Hungary protects children from gay propaganda
Hungary has passed anti-paedophilia and child protection laws that ban the promotion of LGBT ideology to minors.
The legislation outlaws the showing of pornographic material, homosexual content or transgenderism to under-18s. There will also be a registry of sex offenders, restrictions on sex education and a crackdown on child pornography.
The Hungarian National Assembly overwhelmingly approved the bill, as left-wingers boycotted the vote.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government aims to preserve the country’s Christian values, and since 2018 has removed ‘gender studies’ from university courses, banned same-sex adoption and defined the family as based on the marriage of one man and one woman. Consequently, he has been vilified by liberal politicians in the West.
English evangelist leads Day of Prayer in Ukraine
Veteran Pentecostal evangelist David Hathaway led his sixth National Day of Prayer in Ukraine on 12 June – the first post-Covid mass event to be allowed by the government.
Over 8,000 people were allowed to attend the event in the Sports Palace stadium in Kiev, which was supported by every denomination in the country. A representative of Ukraine’s Prime Minister read out a letter of support.
Central to the celebration was a Bible that had been handwritten over three years by 31,598 individuals, who each wrote a few verses. The contributors included four Presidents, the current Prime Minister, the Head of the Ukraine Security Service and church leaders.
“The only nation in Europe where prayer and the authority of the Bible have united and changed the whole nation”
The Day of Prayer was broadcast to the whole nation live on secular and Christian TV. Hathaway says: “Ukraine is the only nation in Europe where prayer and the authority of the Bible have united and changed the whole nation.”
Win for Christian fostering agency
The US Supreme Court has ruled that a Catholic fostering charity can’t be forced to place children with homosexual couples.
The court ruled city officials were wrong to stop co-operating with Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia when they refused on religious grounds to place children with same-sex couples. The decision reversed a judgment of the US Court of Appeals.
However, the judge warned that the ruling “provides no guidance regarding similar controversies in other jurisdictions”.
Parties fight EU superstate
Politicians object to gagging pro-life doctors
A new political alliance to prevent the creation of a federalist Europe has been founded by the leaders of 16 political parties.
A “godless, multicultural superstate”
The Gatestone Institute reports that the Joint Declaration on the Future of the European Union agreed on 2 July is the first significant step by eurosceptic parties to work together against proposals to turn the European Union into a “godless, multicultural superstate”.
The document, written by former Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has been signed by parties in Hungary, Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain. It states that EU co-operation must be based on “respect for the Judeo-Christian heritage of Europe”.
Santiago Abascal, the leader of Spain’s conservative party Vox, said: “The EU’s ‘Conference on the Future of Europe’ has already written its conclusions. It seeks the forced federalisation of the EU against the true will of European nations and apart from the national parliaments.”
The Declaration comes after the European Parliament passed a resolution in July demanding that Hungary repeal its new law which prevents homosexuality being promoted in schools.
It also follows the European Parliament’s declaration that abortion is a human right and doctors should have no right to conscientiously object to performing abortions. Aontú (an all-Ireland political party) representative Gemma Brolly stated: “Such matters as abortion should be democratically debated… sensitively and in line with all human rights, including those of the unborn child.”
Canadian churches torched with civil liberties boss’s approval
Trudeau silent during burnings; African evangelical church attacked
After fury developed over the discovery of unmarked graves in former Catholic-run schools for hundreds of indigenous children, at least 23 Canadian Catholic churches have been burnt to the ground or vandalised.
Ten churches were attacked in Alberta and some non-Catholic churches have also been targeted, including an African Evangelical Church in Calgary.
From the 1800s up to the 1970s, thousands of indigenous children were sent to state-funded Catholic boarding schools in an attempt to assimilate them into Canadian society. Many never returned to their families because they died from disease while at school.
The fires have been encouraged by the head of a Canadian civil liberties group: “Burn it all down,” tweeted Harsha Walia, executive director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association on 30 June after two churches had been burned. She later claimed she was not calling for arson, but her resignation was announced on 17 July.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn’t comment on the attacks for three weeks, finally condemning them as “unacceptable” but adding it was “understandable”.
Church wins $220,000 due to unfair Covid restrictions
A Washington DC church has successfully sued the District of Columbia for restricting in-person worship during the pandemic.
Capitol Hill Baptist Church claimed the government’s ban on outdoor worship services that had more than 100 people in attendance was discriminatory.
The 850-member church filed its lawsuit last September, arguing that the restrictions imposed were worse than for comparable secular groups.
Christian baker loses transgender case
We reported in our last issue that US Christian baker Jack Phillips, who had previously won the right to refuse to make cakes promoting messages he disagrees with, had been taken to court yet again. We must now report that he has lost his latest case.
A Denver District Court ruled in June that the Colorado baker violated state anti-discrimination law by not making a transgenderism-affirming birthday cake.
Judge A Bruce Jones concluded that Phillips had denied “goods and services” because of the customer’s “transgender status”.
Alliance Defending Freedom General Counsel Kristen Waggoner, whose organisation has defended Phillips through years of legal battles, vowed to appeal the decision.