(This excellent article was forwarded to us from The Light for Last Days)

‘Persecuted for Praying’ – the headline of the Daily Mail (2/2/09) drew attention to the case of Caroline Petrie, a community nurse and devout Christian, who faced dismissal for offering to pray for an elderly patient. Mrs Petrie, who is married mother of two, was accused by her employers, North Somerset Primary Care Trust, of failing to demonstrate a ‘personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity’ because of her offer of prayer. No doubt as a result of the bad press coverage, she was reinstated after being suspended without pay.

Jennie Cain, a school receptionist at Landscore Primary School in Devon, is being investigated for professional misconduct for sending a private email prayer request to friends following an incident where her five year old daughter had been told off by a teacher at the school for discussing Jesus in the classroom.

A foster mother in the north of England has been struck off because a Muslim girl in her charge decided to convert to Christianity. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has fostered more than 80 children and is a practising Anglican. She says she put no pressure on the girl, who is 16 and well capable of making up her own mind. When the girl decided she wanted to be baptised, council officials said her carer had failed in her duty to preserve the girl’s religion and should have used her influence to prevent the baptism from going ahead. They said the girl should stay away from church for six months, and later struck the carer off the fostering register.
PC Graham Cogman was working in Yarmouth, Norfolk, when gay liaison officers circulated an email encouraging staff to wear a pink ribbon on uniforms in Gay History Month. He responded by sending e-mails to colleagues quoting Bible texts which say that homosexual sex is sinful. He was accused of failing to show respect and tolerance and following a misconduct hearing on November 25 2008, he was found guilty of two charges: one of failing to comply with a lawful order over the use of police computers and another of failing to treat a colleague with politeness and tolerance. He was dismissed for the first charge and will be required to resign for the second, although he still has the right to appeal against both.

Rev Mahboob Masih, a Church minister from East Kilbride, was dismissed from hosting his radio programme on Awaz FM, a community radio show in Glasgow designed to serve the Asian Community. In the talk show on 26th July 2008 he responded to a talk given by a prominent Muslim speaker and critic of Christianity, Zakir Naik on Peace TV, a popular Islamic channel in which the divinity of Jesus Christ was denied. On the radio programme Reverend Masih and co-presenter Afzal Umeed sought to allow a response from the Christian perspective. In the course of the debate reference was made to Jesus Christ being ‘the way, the truth and the life.’ The radio station management, worried that the debate had offended Muslim listeners accused the Rev Masih of not being balanced enough on air.

These are just a few of the incidents that have taken place recently in Britain. Put them all together and we have an alarming picture of Britain’s progress towards the suppression of freedom of speech as a new breed of Thought Police censor our opinions and our ability to say what we believe. When state officials start ordering people to stay away from church, Stalinist Russia comes to mind, not western democracy. It is becoming clear that in the name of ‘tolerance’ certain opinions will not be tolerated. Chief among them are the view that Jesus Christ is the one way to God and that the only sexual relationship which is acceptable to God is the relationship of one man and one woman committed to each other in marriage. In other words the basic beliefs of biblical Christianity.

It is also becoming clear that the attack is one sided. In the incidents mentioned above, the gay rights officers who bombarded PC Cogman with emails about wearing pink ribbons for Gay History Month were not censured. The Muslim preacher, Zakir Naik, was not rebuked for criticising Christianity on air. And the likelihood that the foster mother would have been struck off if a Christian child in her care had converted to Islam is nil.

In relation to the case of Mrs Petrie and the NHS, fears have been raised that new rules could lead to the dismissal of any health care worker who tries to talk about their faith to others. A recent document published by the Department of Health called ‘Religion or Belief: A Practical Guide for the NHS’ gives warning that attempts by doctors or nurses to preach to other staff or patients will be treated as harassment or intimidation under disciplinary procedures. The document states: ‘Members of some religions... are expected to preach and to try to convert other people. In a workplace environment this can cause many problems, as non-religious people and those from other religions or beliefs could feel harassed and intimidated by this behaviour. To avoid misunderstandings and complaints on this issue, it should be made clear to everyone from the first day of training and/or employment, and regularly restated, that such behaviour, notwithstanding religious beliefs, could be construed as harassment under the disciplinary and grievance procedures.’ So if a nurse discusses her beliefs with a colleague during a coffee break, will she risk losing her job?

Andrea Williams, the founder and Director of the Christian Legal Centre, said: ‘It is of huge concern that Christian citizens, whose desire is to do their jobs well, are increasingly being silenced and pushed out of the ‘public square’ because of Equality and Diversity Policies. It is extraordinary, that these policies which purport to ensure tolerance are ushering in a new form of censorship and intolerance which should concern us all’

It is not just in Britain that this concern is being raised. An article by Soeren Kern entitled ‘Europe’s War on Free Speech’ published in Brussels Journal, Belgium 09 February 2009 gives details of some of the ways this is happening.
The Amsterdam Court of Appeals has ordered the criminal prosecution of a Dutch Member of Parliament for criticising Islam, after he produced a hard-hitting film that says verses from the Koran promote violence. In a written judgment, the appeals court said that ‘by attacking the symbols of the Muslim religion, Wilders also insulted Muslim believers.’ In 2006, former Dutch lawmaker Ayaan Hirsi Ali was forced to flee the country after criticising the mistreatment of women in Islamic societies. In France a teacher, Robert Redeker wrote an article ‘In the face of intimidations by the Islamists what should the free world do?’ which was published in the leading newspaper, Le Figaro in September 2006. Since then he and his family have secreted away on advice of the French government to a safe house for fear of an Islamic death threat.

In Britain, the 2006 Racial and Religious Hatred Act, which creates a new crime of intentionally stirring up religious hatred against people on religious grounds, has led to zealousness bordering on the absurd. In Nottingham, for example, the Greenwood Primary School cancelled a Christmas nativity play because it interfered with the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. In East London, all elected members of Tower Hamlets town council were told not to eat during daylight hours in town hall meetings during the Muslim month of Ramadan. Special arrangements were also made to disrupt council meetings to allow for Muslim prayer. Meanwhile, the council renamed a staff Christmas party as a ‘festive meal’. To be fair to Muslims, many of them have spoken out against some of these absurdities which are generally enforced by white liberals and leftists with a guilt complex about western imperialism and racism and a hatred of all things connected with traditional British society, especially Christianity.

(Continued in Part Two ...)