Free Republic

“Saddening to hear Christian preacher Hatun Tash say Speakers’ Corner – a bastion of free speech since 1872 – has become ‘hostile and dangerous'”, tweeted Stephen Evans, Chief Executive of the National Secular Society. “The threat of a de facto blasphemy law enforced by the threat of violence is there for all to see”, he added, stating what everyone knows (if they have eyes and ears), but is rarely expressed for fear of the consequences. But if a sharia blasphemy code creeps into Speakers’ Corner, in can be enforced just about anywhere – by the implicit (and sometimes quite explicit)...

LONDON, July 5, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The United Kingdom plans to impose a nationwide ban on any practice of reparative or “conversion” therapy for individuals experiencing same-sex attraction, unwanted or not, the government announced in a new report. “[T]he abhorrent practice of conversion therapy is still alive in our country,” the Government Equalities Office (GEO) announced in its newly-released LGBT Action Plan for “improving the lives” of LGBT people. “We will bring forward proposals to end the practice of conversion therapy in the UK, and take further action on hate crime as part of our upcoming refresh of the 2016...

Advertisers are turning to gay couples and ethnic minorities to sell their products Advertisers are so worried about being accused of racism or homophobia they are shying away from using images of white people and straight couples. Marketing departments are even putting diversity above relevance to their target audience to avoid accusations of bigotry, a survey of 500 companies has found. A third of advertisers questioned said they had used fewer white models and heterosexual couples over the past year. More than a third of these said they were taking this approach to “prevent perceived discrimination”. The findings are likely...

BBC staff will be asked to disclose details of their family income and upbringing, as part of new plans to ensure that the corporation is not dominated by the middle classes. The BBC will announce today that all new employees will be asked to answer a range of questions about their socio-economic background, including whether they were entitled to free school meals as a child, which the broadcaster says will allow it work out whether its workforce reflects modern Britain. The BBC has faced pressure from ministers, during the ongoing talks over the corporation’s new royal charter, to increase the...

MUSLIM staff at a care home refused to let patients eat bacon sandwiches for breakfast, a watchdog has found. . . . The report said: "Staff were not providing support that was responsive to the person's preferences and were restricting the person's right to choice. "The person said they had raised their concern with senior staff members but nothing had been done about it."

British Prime Minister David Cameron says he will make universities disclose what proportion of poor and ethnic minority applicants they admit, in an attempt to end racial and class discrimination that "should shame our country and jolt us to action." Writing in the Sunday Times newspaper, Cameron said that "if you're a young black man, you are more likely to be in a prison cell than studying at a top university." ...

* Rt Rev. Richard Chartres praised two priests who had grown bushy beards * Applauded their desire to reach out to the 'majority of their parishioners'*Bishop described his own beard, which he grew in the 1970s, as modest *He also said 'saint' David Beckham encouraged men to grow facial hair Clergymen should grow beards to emphasise their holiness to Muslims, the Bishop of London has suggested. Rt Reverend Richard Chartres said the modern fashion for facial hair should not be the preserve of hispters, but would also be likely to impress those from Eastern cultures where wearing a beard could...

Britain is no longer a Christian country and should stop acting as if it is, a major inquiry into the place of religion in modern society has concluded, provoking a furious backlash from ministers and the Church of England. A two-year commission, chaired by the former senior judge Baroness Butler-Sloss and involving leading religious leaders from all faiths, calls for public life in Britain to be systematically de-Christianised. It says that the decline of churchgoing and the rise of Islam and other faiths mean a "new settlement" is needed for religion in the UK, giving more official influence to non-religious...

Warnings that Government's counter-extremism plan could lead to inspections on thousands of church youth groups and turn Ofsted into a 'state regulator of religion'Ofsted inspectors could be sent into Sunday schools, church youth groups, Scout troops and even bell ringing circles to search for signs of children being "radicalised" under new counter-extremism plans, church leaders and voluntary groups fear. The proposals, backed by David Cameron, could lead to thousands of "out-of-school education settings" having to be formally registered for the first time and facing inspections to judge whether they are promoting so-called "British values". Christian groups said the proposals, outlined...

An immigrant father who whipped his children with an electrical cable and threatened to stab them has been spared jail because he told the court he didn’t know his actions were illegal in Britain. One boy was left scared and bleeding. The case is likely to have been influenced by the legal precedent established in June, when a high court judge ruled that Immigrants should be allowed to “slap and hit” their children because of a “different cultural context.”The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, originally from The Gambia in West Africa, used an electrical cable with the...

Not only do recent revelations concerning the endemic sexual grooming of British girls by Muslim men demonstrate how crippling political correctness is, but they show how political correctness complements the most abusive elements of Islamic law, or Sharia. According to a June 24 report by the Birmingham Mail, as far back as March 2010, West Midlands Police knew that Muslim grooming gangs “were targeting children outside schools across the city—but failed to make the threat public.”

British citizens seeking advice on what’s legal to use for self-defense found some answers at www.askthe.police.uk, a website sponsored and operated by the government’s Police National Legal Database. Question 589: Are there any legal self-defence products that I can buy? Answer: The only fully legal self-defence product … is a rape alarm. There may be other products, according to the website, but they haven’t been fully tested and “if you purchase one you must be aware … there is always the possibility that you will arrested and detained until the product, its contents and legality, can be verified.” In an...

On Monday, the Right Honorable David Cameron, prime minister of Great Britain, gave his first major speech after being reelected to his high office — once held by Pitt, Gladstone, Disraeli, Lloyd George, Churchill and Thatcher. Confronting a world of challenges — including Greece’s possible exit from the euro, a massive migration crisis on Europe’s shores, Ukraine’s perilous state, Russia’s continued intransigence, the advance of the Islamic State and the continuing chaos in the Middle East — Cameron chose to talk about . . . a plan to ensure that hospitals in the United Kingdom will be better staffed on weekends. Okay,...

<p>An unemployed woman has her heart set on a 'fairy-tale church wedding' - and believes the taxpayer should foot the bill as it is her basic human right to be a bride.</p> <p>Anna Broom, of Gillingham, in Kent, has not worked since the age of 19, during which time she has claimed more than £100,000 in benefits.</p>

TAUNTON, UK – A street preacher in the UK who is charged with making “homophobic” and “Islamophobic” remarks has just completed a two-day trial and awaits a verdict on whether or not biblical speech about the issues is considered a crime in the country. Mike Overd, a street preacher for five years, is accused of speaking against homosexuality and Islam last June and July on two separate occasions. He is now facing two charges of using threatening and abusive words and a charge of causing racially or religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress under the Public Order Act. A police...

*Richard Page made the comment while speaking in private with colleagues*The magistrate was reported to watchdogs and has been disciplined*He said he thought it was better for a child to be part of a traditional family*The 68-year-old has been found guilty of 'serious misconduct' over claim*He has been suspended and told he must attend a racial equality course*Mr Page said he felt 'tremendous pressure' not to express his beliefsA Christian magistrate has been disciplined by a Tory Cabinet Minister for expressing the belief that children should be raised by both a mother and a father. Richard Page told colleagues behind...

*Lord Harries said gesture would be a ‘creative act of accommodation’*Speaking in House of Lords claimed it would help Muslims feel ‘embraced’*Critics attacked idea insisting 'British values stem from Christian heritagePrince Charles’s coronation service should be opened with a reading from the Koran, a senior Church of England bishop said yesterday. The gesture would be a ‘creative act of accommodation’ to make Muslims feel ‘embraced’ by the nation, Lord Harries of Pentregarth said. But critics attacked the idea, accusing the Church of ‘losing confidence’ in its own institutions and traditions. Lord Harries, a former Bishop of Oxford and a leading...

A park in the United Kingdom has banned adults from going there unattended. That is, adults cannot go to Puxton Park by themselves. Why would they do this? Because, according to the park, unattended adults are very likely to be a pedophile. Matthew Richards, who is married, was unaware of this rule when he took a 25-mile drive to go to the park. Richards, a bird-watching enthusiast, went to see a falconry display at the park. When he arrived, he was told he could not enter “on child protection grounds.” Richards was taken aback. “I was frankly amazed. I was...

A British pensioner who quipped "I'm not a Muslim" when asked to remove his shoes at airport security spent more than six months with a criminal charge of racism hanging over him, before the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case just one day before it was due in court. Paul Griffith, who was flying from Stansted Airport in Essex, has described the experience as "incredibly stressful", the Daily Mail has reported. Griffith, 75, was on his way to Malaga, Spain, for a week’s holiday when he set off the scanners on his way through security at Stansted Airport earlier this...

Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, has claimed British towns are being “swamped” by immigrants and their residents are “under siege”, in an escalation of the emotive language being used by Tory ministers calling for a renegotiation of the UK’s relationship with Europe. In terms reminiscent of Margaret Thatcher in the 1970s, he said on Sunday that in some areas of the UK, large numbers of migrant workers and foreign people claiming benefits should be subject to some form of restraint – or risk dominating the local population. “In some areas of the UK, down the east coast, towns do feel...