ANTI-HATE CLAUSE HINDERS GOSPEL
The Rt Hon David Blunkett, M.P. is attempting to railroad measures intended to enforce religious tolerance through Parliament before Christmas. The Government intends to push its 125-clause anti-terrorism Bill through all its Commons stages in just a fortnight. The Second Reading (a vote on the principle of the Bill) was passed on 19th November. Detectives have reportedly drawn up a list of about 20 Islamist fundamentalist militants who will be arrested and interned once the government’s new anti-terrorism law comes into effect. That might be a very good thing, but the Bill needs greater debate than the Government wants to allow if it enables internment without trial and curtails God-given human rights.
The Bill also includes a new law of incitement to "hatred against a group of persons defined by reference to religious belief or lack of religious belief." Secular writers have already defended their right to tell religious jokes, but the issue is far more serious than that. As a foretaste of what is at stake, Muslims have already been going into Christian bookshops to demand that books critical of Islam be taken off the shelves. It is no goodf or Christians to say they are motivatedby love, either. ‘Incitement to hatred’ will be widely – and subjectively – interpreted by the Courts.
IRONY
The irony is that the September 11 attack by Islamic militants is being usedt o pander to other Islamic militants. Attempts are now constantly being made by the Prime Minister andhis Cabinet to portray Islam as a religion of peace. This has suited his purpose whilst bestriding the world stage visiting various Arab despots, but Christ and His church will be asked to pay the price.
However, a religion of peace Islam is certainly not. It preaches forcedconv ersion at the point of the sword. It practises mutilation of thieves and little girls, which God condemns. It denies God as Father, and Jesus Christ as His Son incarnate in the flesh. The anti-hate Clause is being brought in to protect the sensibilities of practitioners of one of the most intolerant andev il religions on God’s earth. Those working with Christians persecuted in the Islamic world, and those preaching the Gospel to Muslims, are concernedthat the Clause will hinder the Gospel in four main areas:
JESUS CHRIST THE ONLY WAY
Firstly, Christian claims of the uniqueness of Christ by implication state that no other religion or world view is true. ‘Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.’ (John 14:6) Will we have to say: "It is only my opinion that Jesus said that"?
Secondly, evangelism to Muslims implies that Islam is second-best. the writer to the Hebrews uses the word’ better’ no less than twelve times. If the Christian faith is ‘better’ than the Jewish faith, it must be better than the heresy of Islam and the paganism of Hinduism and Humanism. Will evangelism be outlawed?
Thirdly, will pastors be able to standup in church and say, ‘We don’t preach a dead prophet here this morning, we preach a living Saviour’? Denigration of ‘the prophet’ carries the death sentence in Pakistan. Will it carry a 7-year prison sentence in the United Kingdom?
Fourthly, will agencies watching and reporting on the suffering church in Islamic countries still be able to say that Muslims are persecuting Christians or will that too be ‘inciting hatred’? The Barnabas Fund is at the forefront of those praying for Christians in Muslim nations. According to Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, Director of the Barnabas Fund, himself a convert from Islam, there have already been attempts by the UK Government itself to silence them.
BREACH OF CORONATION OATH
It should not be forgotten that Government Ministers are under oath to discharge Her Majesty’s duties. Mr Blunkett, for example, is not just ‘Home Secretary’ but Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for Home Affairs. Her Majesty was asked at her Coronation: "Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel? Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law? Will you maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established in England? And will you preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of England, and to the Churches there committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges, as by law do or shall appertain to them or any of them?"
And the Queen replied: "All this I solemnly promise to do." Her Majesty’s promise is binding on David Blunkett and all her ministers. In addition, according to the Apostle Paul, every state minister is a ‘minister of God’ (Rom 13:4), and Her Majesty was given the Holy Bible at her coronation to keep her "ever mindful of the Law and the Gospel of God as the Rule for the whole life and government of Christian Princes." She was told that the Bible is "the most valuable thing that this world affords. Here is Wisdom; This is the royal Law; these are the lively oracles of God."
READ: Matt 5:10-12; Mark 13:14; Luke 7:22-23; Rom 10:13-15; Heb 8:6; 1 Peter 4:11; 1 John 2:22; Rev 12:17ff
PRAY: That the church in our land will this time find some backbone and speak out against this evil. Pray that the Government will back down. Pray for the work of organisations like the Barnabas Fund in supporting Christians in Islamic lands. Pray for Christians being persecuted in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria, Malawi, Sudan, Indonesia and the Philippines amongst others.
WRITE: To your MP. Condemn Mr Blunkett’s proposals and ask your MP for an assurance that he will vote against the ‘religious hate law’ Clause in the Terrorism Bill. If the Bill with the Clause still in it reaches the House of Lords, write immediately to your local peers, listed in the Christian Voice Peers Briefing List. If you do not have a copy of the list, please send an A4 SAE to: Wernlwyd, Pen-y-bont, Carmarthen, SA33 6QN.