Over the weekend, Christians joined together in London to unite in prayer against the government’s proposed Religious Hatred Bill, which gets its first reading in the House of Lords on Tuesday Oct. 11th 2005.

|PIC1|On Saturday, a large crowd gathered at Hyde Park in Central London in an event co-organised by a coalition of Christian groups. The organisations were calling out for prayer in protest against the government’s new proposals that have already passed through the House of Commons.

Speaking to Christian Today, Rev Katei Kirby, CEO of the African and Caribbean Evangelical Alliance (ACEA) expressed her opposition to the bill.

“It is clear to us at the Evangelical Alliance and the ACEA what the government wants to do is a good thing, but the wording of the legislation proposed could do more harm than good. It has been left open to interpretation and of course misinterpretation, and this prayer protest today is to say to our government and the country that we cannot lay down and let this happen to us but we want clearly to protect the freedom of speech in this country,” said Rev Kirby.

The ACEA leader revealed her concerns of the affects on the Christian communities if the bill is passed, “As Christians we are saying it will affect our freedom to preach and teach objectively the gospel and challenge other faiths in the meantime.”

“What we are saying to people is that if this becomes law then the extremist groups can and will look to use it to ensure that the certainty and confidence that we have in God will be restricted by simply claiming offence by what we preach.”

In call for unity among Christians, the ACEA CEO told Christian Today, “We fight things often on our own and do not get thing done as well as if we do it together, so this is a fight with prayer that will unite the Christian family. We are all very different and looking around the crowd today it could not be more diverse. There are so many churches here today, but the great thing is that we are one in Christ.”

|PIC2|When questioned regarding whether the Evangelical Alliances would be forced to make drastic changes if the bill does go through, Rev Kirby said, “The EA will continue to do what we have been doing, carrying on with our mandate and will continue to challenge the government even if it becomes law. I am mindful that it may well be passed but it does not mean that we will cool off or become any less Christian than we are today. In fact it may be a call for all to be more open and not to cause offence but to be more comfortable about who we are in God. So will our work change? No!”

Also supporting the coalition to halt the religious hatred bill at the rally, was Michael Ovey, Professor of Doctrine at Oak Hill College, and also a former civil service lawyer who used to draft government legislation.

Ovey stated, “The problem is the way it (the religious hatred bill) operates it is likely to restrict those that preach the gospel in a way that could be seen as offensive to others.”

He also told Christian Today, “Another problem is that if you preach the gospel then you are in danger of committing a criminal offence. Of course this is not the governments intention and they assure us of this, but when you see the words on the page and think how they operate then that is the way it tends to go.”

General freedom of speech and the right to hear were also issues brought up by Ovey. He revealed, “The proposals will penalise the ones who speaks but also the people from hearing. So if 500 people listen to me say Jesus is the way the truth and the life, and then someone says ‘I find that offensive, policeman arrest them!’ then what happens to the 500 people listening and their right to hear and form their own opinion?

|PIC3|One of the organisers of the event, Rev George Hargreaves, leader of The Christian Party, said to Christian Today, “First the problem with the bill is that it already exists in the Public Order Act and the Aggravated Religion Act. There is already the laws necessary in place to take care of the threat this bill is supposed to take care of. The laws are already there and people have been convicted by those laws.

“It is also unworkable. A preacher, comedian, actor and even parliamentarians will have to speak and have to know everyone in their audience to know that they will not incite anger in them and offend them. To be guilty of a crime to offend people as we don’t know the constituency of the people we don’t know – this is unjust.

“It is no defence to say we are speaking the truth, and even more it is not even a defence under this bill that my heart and intentions were good.”

Rev Hargreaves concluded, “Our weapons are not bombs but they are mighty through God and so we are here praying above all for his will to be done.”

|TOP|The Public Policy Officer of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship (LCF) also addressed the crowd regarding the worries over the proposals, “Christianity is not just a private belief. As Christians we should repent. We should truly repent for having allowed our faith to become viewed as a private matter. Biblical truths on how to live are truths for every human-being and so should impact every sphere of public life.

“No-one here likes the idea of inciting a person to hate another because of their religion. Indeed the message of the gospel is to love everyone as we love ourselves. Everyone is made in the image of God. No matter what the government says they need, when the law is passed, it could have consequences that no-one ever foresaw.”

The protest will continue tomorrow, Tuesday Oct. 11th at a public rally outside the Houses of Parliament. The Lawyer’s Christian Fellowship, and Evangelical Alliances are calling on all their members to join and make their voice heard in the House of Lords as the bill receives its first hearing. The rally will take place from 1pm till 4pm.





Andrew Clark (Christian Today)