Displaying items by tag: Christian values

The Boys' Brigade, founded in Glasgow in 1883 by Sir William Alexander Smith, marks its 140th anniversary as the world's first uniformed youth organisation. With a presence in sixty countries and over half a million members, it has remained committed to instilling Christian values in young lives. Regular gatherings involve Bible studies, prayer sessions, church services, and recreational pursuits. The late Queen Elizabeth II was their patron, a testament to the organisation's royal support. In honour of this milestone, the Boys' Brigade will plant an oak tree to commemorate its founder's legacy in a Heroes of the Faith woodland near Birmingham. This gesture symbolises the growth and steadfastness of the organisation over the years.

The High Court has been told that Christian Concern was blocked from holding a conference at Fitzwilliam College Cambridge because its values were ‘not compatible with the values of the college’. Christian Concern has accused the college of refusing permission because it believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman, and has alleged discrimination, which the college denies. The case arose after a Christian Concern representative tried to book conference facilities for 100 people on behalf of Wilberforce Academy - an initiative for young, professional Christians. Andrea Williams commented, ‘Anyone who knows what we teach and stand for can see that our “general beliefs” are simply Christianity. The widespread silence of the Church on moral issues for decades has allowed activists to paint mainstream Christian beliefs as beyond the pale. We must return to speaking the truth with courage and rebuild Christian institutions - exactly what we do each year through the Wilberforce Academy.’

Concerns about free speech regulation have resurfaced after Elon Musk bought Twitter. Musk’s vow to ‘defeat spam bots’ and make Twitter’s algorithm public is welcomed by many, including Matt Batten, director of communication at Llandaff Church in Wales. He is pleased that there will be an edit button and that spam bots will be removed, and sees algorithms being made public as bringing greater transparency. However, his scepticism increases when it comes to free speech. He told Premier, ‘It all sounds fantastic, and we champion democracy, but whose freedom of speech?’ Political activists also expect Musk's ownership of Twitter will mean less moderation and the reinstatement of banned individuals, including Donald Trump. There are questions on what the deal will mean for Twitter's China content policy, as Musk's Tesla relies heavily on China for production and vehicle sales. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom to hate or insult others.

For six years, Kristie was a pastoral assistant at a secondary school. When her school notified staff of a 'No Outsiders' programme to be introduced Kristie went to a meeting to find out more. No Outsiders introduces young children to ideas about family and gender that are very different from Biblical teaching. She was concerned and did further research and shared a couple of posts on Facebook. But one of Kristie's Facebook ‘friends’ sent her Facebook posts to the school’s headteacher complaining that ‘a member of your staff, working directly with children has posted homophobic and prejudiced views against the lgbt community on Facebook.’ Kristie was sacked for gross misconduct. Her appeal was denied. She appealed but the decision was upheld. Kristie took her case to an Employment Tribunal but they ruled against her. In a few weeks’ time an Employment Appeal Tribunal will conduct their hearing. 

Atheism assumes various disguises, including wokeism – politically correct views on gender, race, sexuality etc. It comes in the wake of secular humanism and challenges Judeo-Christian principles in our culture. An example of wokery is Church of England’s Jayne Ozanne calling for a ban on ‘hate prayer’, asking the government to ban consensual prayer that helps same-sex people abstain from sex. It’s a reminder of Jesus’ warning that there will come a time when believers will betray one another (Matthew 10:21). See Meanwhile 1,700 church leaders and pastoral workers warned the Government over the conversion therapy ban and say they will continue to proclaim Jesus Christ’s lordship even if it means going to prison TalkRadio discussions on 'conversion therapy' turned into a rant about Christianity - a sad reminder of how far this culture is from discovering Jesus and his pattern for our lives. The Government’s consultation on conversion therapy ends on 4 February.

Steve Chalke has urged the Government to reverse its decision not to extend the free school meals over the holidays until at least Easter. ‘If we believe that we have to provide these children with free school meals, because otherwise they lack the nutrition to be able to grow and thrive and study and succeed during school term times; do we imagine that they can exist on thin air through the six weeks of the summer, or the weeks of Christmas, Easter and half terms? We need to provide a steady ongoing care.’ Currently businesses, local authorities, and community groups have set up to provide thousands of free meals for children in need.

A Southend library is teaching primary pupils about modern views on gender identity in story-telling sessions. The free sessions are hosted by flamboyant drag king Joey Bambino who is ‘gender fluid’ and drag queen Saffron Slayter. They aim to show children as young as five that it's OK to be different. One of the LGBT stories is called When Kyla Was Kyle. The children also dressed up and played games at the ‘family’ council-backed Drag Story Time session. Opinions are split about the sessions. Some compared it to Shakespeare plays where men dress up as women, others said primary school children were ‘way too young for this sort of thing’ and it was ‘sad that so much is being pushed on to our young children these days’. A Southend Pride representative, said, ‘We’re delighted to be able to bring Joey and Saffron to the forum to host this fun-filled event for all the family.’

The internet can deliver inappropriate and illegal online bullying, self-harm advice, fake news, and data misuse to anyone, of any age. A Christian perspective upholds ‘human flourishing on strong foundations within agreed ethical frameworks’. These are lacking online, but things could change. The House of Lords has produced an agreed set of ten principles that shape and frame internet regulations, and a new ‘Digital Authority’ to oversee rules, with access to the highest level of Government to facilitate any changes needed. These principles are: - the same level of protection online as offline - accountability for actions and policies - transparency and openness to scrutiny - openness to innovation and competition - protecting the privacy of individuals - ethical design - ensuring that services act in the interests of users and society - childhood recognition to protect the vulnerable - respect for human rights - and education to enable people to navigate the internet safely. See also World article 6, on technology.

Ten years ago the notorious atheist bus campaign marked a high point for militant atheism. But now there's a new and more serious challenge to the Church. It is ‘identity politics’. Although it highlights oppression or injustice in a way that the Church can support, at its worst it pits different social groups against one another, black vs white, female vs male, transgender vs feminist, rich vs poor. It encourages judgement and prejudice against those who are allegedly powerful - a white, straight man is deemed ‘privileged’ though he may have experienced many power-limiting experiences in his life. It provokes its followers to see antagonism within every social interaction. Identity politics has taken over much of the media, academia and political discourse. Google employee James Damore lost his job for asserting that the gender gap in the tech industry is due to biological differences.

Tim Dieppe of Christian Concern has written an in-depth article defining ‘multiculturalism’ and explaining how it is opposed to missionary activity or attempts to morally reform cultures, and therefore opposed to Christianity. He states, ‘From a Christian perspective we can reject the idea that “all cultures are equal”. Every culture proclaims certain values and ethical norms which are in direct conflict with another culture. It makes no sense to say that they are all equal. Is a culture that values free speech equal to one that does not? Is a culture that values women’s rights equal to one that does not? Is a culture that promotes promiscuity and homosexuality equal to one that does not? What about slavery, racism, polygamy, FGM, etc? All these are cultural practices, and they are clearly not equal.’ His article reminds us that our Christian faith glorifies God as superior to any idol or idea, so Christianity is directly opposed to multiculturalism. See also the Europe article below.