Set Your Captives Free

Launch of report on innocent Christians held against their will

Imagine if she were your daughter!

Christian girl, 14, is being threatened by Islamist death squads in Pakistan for fleeing forced marriage to Muslim man, 45 - as thousands sign petition to give her asylum

Maira Shahbaz fears for her life. The 14-year-old is in
 hiding after being accused of apostasy for breaking off
the  marriage - an offence punishable by death in Islam

Catholic altar server Maira Shahbaz is hiding after being accused of apostasy

Over 9,000 have signed petition asking PM to grant her and family asylum in UK

As a backbench Tory MP, Boris Johnson led calls for Mrs Bibi to be given asylum

Maira has now appealed directly to PM, saying in statement: 'Please protect me'

Mail Online   

This is not an isolated report. 

On Armistice Day, International Christian Concern reported that two Christians, a mother and son, were killed in an incident of religious hatred in a village located in the Gujranwala district of Pakistan. They were shot dead by their Muslim neighbour because as a Muslim family they did not like waste water flowing by their home from the house of an ‘untouchable’.

In Pakistan the term chura or churi is used to denote Christians as low caste and untouchable. It is widely held among Pakistan’s Muslim population that Christians are dirty and as a result must be relegated to the lowest rungs of society

Christians are relegated to the sectors of cleaning and sweeping in Pakistan. While Christians make up around 4% of the population, nearly 80% of them are involved in sanitary department and cleaning jobs that are considered impure for Muslims.

On Wednesday, 25th November, Set Your Captives Free – A Report on Christians unjustly detained for their Faith will be launched in the UK parliament by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). 

The Report is intended as a springboard for ACN supporters to advocate for the release of those unjustly detained and demand perpetrators be brought to justice. It profiles individuals – young and old – both those kidnapped by extremist groups and others arrested by the state and held without charge.

As part of its advocacy campaign, ACN has so far collected more than 8,500 signatures calling on the Prime Minister to grant asylum to Pakistani 14-year-old Maira Shahbaz, profiled in the report, who is in hiding from her former abductor who has threatened to kill her, saying she is an apostate.  

Across the world, people will mark #RedWednesday by wearing red (e.g. putting on a red scarf), using social media to promote the campaign and lighting up public buildings in red.

You can sign the #RedWednesday petition HERE.

The Beautiful Story

 

The Beautiful Story is a 30 minute film made by the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) in response to the liberal drift of the Church of England referred to in my previous entry, Hurt and unnecessary suffering.

According to the CEEC the Church of England reached a 'big and important milestone' with the release of their resource ‘Living in Love and Faith’, a 'new dialogue around human experiences of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage'. They write:

"We are now getting close to the point where we shall finally have to make up our minds about same-sex sexual relationships in particular, and this is going to affect every parish in the land, every ministry, every incumbent, and every PCC. One option for the future is that we simply accept that the Church has a range of views and that we must learn to live with difference. But that is a bit like saying that we don’t really need to make up our minds at all. And provided you don’t think about it too much, it sounds attractive.

"But is it possible to say and do a number of contradictory things at the same time? Think of the continued pain and confusion that will bring those most directly affected. ? Do we believe that sex outside of marriage is part of God’s design for human flourishing or don’t we? Can you affirm a variety of views, in the same congregation without doing more harm than good? Can the historic biblical teaching on sex and marriage that we inherited from the Apostles survive at all when the Church speaks with so many different voices?

"Most important of all, would it be right to lose confidence in God’s design for human flourishing at this critical moment in our nation’s history? " 

An accompanying leaflet (with a ‘road map’ of the video and discussion questions) is available from the CEEC website www.ceec.info.

An opportunity to get involved and have your say. 

Hurt and unnecessary suffering

In their Forward to the Church of England booklet Living in Love and Faith the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell claim that the Church has caused ‘hurt and unnecessary suffering’.

That is not a belated acknowledgement of the misery caused to the thousands of Anglicans un-churched by progressive bishops but further homage to a vocal minority whose purpose is to redefine Christianity so that, for them, it legitimises personal preferences. 

Living with sex and faith would be a more apt title. 

While brotherly love is implied, there is no love in the Church of England House of Bishops for defenders of traditional marriage who strive to uphold the faith as received. Instead the Church of England’s two most senior figures apologise to the comparatively few LGBT+ people for causing them ‘huge damage and hurt’. What of the hurt and damage caused to others? Not a word. Not a care.

It makes no sense. 

Archbishop Justin Welby claims that Living in Love and Faith enables us to "explore God's will for the Church". Most Christians thought that was already clear from scripture and tradition. 

The Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, has been appointed to chair a small “next steps” group of bishops, whose task is to encourage people to use the Living in Love and Faith  material and move the Church towards decisions on key matters to do with sexuality.

If they adhered to biblical teaching there would be nothing to discuss so presumably the bishops have already decided on change. 

The liberal, feminised Church of England is dying but no effort is spared in satisfying the demands of a handful of people who seek same sex marriage in church when in reality there is little demand for such a monumental change.  

The number of opposite-sex couples getting married has fallen to the lowest level in history according to official figures. In 2017, the number of same-sex couples married through religious ceremonies was 43.

Taking a leaf out of the Islamophobia handbook of how to stifle any opinion but their own, gay activist Jayne Ozanne and member of the government’s LGBT Advisory Panel said that while she welcomed the publication of Living in Love and Faith, the Church of England ‘must not excuse or legitimise homophobia in any form’.

Ms Ozanne claims the the Bible's teaching on sexual ethics is homophobic! 

The Christian faith has been all but abandoned by C of E bishops. 

If they had inherited the faith of our forefathers they would not be seeking to abandon scripture and tradition, something the bishops in the Church of Wales did under the former Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan, a policy eagerly continued by his successor who promised more of the same but faster.

Church in Wales bishops, desperate to appear relevant to society, have already decided, contrary to members' wishes, that same sex unions are more important than the Word.

But the Church in Wales is virtually dead. 

The 2019 Annual Report and Accounts identified a number of significant risks in their 2019 risk register including the following 'most significant' Operational Risks:

    a. Falling congregation numbers and increasing age profile leading to an accelerating decline in church attendance;

    b. Falling clergy numbers;

    c. Organisational structure of the Church in Wales no longer appropriate for the needs of the organisation;

Bench parity was achieved in Wales with the appointment of a woman bishop living in a same sex relationship, much to the delight of the LGBT activist bishops of St Davids and Llandaff.

To aid the bishop of Llandaff as she "leads her diocese" and "fulfils her roles in the Church in Wales and beyond" the diocese is currently advertising 'an exciting opportunity' for  an Executive Assistant to the bishop with a salary between £28,694 and £32,465 (Grade D) to 'deliver a variety of operational services to support'.

The duties include 'acting as a first point of contact, co-ordinating and supporting meetings, preparing briefings, processing correspondence and arranging logistics to ensure that the work of the Bishop is efficient, effective and responsive to changing requirements'.

Another factotum to add to the 'Organisational structure of the Church in Wales no longer appropriate for the needs of the organisation'.

Postscript [20.11.2020]

"Churches holding to Bible’s teaching on sexual ethics likened to Holocaust deniers and rapists by LGBT activist Jayne Ozanne." - The Christian Institute

Bishop of Burnley must go!

Doorkins Magnificat                                                              Bishop Philip North

Question: What unites Women and the Church (WATCH) and the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)?

Answer:   Both have called for the Rt Rev Philip North, Bishop of Burnley to stand aside.

Bishop Philip North was forced to reject his nomination as Bishop of Sheffield after a backlash from WATCH and their supporters over his views on the ordination of women.

PETA called upon the Bishop of Burnley to resign after he criticized a cat’s funeral celebrated by Southwark Cathedral

Anglican Ink reports: "The Dean of Southwark, the Very Rev. Andrew Nunn held a Service of Thanksgiving for Doorkins Magnificat, a 12 year old tabby that made its home in the cathedral. The dean told the assembled congregation: “In more normal times, we often host memorial services for the great and the good. But I don’t think there’s ever been a service for a cat,” before interring the cat’s remains in the churchyard on 28 Oct 2020.

"Bishop North’s rebuke of Southwark’s mawkish celebration of the late tabby prompted PETA to seek justice for Doorkins. Triggered by the bishop’s insensitivity and animus towards quadriped Anglicans, PETA wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury demanding the dismissal of the northern province suffragan.

"The Church of England has not responded to the call for the bishop to be dismissed for the crime of speciesism, and Philip North appears to have gone to ground."

It is no surprise that the Rev Peter Mullen laments the Church of England.

Remembrance Sunday

 

Lest we forget

The naivety of Christian leaders

Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb in Abu Dhabi in February 2019.                                                                            Source: Guardian/Luca Zennaro/EPA

In February 2019 Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb, met in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They signed a declaration of fraternity, calling for peace between nations, religions and races. The document pledged that al-Azhar and the Vatican would work together to fight extremism. 

"Violence, extremism or fanaticism could never be justified in the name of religion" said Francis. But what is extremism?

The UAE promoted itself as a "regional leader in religious diversity and tolerance" where Christians were free to worship at churches and wear religious clothing. 

However, Open Doors, which monitors discrimination against and persecution of Christians around the world, said the UAE government does not allow Christians "to evangelise or pray in public. Converts from Islam endure the most persecution as they face pressure from family members and the local community to recant their Christian faith."

A day before three Catholics were slaughtered in Nice's Notre-Dame Basilica, Sheikh el Tayeb demanded an international law banning criticizing or insulting Islam. 

Church Militant's Dr Jules Gomes responded in a tweet: If there were no death penalty in Islam for blasphemy and Islam were as tolerant as Pope Francis insists, there would be no need for a global law forbidding criticism of Islam.

Sheikh el-Tayeb claimed that millions of Muslims had paid the price for the actions of “a handful of criminals” following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. 

Persecution.org recently reported:  Another Pakistani Christian Girl Becomes Victim of Forced Conversion and Forced Marriage.

It is Christians who are paying the price of intolerance while their leaders continue to take part in 'brotherly love' exercises with Muslims whose religious aim is to convert all to Islam while complaining of Islamophobia to conceal the truth.  

Christian leaders would do well to heed the warning of bishop Michael Nazir-Ali who explained back in 2011 how Christianity has become almost extinct in the Middle East, the cradle of Christianity, and Islam, the 'religion of peace', has became dominant in the Arab world.