Our religious freedom

Barnabus Fund responds to British government’s new Green Paper 1

A new Green Paper 2 in response to the Casey Review (Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper), has taken on board many of the points made by Barnabas Fund and other organisations. Chief among our concerns, was the threat to freedom that the Casey Review posed. Dame Louise Casey was tasked with setting out how communities could integrate against the threat of Islamist terrorism.  However, her review suggested that all faiths and beliefs should be judged as to whether they are “at odds with mainstream society”. This was an attack on liberty at the deepest level.

Barnabas Fund’s Our Religious Freedom campaign was launched partly to respond to the threat implied in Casey’s review. We are alarmed by the possibility that, despite Casey’s wellmeaning attempt to confront “radicalisation”and “terrorism”, the government may end up replacing one form of intolerance with another.

Significant points in the Green Paper

The emphasis is on integration NOT assimilation, and the difference between the two is vital. Everyone does NOT have to believe the same things. But, emphasis is given to accepting “fundamental British values”. In line with other recent government reports, British values are listed as: democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs.

The Green Paper aims to start a national debate.

Every government department will select a number of current priority policies and services to review during this Green Paper consultation period, with the aim of assessing whether they exacerbate segregation or could be developed to actively drive integration.

The general tenor of the Green Paper is broadly sympathetic to freedom of religion.

The Green Paper explicitly rejects the proposal by a recent government review that government should regulate sharia courts. It states that to do so would give them an inappropriate sense of legitimacy. Instead, it proposes to require legally that all religious marriages be either preceded or accompanied by a civil marriage (p58).

A new hate crime action plan will be produced later this year. In 2016, Barnabas Fund raised concerns that an action plan, then newly released, almost completely ignored hate crime against Christians including widespread violence against Christian converts from Islam.

The review applies to England only, since community strategy is an area of policy devolved to the Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh governments.

Threat to religious freedom and Sunday Schools

The Green Paper revives the 2015 proposal for government regulation and inspection of all out-of-school education settings, including Sunday schools. Recent debate has criticised this apparent “power grab”by Ofsted,which runs counter to the otherwise generally supportive intention of the Green Paper toward freedom of religion.

This proposal is a direct threat to Sunday Schools. The Green Paper suggests that the power to regulate can be done without a change in the law. “Existing legal powers” can be used to intervene whenever it is believed that Sunday schools fall out of line with ill-defined British values. This could be done by imposing a “voluntary” code of conduct to bring all Sunday schools into line on safeguarding and “welfare”.But, it is difficult to see how Ofsted could reach a judgement on whether this code of conduct is being followed without creating an official register of all “out-ofschool education provision” and a system of inspection.

This is a powerful reminder of why we need a new law to guard against such “power grabs”into important areas of personal and religious liberty.

Prayer Focus Update – April 2018

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Egypt – government gives legality to 53 churches

A special committee set up to review church registration applications legalised the status of 53 Egyptian churches and related buildings on 6th February.

In 2016, the Egyptian Parliament voted to abolish Ottoman-era restrictions on church building. But the committee set up to review applications from the many pre-existing churches did not meet until October 2017 – previous restrictions made registration so difficult that many congregations had no option but to worship illegally in unlicensed buildings. Praise God for answered prayer, as the Egyptian government has acted on the pledge to legalise Christian places of worship.

Syria – Christians go into hiding as Turkish forces and Syrian rebels seize Afrin

Christian families in the northern Syrian town of Afrin went into hiding on 18th March, as Turkish forces and Syrian rebels seized the town.

Villages in the region were reportedly “cleared”of Christians and other religious minorities as Turkish armed forces and Syrian rebels (some of whom are understood to be militant jihadists) advanced to seize control of Afrin from Kurdish militia. A Christian aid worker stated, “There have been announcements made that, if you kill Christians, you will go straight to paradise.” Christian activists report “war crimes and ethnic cleansing”are taking place, while graphic videos have emerged online showing the bodies of men, women and children strewn across the street. One UN Goodwill Ambassador said the situation was “reminiscent of the initial actions of ISIS in Iraq”and “foreshadows ethnic cleansing and genocide”.

Turkey is attempting to wrest control of the region from Kurdish security forces. Instead of protecting Christians, Kurdish militia have been known to kidnap them to serve as conscripts to fight against the Turkish army (see March 2018 PFU4 ).

Intercede for Christians trapped in Afrin; ask the Lord Most High to save and deliver them, as they take refuge in Him (Psalm 7). Pray that Afrin’s water supply will be restored – it was cut off by the Turkish army several weeks ago – and that the plans of jihadists to eradicate the Christian presence in the region will be thwarted.

Philippines – Islamists plotting another Marawi

The Islamist group linked to Islamic State,which murdered Christians and destroyed churches when it seized Marawicity on the southern island of Mindanaoin May 2017, is “regrouping, retraining and recruiting for another attack”, a Philippines’ army spokesmen told journalists on 5th March 2018.

Marawi was only retaken after a five month siege, during which Christians were singled out. Some were murdered, while others were abducted, forced to make bombs and used as human shields, while Christian women were kept as sex slaves. Amnesty International later reported that nearly all the civilians murdered by Islamic militants during the siege of Marawi were Christians.

Islamist rebel groups on Mindanao have been engaged in a long-running struggle against the government. In 2014, the government agreed a peace deal with rebels which created a semi-independent Muslim region on Mindanao, but Christian villages continued to be targeted by militants, even before the capture of Marawi.

Uphold in prayer our Christian brothers and sisters in the southern Philippines. Pray for complete healing for the physical and psychological scars that remain after the Marawi siege and ask that they will know the Lord as their rock and refuge in the face of evil (2 Samuel 22:3).

Sudan – church pastor murdered with family for preaching the Gospel

Masked attackers murdered a church pastor in Darfur, western Sudan, along with his wife and two daughters in the early hours of 2nd March 2018.

The six attackers forced their way into Pastor Stephen Toms Abur’s house shortly after 1.00 a.m., assembled the family in the living room and demanded Pastor Stephen explain why he had not heeded their warnings to stop preaching. In response, Pastor Stephen started telling them about Jesus. They then beat him up and tried to force him to violate his daughters, Rachel and Priscilla. He refused. “They then began by killing the girls first, then their mother [Beatrice], and finally the pastor himself. They were cut in pieces as though they were cows.” As Stephen, tied up, watched the brutal murder of his family, he sang “Hallelujah Hosanna”, a song loved in the churches of Darfur.  A young boy who worked for the family – who only escaped death by hiding in the ceiling of the house – witnessed the murders.

After killing Pastor Stephen and his family, the attackers set fire to the church, where hundreds of Christian converts were sleeping; they have been disowned by their Muslim families and have nowhere else to go. Although some were seriously hurt, none died, which Barnabas Fund’s contact describes as a moment of divine intervention.

Pray for the family and congregation of Stephen, Beatrice, Rachel and Pricilla. Ask that they will be comforted in their time of loss, but also encouraged by the assurance that, having persevered under trial and stood the test, Pastor Stephen and his family have received the crown of life the Lord has promised to those who love Him (James 1:12). Give thanks that none of the Christian converts from Islam sheltering in the church building were killed in the fire, but pray for those who were injured, especially twentyeight who are still in hospital at the time of writing.
1 https://tinyurl.com/y9ovrt47

2 https://tinyurl.com/ycapvmzd

3 https://tinyurl.com/y8s4lroj 4https://tinyurl.com/y8sbgw22