The Barnabas Fund. Turn the tide petition.

[Peter Henderson]

I was asked to sign this petition in the church foyer last Sunday, and while not being directly related to creationism, it could be.

I hadn't heard of this outfit, but it's the old "Christians are being persecuted for standing up for their faith" nonsense.

The "turn the tide" campaign statement is as follows:

https://barnabasfund.org/en/news/reclai ... -in-the-uk

1 Freedom to read the Bible in public (achieved 1537)

2 Freedom to interpret the Bible without government interference (achieved 1559)

3 Freedom of worship (achieved 1689)

4 Freedom to choose, or change your faith or belief (achieved 1689)

5 Freedom to preach and try to convince others of the truth of your beliefs (achieved 1812)

6 Freedom to build churches and other places of worship (achieved 1812)

/ Freedom from being required to affirm a particular worldview or set of beliefs in order to hold a public sector job or stand for election, work in professions such as teaching and law, or study at university (achieved by the repeal of various Test Acts between 1719 and 1888)

While these seem pretty innocuous, several points concern me, particularly number 7 as well as number 5.

For example, I presume the term "particular worldview" could mean young Earth creationism and the Dan Walker situation ?

and what if I was in hospital. Could this mean a member of staff quoting bible verses at me without my permission ? What if I required a blood transfusion, either during surgery or in other situations ? Could a staff member of a hospital who was a Jehovah Witness refuse either to carry out the surgery or give me care ?

Fiona Bruce appears to be heavily involved in this.

She's a board member on the Evangelical Alliance and Peter D. Williams' anti abortion "Right to life" group, which includes, amongst others Jacob Rees-Mogg and Peter Robinson.

Bruce is a vociferous pro lifer and recently attempted, along with the DUP's Jim Shannon, to make abortion on the grounds of gender selection a criminal offence. The Bill was defeated:

https://www.barnabasfund.org/en/news/Ou ... ary-debate

One to watch carefully I think.

P.S. I wont be signing the petition.

[a_haworthroberts]

Of course in some places Christians face real persecution eg in China as reported on the ITV 10 pm News last night (where all allegiance has to be to the Communist Party). And of course there is North Korea. Or Saudi Arabia. The situation in the UK barely compares with such places.

Incidentally it turned out that Dan Walker isn't a young earth creationist after all just a keen Christian and member of a baptist church (if I recall correctly) who, like lots of people, wasn't that keen to work on a Sunday.

I googled Fiona Bruce MP. According to Wikipedia: "Following her selection as the Conservative Party candidate for the [Congleton] constituency, she denied that she had been chosen as a result of an orchestrated campaign by religious groups sympathetic to her evangelical Christian beliefs".


PS On 5 I suspect they are referring to the flak that certain vociferous preachers (open air preachers not preachers in churches) may get from some members of the public or occasionally the police if they start eg condemning abortion or homosexual behaviour. That being cases where the preaching is heard by unbelievers or perhaps Christians with a different 'worldview' - who haven't chosen to go the place of worship that the preacher presumably belongs to.