ATTORNEY GENERAL TAKES ON DIVISIVE DIVERSITY CULTURE
Diversity activists are “like the witch-finders of the Middle Ages”
The Attorney General for England and Wales, Suella Braverman QC, has described the ideology behind diversity training as “downright dangerous” and “a new religion”.
Braverman, the Government’s chief legal advisor, has instructed her department to stop all ‘Diversity, Equality and Inclusion’ schemes. She had discovered that in one year “hundreds of government lawyers” had spent nearly 2,000 hours of “taxpayer-funded time” at Stonewall lectures.
She has encouraged Government ministers to investigate their departments’ diversity programmes because “the ‘diversity’ agenda thrives in darkness”.
According to the Christian Institute, she believes that the “trans rights culture” is “out of control”, threatening children’s wellbeing and free speech.
Braverman says: “We really must get serious about taking on this divisive mindset and call it out for what it is: a new religion with a new priestly caste… Like the witch-finders of the Middle Ages, they don the outfit of the inquisitor and never tire of rooting out unbelievers… others nod along and recite the creed because they are too scared to dissent.”
“We really must get serious about taking on this divisive mindset and call it out for what it is”
The Department for Education (DfE) has not renewed its membership of Stonewall’s controversial ‘Diversity Champions’ scheme, and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Minister Lord Callanan claims his department is now “a Stonewall-free zone”.
MARCH FOR LIFE IGNORED
There was a record turnout of 7,000 people for the UK March for Life in London on 3 September, yet it was largely overlooked by UK church leaders and went unreported by virtually all British national media.
It was left to the Socialist Worker to cover the March –and then only as a name-calling opportunity, labelling it as a “bigots’ march”, while 600 counter-protesters were praised for attempting to drown out the pro-life speeches.
Right to Life UK reported that pro-lifers of all ages marched behind banners with the slogan ‘10 Million Too Many’ – the number of abortions in England and Wales since 1967. RTL UK spokesperson Catherine Robinson said she was encouraged that more young people are “increasingly rejecting the narrative that the solution to a difficult and/or unexpected pregnancy is to end the life of the baby… We hope the march will continue to grow and that abortion will, one day, become unthinkable.”
Permanent DIY abortion “dangerous”
The at-home abortion system that was set up during the Covid-19 pandemic has been made permanent despite safety concerns.
Women in England and Wales under ten weeks pregnant can now be sent both pills needed for a termination after a phone consultation. Scotland already provided the service.
The new law stipulates that doctors must record details of the consultation. However, pro-life campaigners say the system is still unsafe for women as well as, of course, being lethal for the unborn child. Because there is no in-person consultation, there is no way to verify the gestation of the baby.
According to Right to Life, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, the UK’s largest abortion provider, sent abortion pills to a woman seven months pregnant – way over the legal limit – and the baby was subsequently delivered, although it has not been revealed if the baby survived. But rather than apologising, BPAS is now attempting to use the incident to argue that abortion should be legal up to birth. The case is to be heard by Stoke Crown Court.
“Why did you send pills to kill a viable baby above the legal limit?”
Dr Calum Miller, an Oxford University expert in abortion policy, accused BPAS of “profoundly dangerous” actions and said they “should be prosecuted”. He asked the Service: “Why did you send pills to kill a viable baby above the legal limit? Why did you make a woman deliver him/her at home with no medical supervision?” He has not received an answer.
NORTHERN IRISH PRO-LIFERS CHALLENGE GOVERNMENT IN COURT OF APPEAL
The UK government’s right to take over abortion services in Northern Ireland is disputed by pro-life campaigners, who have secured a hearing at the Court of Appeal in November.
Earlier this year the High Court ruled that the Secretary of State had the power to impose abortion rights in Northern Ireland, but the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children is challenging that on the grounds that abortion is a devolved issue in the province.
Cambridge college bans Christian beliefs
Cambridge University’s Fitzwilliam College cancelled a Christian group’s conference because of its beliefs about marriage.
The event for students and young Christian professionals, organised by the Wilberforce Academy, was defended at the High Court in September by lawyers for Christian Concern, which has run the Wilberforce Academy for over a decade.
The High Court was told that the college banned the conference because the organizers do not support same-sex marriage. Christian Concern’s lawyers argued that Fitzwilliam College acted unlawfully and breached its duty to free speech under the Education Act 1986. Furthermore, opposition to same-sex unions is a religious or philosophical belief protected by both the European Convention on Human Rights and the Equality Act 2010.
In June, Oxford’s Worcester College admitted it “misled” students after cancelling the Wilberforce Academy for similar reasons last year.
Sacked school chaplain case goes to tribunal
Last June we reported on the Christian school chaplain branded a “risk to children” by a Church of England school, just because of a sermon that sensitively presented the Anglican Church’s own teaching on marriage.
Now the Rev Dr Bernard Randall’s case is being heard at the East Midlands Employment Tribunal in Nottingham, which began on 5 September. He is claiming £120,000 in damages.
In 2019, Rev Randall spoke at Trent College in Long Eaton near Nottingham, suggesting it was OK for children to question the school’s LGBT+ policies and to hold traditional views on marriage, sex and gender identity. He was dismissed for “gross misconduct”.
He told Premier News: “I was told by the safeguarding team at Derby Diocese that my sermon and my views, based on C of E teaching, could potentially cause someone anxiety, as if that is abuse. If the Church of England believes that its own teaching based on the Bible is a safeguarding risk, then what does this say about what state it’s in?”
Rev Randall’s case is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre.