views on sexual ethics are manifestations of
Christian faith

Huge media interest

Visible and Vocal for Jesus Christ in Public Life

Confidence in God’s Son
… speaking up
Cooperation amongst God’s people
… standing together

Confidence
Cooperation
Commitment
Creativity

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Political

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Speaking of Jesus Christ in Public Life
www.christianconcern.com