BRITAIN NEWS AND ALERT's

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/02/young-uk-doctors-urged-not-to-join-isis?CMP=share_btn_fb
Britain acts to stem flow of young doctors recruited by Isis in Sudan
London imam adds voice to delegation to persuade medics not to respond as terrorists plea for hospital medical staff
 Mohammed Fakhri Al-Khabass, lect, and Nada Sami Kader pne oof the UK doctors he recruited for Isis.
 Mohammed Fakhri Al-Khabass, left, and Nada Sami Kader, one of the UK doctors he recruited for Isis. Composite: Public Domain
Mark Townsend Home affairs editor
Saturday 2 January 2016 19.45 GMT Last modified on Saturday 2 January 2016 22.00 GMT

A British delegation, including an imam from London, have visited Sudan to try to dissuade young British doctors from joining Islamic State (Isis), which has been urgently seeking more foreign medics to help at its hospitals in Syria.

The Foreign Office is coordinating efforts to prevent more Britons travelling from Khartoum’s University of Medical Sciences and Technology (UMST). At least 17 British doctors travelled from there to Syria during 2015 to staff Isis’s health ministry.

It has emerged that a second group of UK doctors who left Sudan for Syria have joined up with members of an earlier group who travelled to join Isis in March. According to family sources, the second group of five Britons, including two brothers from Leicester, are understood to have joined up with 20-year-old Rowan Kamal Zine El Abidine, one of a group of nine British medical staff who journeyed from Khartoum months earlier.


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Both groups were said, initially at least, to be under the control of Mohammed Fakhri, a 25-year-old from Middlesbrough who also attended UMST and styles himself as the recruiter of British medics for Isis. Currently believed to be in Raqqa after evading attempts to capture him in Turkey, Fakhri ran UMST’s Islamic Cultural Association, where he radicalised his fellow British students. The association has been shut down and numerous online traces of the group have been removed following pressure from the UK authorities.

Fakhri himself appears to have gone quiet, his last known act being to publish an essay three months ago titled “To the Hesitant”, in which he attempts to reassure those who are having reservations about his project. In an earlier essay Fakhri conceded that the caliphate’s medical expertise lags behind its western counterparts, admitting: “The Islamic State realises that in fields like medicine, the non-Muslims are currently those advanced.”

Meanwhile, family sources of the young medics have told the Observer they remain in touch with their siblings and children inside the self-styled caliphate. In fact, some say contact has improved over recent months.

“Communication has become less controlled than it was. At one point we were worried they may have had their phones confiscated by Fakhri,” said a sibling of one of the initial nine medics inside Syria, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity.

All, however, appear to have been ordered not to disclose their whereabouts, although it appears from sporadic sightings and online postings that the doctors are currently spread across the caliphate. Some appear to be stationed at a specially built medical faculty next to the Raqqa National hospital; others have been dispatched to the city of Al-Bab, east of Aleppo, and are based at Menbij’s National hospital, 12 miles from the Turkish border, or have been sent towards Iraq and the city of Deir ez-Zor, deep inside Isis territory.

Despite Isis’s relative success in luring young foreign doctors to Syria – Australian, Russian, Libyan and Saudi doctors have all travelled to join the militants – the group is urgently requesting more.

At least one British doctor has posted links to Tumblr accounts – now deleted – which admit that more doctors are required to join the dawlah or the state, but that it is getting harder to enter the caliphate. The account of Abu Sa’eed al-Britani said that crossing the mountains between Turkey and al-Sham (Syria) is fraught with difficulty. “I don’t believe it’s a feesible [sic] option now unless you are 100% certain that you will enter dawlah territory and do not mind the negative consequences of getting caught,” he wrote. Instead he advises potential medical recruits to consider joining Libyan, Boko Haram or Isis affiliates in Egypt.

Concern that more sleeper cells of British doctors are biding their time in Khartoum before heading to Syria have prompted some parents to reportedly withdraw their children from UMST and triggered considerable unease among UK government diplomats and the Sudanese intelligence services.

A Foreign Office source confirmed that its embassy in Khartoum was working with the university and had recently sent over a delegation headed by imam Luqman Ali, director of the Khayaal Theatre Company in London, which adapts Muslim literature not previously performed on stage.

Whitehall officials shared counter-extremist advice with lecturers and students based on work in UK universities under the Prevent programme, the government’s counter-terrorism initiative, which has been criticised for discriminating against Muslims.

An FCO spokesman said: “Since the cases of British nationals travelling from Sudan to Syria, the British embassy in Khartoum remains in contact with the University of Medical Sciences and Technology to address these concerns. We continue to support the university in its efforts to promote dialogue around these issues.”

Meanwhile, Facebook messages leaked to the Observer reveal the speed with which Fakhri was himself radicalised while a student in Khartoum. They show that in August 2014 he was still talking enthusiastically about his “postgraduate job” and pathology exams, yet within months he is thought to have travelled to Syria before persuading others to follow him.

They also reveal how, when Fakhri took over as president of the Khartoum university-based Islamic Cultural Association, he planned to bring extremist preachers on to the campus and altered the organisation’s structure. In August 2014 he divided members into classifications along the lines of male and female, religious and unreligious, Muslim and non-Muslim.

One theory is that one of Fakhri’s roles for Isis was to recruit female medics, who are prohibited under Isis from operating on males. Seven female British medics, including Lena Mamoun Abdelgadir, a 19-year-old medical student from Norfolk, are among those who have joined Isis in from Khartoum.

Facebook page linked to Taliban and Al Qaeda was registered to same address as British Muslim father whose Disneyland trip was blocked by Homeland Security 
Mohammad Tariq Mahmood tried to travel from Gatwick Airport to LA
He, his brother and nine children were stopped on the orders of the US 
Mr Mahmood says the family were barred 'because we are Muslim'
He dismissed Facebook account claiming links to Al Qaeda and Taliban
It was set up by someone who has lived at the family's postal address 
David Cameron says he'll examine the case after it was raised by an MP
By RICHARD SPILLETT and TIM SCULTHORPE, MAILONLINE DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR and SAM TONKIN FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 06:06, 23 December 2015 | UPDATED: 12:56, 24 December 2015


Facebook page linked to Taliban and Al Qaeda was registered to same address as British Muslim father whose Disneyland trip was blocked by Homeland Security 
Mohammad Tariq Mahmood tried to travel from Gatwick Airport to LA
He, his brother and nine children were stopped on the orders of the US 
Mr Mahmood says the family were barred 'because we are Muslim'
He dismissed Facebook account claiming links to Al Qaeda and Taliban
It was set up by someone who has lived at the family's postal address 
David Cameron says he'll examine the case after it was raised by an MP
By RICHARD SPILLETT and TIM SCULTHORPE, MAILONLINE DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR and SAM TONKIN FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 06:06, 23 December 2015 | UPDATED: 12:56, 24 December 2015

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3371472/David-Cameron-look-Muslim-family-banned-visiting-Disneyland-California-U-S-officials.html
Facebook page linked to Taliban and Al Qaeda was registered to same address as British Muslim father whose Disneyland trip was blocked by Homeland Security 
Mohammad Tariq Mahmood tried to travel from Gatwick Airport to LA
He, his brother and nine children were stopped on the orders of the US 
Mr Mahmood says the family were barred 'because we are Muslim'
He dismissed Facebook account claiming links to Al Qaeda and Taliban
It was set up by someone who has lived at the family's postal address 
David Cameron says he'll examine the case after it was raised by an MP
By RICHARD SPILLETT and TIM SCULTHORPE, MAILONLINE DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR and SAM TONKIN FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 06:06, 23 December 2015 | UPDATED: 12:56, 24 December 2015

A British Muslim father whose planned Disneyland trip was ruined when he and his family were barred from boarding a flight to the U.S. has now been forced to distance himself from a Facebook account claiming links to Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Mohammad Tariq Mahmood, 41, his brother and their children, aged between eight and 19, said they were stopped at the departure gate at Gatwick airport and told their visas to the US had been revoked.
He claimed the family were barred from flying 'because they are Muslim'.
However, it has since emerged that a Facebook page claiming links to radical Islamist groups was set up by someone who has lived at the family's postal address, according to ITV News.
The account, which includes information suggesting it may have been published as a joke, was in the name of Hamza Hussain - a first name shared by Mr Mahmood's 18-year-old son. It reportedly lists the job titles 'supervisor at Taliban and leader at al-Qaeda'.
When asked about the account, Mr Mahmood believed hackers may have been to blame, adding: 'That could be anything, maybe a mistake.'
He said: 'It is not my son's Facebook page. It has a similar name, but not the same as my son's. 
'The page is also linked to our home address and that could be coincidence. I don't know why it is linked there. The name is not even the same. The authorities must have linked it simply because of the name Hamza.'
It was understood that the wives of Mr Mahmood and his brother had stayed at home for the trip because one of them was ill and one of the children did not have a valid passport.
But it is now believed that Mr Mahmood's wife was in Pakistan at the time.
The family say were given no explanation why their visas, organised six weeks before the flight, were suddenly cancelled at the last minute and have now lost the £11,000 they had saved for the holiday.
It has also been suggested the move by US authorities could be due to Mr Mahmood's brother having been refused entry to Israel eight years ago, but no official explanation has been given by the US Embassy.
The flight ban comes after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called for all Muslims to be stopped from entering the US.

DUP leader says marriage is between a man and a woman
The new leader of the largest political party in Northern Ireland has said that her party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), "firmly believes" marriage is between a male and female.
Sat 19 Dec 2015
By Hannah Tooley
The new leader of the largest political party in Northern Ireland has said that her party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), "firmly believes" marriage is between a male and female. 

Arlene Foster will become Northern Ireland's First Minister in January 2016. 

She was backed to become the leader of the DUP by the party's MPs and Assembly members.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Arlene Foster said that civil partnerships are the way that same-sex relationships are recognised in Northern Ireland.

The Stormont Assembly has voted on the issue five times since 2012 and has rejected same-sex marriage in the country.

According to The Christian Institute the new DUP leader claimed that "the style may change but the fundamentals of the DUP remain the same and that's certainly one of the issues that we are very clear about."

She continued: "we very firmly believe that marriage is an institution between a man and a woman and that should remain the same."

Arlene Foster has represented Fermanagh and South Tyrone for more than a decade, and she will lead the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, with 38 MLAs.

A legal challenge to Northern Ireland's ban on gay marriage opened in early December, launched by two couples who were granted permission to judicially review the Stormont Assembly's repeated refusal to legislate for same sex marriage.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK or Ireland where civil marriage is denied to gay couples, following the Republic of Ireland's 'yes' vote in a referendum in May.

The majority of MLAs voted in favour of introducing gay marriage however despite this the proposal fell because unionists who oppose the move deployed a controversial voting mechanism to effectively veto the decision.

In early 2015, around 20,000 campaigners staged a march through Belfast city centre demanding a change in the law. 

About the Author
 
Hannah Tooley
Hannah works as a multimedia journalist at Premier.

PA
Gay marriage remains illegal in Northern Ireland
Same-sex marriage will remain against the law in Northern Ireland - despite a majority of Stormont Assembly members voting to legalise it.
More http://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Gay-marriage-remains-illegal-in-Northern-Ireland

This year Queen Elizabeth is expected to deliver her most openly Christian message yet.
Sun 20 Dec 2015
By Hannah Tooley
This year Queen Elizabeth is expected to deliver her most openly Christian message yet. 
According to sources close to the Queen, she will use her traditional annual address to reflect on her own faith as well as the place of Christianity in an increasingly secular society.
The Mail on Sunday has reported that she will talk of extremism too.
Former Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali said: "Clearly extremism is a backdrop to anything that any public figure says at this time.

* Queen Elizabeth II 

* Queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth 

* Reign: 6th February 1952 - present

* Heir: Prince Charles of Wales 

* September 2015: became longest-reigning monarch 

"If people in this country gave greater heed to what the Queen says about the importance of Christianity in our personal as well as our national life, then we would all be in a better place to confront it."

He continued: "The Queen will also be aware that Christians and others have faced unprecedented persecution over the last year in parts of the Middle East, and could even face extinction."

No one outside of the palace yet knows the content of the 2015 speech, however a source is claimed to have said: "Over the years we're seen greater emphasis on the Queen's faith and we're certain to see it in this year's Christmas broadcast. 

"There's a fundamental optimism which, to an extent, is driven by her faith in contrast to the overall gloom.

"She is driven by a deep and spirited faith."


Bishops warning BBC cuts to religion aid extremism
Sun 20 Dec 2015
By Hannah Tooley
A group of bishops are warning the BBC that it risks aiding religious extremism by cutting spending on religious programming.

They are speaking as the broadcaster prepares to make significant cuts to its religion and ethics budget.

Bishops are concerned this move will turn its back on tackling extremism as well as helping with integration.

The Sunday Telegraph has reported that faith issues are already side-lined at a time of great global conflict.

Anthony Devlin/PA Wire
 

The first female bishop in the House of Lords, Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, Bishop of Gloucester, said the decision was probably made: "to reduce the possibility of offending people with too much God stuff over the holiday."

Rt Revd Graham James, Bishop of Norwich also commented: "Religion has already taken a hit.

"It has already been reduced certainty in terms of its scope as independent part of the BBC, at a time when we already need - as everyone acknowledges - more religious literacy."

His comments came after a BBC spokesperson said that the BBC is looking "at ways we can reduce costs" by more than £550 million.

Rt Revd Graham James continued to say that further cuts could damage attempts to tackle extremism as well as further increase ignorance surrounding religions: "What we need is intelligent religious broadcasting that runs counter to the narrative that religion is always extremist."

Bishop of Leeds, Rt Revd Nick Baines from the Sandford St Martin Trust promotes religious broadcasting, and said the state of the world shows us informed religious broadcasting is needed now more than ever: "It would be somewhat irrational to diminish religious and ethical broadcasting."

http://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Bishops-warning-BBC-cuts-to-religion-aid-extremism?utm_source=Premier%20Christian%20Media&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6596680_Daily%20News%2021st%20December%20&utm_content=bbc&dm_i=16DQ,3XE14,619BHX,E5Q53,1


Politicians call on PM to act on Islamic State's "genocide" against Christians
Mon 21 Dec 2015
By Antony Bushfield
The Prime Minister is being urged to act on the "genocide" perpetrated by Islamic State against Christians in the Middle East.

A number of senior politicians have written to David Cameron criticising what one says is the government's "serious dereliction of their duty".

Thousands of Christians have been murdered by Islamic State terrorists in Iraq and Syria while hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes.

Jihadis ordered believers to pay a tax, convert to Islam or they would be killed.

66 parliamentarians are asking the Prime Minister to "use all the influence of Her Majesty's Government at the United Nations to obtain an agreement that the word "genocide" should be used" in relation to the atrocities being committed in Iraq and Syria.
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Bishop Nazir-Ali said that: "The Queen was very aware of the need to express her faith clearly while also respecting other beliefs.

"There is pressure for the next Coronation to be multi-faith or no faith.

"My understanding is that it will actually be a Christian event, but obviously the Queen will want to reinforce that."

The Queen is the head of the Church of England and Christmas message will air at 3pm on Christmas day on BBC 1 and ITV.

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/12/21/muslim-rape-gang-found-guilty-abusing-white-girl/
  Muslim Rape Gang Found Guilty of Abusing White Girl
Eleven of fifteen Muslim men charged in May with the sexual grooming of a 14-year-old girl have been found guilty, after the judged said they treated his court with “contempt and arrogance”.

The girl was “raped in car parks, parks and churchyards” in the small town of Keighley, near Bradford in the North of England, the court has previously heard.

“In 40 years of practice, I have never seen a dock that has been as insolent and disrespectful as this one. I have the poorest of opinions about the defendants”, blasted Judge Roger Thomas QC at Bradford Crown Court, where the verdict was passed.
In a unanimous verdict following a seven-week trial, ten of the men, aged between 19 and 63, were found guilty of rape and an eleventh was found guilty of sexual activity. One defendant was also found guilty of raping a second under-age victim in 2009.

The court has heard how she was called a “little white slag” and a “white bastard” as she wept on the floor and was raped by five men in succession on one occasion.

The jury also heard that the girl was passed around the men by a “nasty” 17-year-old drug dealer named Ahmed Al-Choudhury, who was described as the “ring leader” of the Muslim rape gang.

He allegedly first raped her in a churchyard when she refused to continue making drug deliveries for him when she was still a virgin. Mr. Choudhury was not one of men standing trial, however, and is thought to have fled abroad.

The eleven defendants will be sentenced on February 5, along with a twelfth defendant, Khalid Mahmood, 34, who previously pleaded guilty to five counts of rape.

According to the Sun, Judge Thomas praised the police, saying: “This has been a very considerable exercise for the police.

“The victim was missing from home and school so often – it seems to be accurate that police and other agencies were doing their best to try to exercise some control over the victim.

“They were met with an unhappy young girl who was in a vulnerable position and unable to take their help.”

Speaking after the verdict, Detective Chief Inspector Chris Walker, from West Yorkshire Police described the investigation as “challenging, complex and sensitive” and heralded the bravery of the victims.

He said: “I would like to pay tribute to the victims who have shown a great deal of courage in standing up to their perpetrators.

“These young girls were preyed upon and either raped or sexually assaulted.

“One was even passed around by these men for no other reason than their own gratification.

“Child sexual exploitation is one of the most important challenges facing the police. It is totally unacceptable and it is the responsibility of all agencies, communities and individuals to identify those responsible and help bring them to justice.

“Protecting the victims is a priority. However unwilling they may be initially to engage with police or other agencies, or to give evidence against the perpetrators, they will always be supported and protected from further harm.”

David Cameron reiterates commitment to persecuted Church
Wed 16 Dec 2015
By Marcus Jones
The Prime Minister has said we should do all we can to protect persecuted Christians around the world.

Addressing a question from Christian Tory MP Sir Gerald Howarth during Prime Minister's Questions, David Cameron also went on to praise the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury in addressing the issue.

He said: "I join my honourable friend in saying that we should do everything we can to defend and protect the right of Christians to practise their faith the world over. That is an important part of our foreign policy. Let me commend Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, for the excellent work he does in that regard."

Sir Gerald also asked the Prime Minister to remind the British people that we are a country fashioned by our Christian heritage and that is what has made us a welcoming country to refugees.

In his response, Mr Cameron said: "Yes, Britain is a Christian country. I believe that the fact that we have an established faith and that we understand the place of faith in our national life makes us a more tolerant nation and better able to accommodate other faith groups in our country.

"That is why, as I said earlier, we should be proud that this is one of the most successful multi-ethnic, multi-faith, multi-religion democracies anywhere in the world. That is not in conflict with our status as a predominantly Christian country; that status is one of the reasons why we have done it."
http://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/David-Cameron-reiterates-commitment-to-persecuted-Church?utm_source=Premier%20Christian%20Media&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6582821_Daily%20News%20with%20Advent&utm_content=cameron&dm_i=16DQ,3X3C5,619BHX,E4K2X,1

Pastor James McConnell to wait until January for verdict
A Protestant evangelical preacher accused of making "grossly offensive" remarks about Islam will have to wait until the new year to find out his fate.
Wed 16 Dec 2015
By Antony Bushfield
A Protestant evangelical preacher accused of making "grossly offensive" remarks about Islam will have to wait until the new year to find out his fate.

Pastor James McConnell, 78, has been on trial following a sermon in which he branded Islam "heathen", "satanic" and a "doctrine spawned in hell".

District Judge Liam McNally told Belfast Magistrates' Court: "We have come to the end of an interesting three days.

"Obviously I am going to reserve my judgment. I want to consider all the points raised in submissions."

The pensioner is being prosecuted under the 2003 Communications Act and faces two charges - improper use of a public electronic communications network and causing a grossly offensive message to be sent by means of a public electronic communications network.
http://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Pastor-James-McConnell-to-wait-until-January-for-verdict?utm_source=Premier%20Christian%20Media&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6582821_Daily%20News%20with%20Advent&utm_content=pastor&dm_i=16DQ,3X3C5,619BHX,E4K2X,1

http://www.wnd.com/2015/12/preacher-convicted-of-quoting-bible-now-high-court-jumps-in/
FAITH UNDER FIRE
PREACHER CONVICTED OF QUOTING BIBLE, NOW HIGH COURT JUMPS IN
'Ludicrous situation: Slightest accusation of a phobia is enough to paralyze rational action'
Published: 13 hours ago
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2015/03/michael_overd.jpg
Michael Overd
An appeals judge in the United Kingdom has issued a stunning reversal of a lower-court judge’s blast at the Bible over a street preacher who quoted Leviticus in explaining the Christian perspective on homosexuality.

According to officials with Christian Concern, which fought in court on behalf of street preacher Michael Overd, it was Taunton Crown Court Circuit Judge David Ticehurst who upheld Overd’s appeal.

He ruled the government “failed to provide sufficient evidence to justify the conviction,” the organization reported.

Overd had been convicted by a judge, Shamim Ahmed Qureshi, who also serves with the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal, the overseer of the nation’s Shariah courts.

Qureshi had taken the “extraordinary step” of determining and announcing in court which Bible verses “it was appropriate for Mr. Overd to use in his public explanation of the Bible’s teaching on homosexual practice,” the organization reported.

Overd, in a statement released by Christian Concern, said the case never should have come to trial.

Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert and Nina Shea have collaborated to create “Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians,” which confirms that groups like Pew Research, Newsweek and The Economist also identify Christians as “the world’s most widely persecuted religious group.”

“The court was faced with the farcical situation of a witness telling the judge that he couldn’t even remember what I had said, but simply asserting that it was ‘homophobic’ – as though the mere assertion that something is ‘homophobic’ is enough to curtail free speech,” he said.

“In this country, we are now in the ludicrous situation where the slightest accusation of a ‘phobia,’ be it ‘homophobia’ or “Islamophobia,’ is enough to paralyze rational action by the police and authorities. The highly politicized dogma of ‘phobias’ now too often results in trumped up charges and legal action.

“There is a chilling effect,” he said.

WND reported earlier in 2015 when the case developed.

Overd was convicted and fined by Qureshi, who told him he should not have referenced Leviticus Chapter 20 in explaining the biblical view on homosexuality, but “clearly indicated that he could have used Chapter 18 of the book.”

Overd had been taking part in street-preaching activities in Taunton, Somerset, at the time. Homosexuals filed the complaint, alleging Overd had “offended” them.

Overd, 50, was fined $300 and ordered to pay compensation and costs totaling $1,800.

He explained at the time he was approached by people with questions while he was preaching. Then they filed a complaint over his answer.

“I have been ordered to pay compensation for causing ‘emotional pain’ to someone who approached me aggressively demanding to debate the issue,” said Overd at the time. “There was no harm, injury or theft, just a simple disagreement over theology which I have now been fined for.”

Qureshi, who, according to a 2009 article in “The Brief” chronicling the rise of Shariah law in Britain, serves with the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal, the overseer of the nation’s Shariah courts, said it was impermissible to reference Leviticus 20:13 because it discusses the death penalty.

Overd took issue with Qureshi dictating which passages from the Bible were lawful for him to use.

“I am amazed that the judge sees it as his role to dictate which parts of the Bible can and can’t be preached,” he said then. “I did not quote the full text of Leviticus 20 or make reference to the death penalty, but the judge is telling me that I should use other parts of the Bible. This is not free speech but censorship. The judge is redacting the Bible.”

Andrew Williams, chief of the Christian Legal Centre, said, “Public debate is becoming more superficial and fragile. People feel that certain things can’t be said. That is dangerous. It prevents us from challenging ideas, beliefs and behavior that need to be challenged. It may make some people feel more comfortable, but it doesn’t make the country safer.”

Williams continued, “Mike’s case highlights problems that will only get worse if the government ploughs on with its flawed ‘Counter-Extremism Strategy.” Islamic terrorism needs to be tackled, but giving the government far-reaching powers to clamp down on all sorts of beliefs that it doesn’t like is dangerous.”

Added Overd, “Reasonable, law-abiding people now feel that they can’t say certain things and that is dangerous. Totalitarian regimes develop when ordinary people feel that there are certain things that can’t be said.”

The BBC noted Ticehurst awarded costs in favor of Overd, who lives in Creech St. Michael.

WND reported when the case developed that Qureshi also criticized Overd’s preaching style and training.

“In my view he enjoys coaxing people into asking him questions so that he can reply loudly into the microphone to answer them. The only semblance of civilized conversation is when they commend him, if they disagree he shouts them down,” he charged.

Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert and Nina Shea have collaborated to create “Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians,” which confirms that groups like Pew Research, Newsweek and The Economist also identify Christians as “the world’s most widely persecuted religious group.”
Copyright 2015 WND

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/12/preacher-convicted-of-quoting-bible-now-high-court-jumps-in/#LYi1BqLDcxwDqh5w.99

Government needs "incredibly ambitious plans" to meet obligations of Paris climate deal, says Christian environmentalist
A Christian conservationist has said the UK government will need "incredibly ambitious plans" to put the targets of a draft climate change deal reached in Paris into action.
Andy Lester from the charity A Rocha was speaking after world leaders struck the draft agreement after all-night talks at the end of a two-week conference.

It is hoped ministers from countries all over the world will officially settle on the legally binding deal by the end of Saturday, though there may be opposition from some nations.

The draft deal commits to ensuring global temperatures do not rise more than two degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels, and is aiming for them not to rise above 1.5 degrees celsius.

Major world nations will have to make very significant changes in order to meet the target.

Andy Lester told Premier if countries could meet the targets then very serious effects of climate change like sea levels overtaking land could be averted - effects which overwhelmingly affected poorer, developing nations the worst.

Because of this, he said: "We as a Christian community have got to put our government under pressure to change its policies, change the mindset and get them seriously active on climate change now, otherwise the whole proposal we've got in front of us will be meaningless.

"The government's undone a lot of green subsidies and tariffs... If countries like the UK are seriously going to meet that objective of under two degrees they've got to have incredibly ambitious plans on renewable energies.

"This is a good milestone but the really hard work starts now. This is the beginning, not the end of the process."

Listen to Premier's Aaron James speaking to Andy Lester here:
http://www.premier.org.uk/News/World/Government-needs-incredibly-ambitious-plans-to-meet-obligations-of-Paris-climate-deal-says-Christian-environmentalist?utm_source=Premier%20Christian%20Media&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6566058_News%2012%20Dec&utm_content=paris&dm_i=16DQ,3WQEI,619BHX,E3937,1


Women's inclusion in Saudi politics a "milestone", says Christian Middle East expert
Sat 12 Dec 2015
By Aaron James
A Christian expert on the Middle East has said allowing women to vote and stand in Saudi Arabia's municipal elections is a "milestone" for the country.
It's first time women in Saudi Arabia have been allowed to vote in the country's history, or stand for political offices.
More than 900 women are standing for office, however it is uncertain whether any will be elected.
READ MORE
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Church of England priest banned after marrying male partner
Sat 12 Dec 2015
By Aaron James
The Church of England has banned a priest from carrying out services because he married his male partner.
Revd Jeremy Davies was with his partner Simon McEnery for more than 25 years before the couple got married last year.
Mr Davies had served as canon precentor at Salisbury Cathedral for around the same period.
He wrote to the Diocese of Winchester requesting permission to officiate in it, but the Diocese turned this request down on the grounds he went against the Church's doctrine that gay clergy should not get married.
The Diocese of Winchester had expressed its opposition to the gay marriage at the time a year ago.
READ MORE
http://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Church-of-England-priest-banned-after-marrying-male-partner?utm_source=Premier%20Christian%20Media&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6566058_News%2012%20Dec&utm_content=jeremy%20davies&dm_i=16DQ,3WQEI,619BHX,E3937,1

New York priest accused of stealing over a million dollars
Sat 12 Dec 2015
By Aaron James
Parishioners in New York have accused a priest of stealing more than one million dollars to pay for gay sex sessions, illegal drugs, holidays and housing.
They launched a lawsuit on Thursday against Fr Peter Miqueli, 53, who currently leads St Frances de Chantal church (pictured above) in the Throggs Neck area of the city.
The writ claims Mr Miqueli paid up to 1000 dollars a time to have gay sex sessions with a Mr Keith Crist, and paid $264,000 for a house in New Jersey.
It also claims he paid a doctor to obtain illegal drugs, and gave him $60,000 towards a house deposit.
Court papers say: "This lawsuit seeks to finally put an end to this truly sinful conduct so that St. Frances de Chantal parish can regain the strength, spirituality and faith it once had before Father Miqueli arrived."
Fr Peter Miqueli is yet to enter a response to the allegations against him and proceedings continue.
READ MORE
http://www.premier.org.uk/News/World/New-York-priest-accused-of-stealing-over-a-million-dollars?utm_source=Premier%20Christian%20Media&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6566058_News%2012%20Dec&utm_content=miqueli&dm_i=16DQ,3WQEI,619BHX,E3937,1

Barclays slammed for using 'Bank Holiday' rather than 'Christmas'
Sat 12 Dec 2015
By Aaron James
A Christian charity has criticised the banking giant Barclays for using 'Bank Holiday' rather than 'Christmas' in its seasonal opening times.
Signs for Barclays opening times over the festive period make no mention of Christmas Day or Boxing Day.
In comparison Natwest, Halifax and Lloyds all refer to Christmas in their opening times.
Colin Hart, from the Christian Institute, told the Daily Telegraph: "Barclays Bank shouldn’t be ashamed of Britain’s Christian heritage.
"It should reverse this politically correct mad decision as no one is offended by using terms like Christmas or Easter."
Some people agreed with his view on Twitter:
READ MORE
http://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Barclays-slammed-for-using-Bank-Holiday-rather-than-Christmas?utm_source=Premier%20Christian%20Media&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6566058_News%2012%20Dec&utm_content=barclays&dm_i=16DQ,3WQEI,619BHX,E3937,1

Godspeed": Archbishop's message to astronaut Tim Peake
The Archbishop of Canterbury's offered prayers for Astronaut Tim Peake as he prepares to become the first Brit to go to the International Space Station.
READ MORE
http://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Godspeed-Archbishop-s-message-to-astronaut-Tim-Peake?utm_source=Premier%20Christian%20Media&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6574549_Daily%20news%2015%20Dec&utm_content=peake&dm_i=16DQ,3WWYD,619BHX,E3WDM,1

£20,000 reward to find Christian woman's killer
Mon 14 Dec 2015
By Hannah Tooley
A £20,000 reward will be offered for information about the killer who stabbed a Christian woman to death in her home 20 years ago. 
Joy Hewer, who had been primary school teacher, was sexually assaulted and left for dead in her flat in Walthamstow, north-east London, on October 17th 1995.
READ MORE
http://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/20-000-reward-to-find-Christian-woman-s-killer?utm_source=Premier%20Christian%20Media&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6574549_Daily%20news%2015%20Dec&utm_content=reward&dm_i=16DQ,3WWYD,619BHX,E3WDM,1

Nativity scene used as hiding place by suspected drunk driver
Mon 14 Dec 2015
By Premier Journalist
A suspected drunk driver hid in a local nativity scene while attempting to dodge police arrest early Saturday morning. 
The 55-year-old man crashed a mini cooper into a metal railing in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, and then hid between hay bales and baby Jesus in a nativity shed.
North Yorkshire Police arrested the man and posted a photo of the car on social media, causing a stream of witty tweets from social media followers.
READ MORE
http://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Nativity-scene-used-as-hiding-place-by-suspected-drunk-driver?utm_source=Premier%20Christian%20Media&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6574549_Daily%20news%2015%20Dec&utm_content=crash&dm_i=16DQ,3WWYD,619BHX,E3WDM,1

Christians less stressed during Christmas
Mon 14 Dec 2015
By Premier Journalist
A new study conducted across the UK and Europe has found that Christians tend to be less stressed around the Christmas period than others. 
The research published by Applied Research in Quality of Life, reported that a good education and having children at home also helped to ease stress.
Professor Michael Mutz of Georg-August-Universität Göttingen in Germany responded to the report saying, "People with a Christian affiliation and a strong sense of religiousness celebrate Christmas differently than the majority of non-Christians.
"Christian religious affiliation is a protective factor against the general decline of subjective well-being around Christmas.
"It can be assumed that [Christians] are less prone to becoming absorbed by the consumerism that precedes the holidays."
Professor Mutz noted that society is often pressured by a growing consumer culture, buying Christmas presents and fulfilling social obligations. Christians, although not exempt from hectic holiday pressures, had greater feelings of peace and contentment during the festive season than other study participants.
READ MORE
http://www.premier.org.uk/News/World/Christians-less-stressed-during-Christmas?utm_source=Premier%20Christian%20Media&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6574549_Daily%20news%2015%20Dec&utm_content=Christmas&dm_i=16DQ,3WWYD,619BHX,E3WDM,1

Accused preacher Anjem Choudary granted bail
11 December 2015
Radical preacher Anjem Choudary has been granted conditional bail as he awaits trial for allegedly encouraging support for so-called Islamic State.
Mr Choudary, 48, had spent the last two weeks in custody after breaching his bail by meeting a person he was "precluded from contacting".
At the Old Bailey on Friday, he was granted bail on the same conditions.
Mr Choudary, from Ilford, east London, pleaded not guilty to charges of encouraging support for IS.
He will remain in custody until a £15,000 surety is provided to the court.
His co-accused, Mohammed Rahman, of Whitechapel, in east London, also pleaded not guilty to inviting support for IS between 29 June 2014 and 6 March 2015.
The case was adjourned until 11 January for a further hearing, ahead of the scheduled start of the trial the following day.
The trial is expected to take three to four weeks.
READ MORE
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35074258


Sean Hannity Destroys Radical Muslim Cleric: "You are an Enemy of Free People"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvnxaiUugeE



As a former extremist who knew Anjem Choudary, I fear for the mentality of British Muslims
Like 33 per cent of British Muslims do, I once supported the idea of a caliphate based upon sharia law. But the debate has now become polarised and poisonous
Maajid Nawaz @MaajidNawaz Friday 7 August 2015149 comments
Anjem Choudary says he knew the suspect Michael Adebolajo 
Anjem Choudary Getty
Anjem Choudary, Britain’s loudest Islamist extremist, has finally been remanded in custody, charged under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The charge is related to him sending messages to his 32,000 followers on Facebook, allegedly encouraging people to join Isis. His guilt or innocence is a matter for the courts. What concerns me here is his trajectory.

I first met Anjem in 1994, when I was 17 years old. We were both students of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), which was led in the UK back then by the Syrian firebrand cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad. HT is responsible for first popularising the notion of resurrecting a theocratic caliphate in Muslim-majority countries. At the time, I had been studying at Newham College and was eventually expelled due to my Islamist belligerence. Anjem volunteered as my lawyer, furnishing me with advice on my expulsion.

Later that year, HT organised an international caliphate conference at London’s Wembley Arena, the first and largest of its kind globally. As our fellow HT activists went up and down the country plastering eye-catching bright orange stickers pronouncing The Caliphate - Coming Soon to a Country Near You, Muslims were arriving from all over the world to behold Wembley stadium, packed with 10,000 people cheering in unison for the return of the Caliphate. Those were the days before Isis, even before al-Qaeda, when HT was the most extreme manifestation of this pernicious Islamist ideology in Britain. The British-Muslim scene would never be the same again.

READ MORE
Anjem Choudary charged with 'inviting support for Isis'
Anjem Choudary claims all Muslim MPs and voters are 'apostates'
The BBC's Mark Easton is right to compare Choudary to Gandhi
I next met Anjem roughly 15 years later on the BBC Newsnight set with Paxman. By now, I had abandoned my former extremist dogma, and through my organisation Quilliam had set about challenging Islamism as an affront to the civil liberties of the very Muslims it claims to serve. Our BBC debate is most memorable for Anjem’s complicit acceptance that – were a caliphate to be established – I would be executed for being deemed an ‘apostate’. Since this debate, ISIS has indeed declared a caliphate and has left us in no doubt how it would treat dissenters like me.

Despite the fact that up to 1000 British citizens have travelled to join Isis’ medieval theocratic nightmare, and in some cases entire families have up and left, it is true that only a tiny minority of Muslims worldwide support ISIS. But I fear that too many Muslims disagree with Isis’ caliphate, not because it is a caliphate, but because it is not their caliphate. The very idea of resurrecting a theocracy in this day and age has worrying levels of support. According to one survey, 33% of British Muslims supported the notion of creating a worldwide caliphate based on a version of sharia, as law. And if our only criticism of Isis is that its theocracy is not utopian enough, this doesn’t bode well. The cumulative effect of our Islamist preaching in the UK since the early 90s has resulted in polarised communities and unhealthy theocratic aspirations forming a normalised part of life among too many British Muslims.

In fact, the debate has become so skewered towards Islamism that liberal Muslim activists are routinely dismissed as having ‘gone to the other extreme’ to figures such as Anjem. But no, secular liberalism is not the ‘other extreme’ to Islamism - a desire to enforce a version of Islam over society. The other extreme is anti-Muslim bigotry and the desire to ban Islam, which is incidentally also rising across Europe.

 
I care not to debate which came first, Islamism or anti-Muslim bigotry, suffice to say that both feed into each other symbiotically. Liberalism, on the other hand, means a legal right for one to be religious or not, and an absolute right to express criticism of religiosity, or preach it. So no, liberal Muslims have not gone from 'one extreme to another'. Nor have liberal ex-Muslims for that matter, so long as they remain supportive of individual liberty. But because our vantage point often starts way out there with ISIS, even al-Qaida can perversely appear “moderate” in comparison, as poor liberal Muslims are labelled extreme outliers to any productive debate and the word moderate has become so relative that it’s lost all meaning.

This is how far the Islamic ball has strayed from the democratic court. And when wider society adopts this trope of liberal Muslims being the ‘other extreme’, it shows how low expectations of Muslims have become in the mainstream. How far we all have come since the 90s, and how far we all have to travel – yet - to reach a reasonable centre in this poisonous debate.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/as-a-former-extremist-who-knew-anjem-choudary-i-fear-for-the-mentality-of-british-muslims-10445976.html


‘You Want Her to Die!’ Hannity, Pam Geller Come to Blows with Anjem Choudary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QtwgMmi1zU

DAVID Cameron has warned the migration crisis could force Britain into leaving the European Union as he continued talks aimed at striking a new deal with Brussels.

By JAKE BURMAN
The Prime Minister said the short-term impact of the influx of migrants arriving in the EU could lead voters to “push Europe away”.

His remarks come as the number of migrants claiming asylum in the EU this year passed a staggering one million according to EU statistics agency Eurostat.

But hinting he may consider a lengthy campaign before his promised referendum on EU membership, Mr Cameron said that the “longer term reaction” to the migration crisis could be to make sure that there was a relationship with Brussels that “works”.

The Prime Minister was in Poland on the latest leg of his diplomatic offensive to win backing for the reform programme he hopes will allow him to recommend the UK remains within the 28-member bloc.

A major obstacle is his call for a ban on EU migrants claiming in-work benefits in Britain until they have been in the country for four years – which he hopes will deter citizens of other member states from coming to the UK.

More than one million migrants have claimed asylum in the UK

But Mr Cameron said the wider migration crisis – triggered by people seeking to come to Europe – could harden British opinion against the EU.

He said: “I think with both the eurozone crisis and the migration crisis, the short term impact is for people to think, ‘oh Christ, push Europe away from me, it’s bringing me problems’.”

Indicating he may consider delaying a referendum until nearer the end of 2017, Mr Cameron added: “I think the longer term reaction might actually be, well if they are going to have a single currency and they are on our doorstep and they are going to try and make it work, let’s make sure our relationship with them works and

FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE CLICK LINK
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/625622/David-Cameron-Migration-European-Union-Refugee-Referendum-Donald-Tusk-EU-Member-States

http://www.charismanews.com/world/53701-1-500-years-after-first-christian-church-planted-britain-no-longer-christian-nation
1,500 Years After First Christian Church Planted, Britain No Longer Christian Nation

Almost 1,500 years after St. Augustine of Canterbury founded England's first Christian church in 597 A.D., the British people have been told in no uncertain terms that they're no longer living in a Christian country.

A sensational report released this week by the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life challenges this country's time-tested moral and public values system. In language that raises eyebrows — and tempers — the report says the United Kingdom should cut back the Christian tone of major state occasions and shift toward a "pluralist character."

Events such as coronations should be changed to be more inclusive, it says, while the number of bishops in the House of Lords should be cut to make way for leaders of other religions.

The recommendations from the commission, chaired by the former High Court judge Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, highlight major changes in British society, such as the decline in people who say they are Anglicans, down from 40 percent in 1983 to less than  20 percent in 2013. 

Although membership in the commission included leaders and academics from every major religious tradition, a spokesman for the Church of England blasted the findings as "dominated by the old-fashioned view that traditional religion is declining in importance and that non-adherence to a religion is the same as humanism or secularism."

That may be referring to the commission's call for new policy on religion and belief in the U.K. that would "provide space and a role for all within society, regardless of their beliefs or absence of them." 

Royal sources say that Prince Charles, 67, would have considerable sympathy with some of the report's recommendations. The heir to the throne has often spoken of wanting to be, when king, defender of faiths and not just "the faith."

Key recommendations include:

The creation of a Magna Carta-style secular statement of values governing public life as an alternative to the much-proclaimed but little-understood adherence to "British values."
The scrapping of religious assemblies for schoolchildren, along with ending of the segregation of children by faith at schools throughout the land.
An end to the dominance of 26 Anglican male bishops in the House of Lords (the British Parliament's upper house) and the replacement of some of them with Muslim imams, Jewish rabbis and other non-Christian clerics.
The complete overhaul of the coronation service for the next monarch so that leaders of faiths other than Christianity play major roles.
A major rethinking on the British government's anti-terror policy so that radical views can be expressed at universities and institutions of higher learning by preachers and teachers who are currently damned as extremists by security and intelligence networks.
Two years in the making, the report was set up by the Woolf Institute, which was established at Cambridge University in 1998. It is this country's leading think tank studying relations between Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities. 

While gathering evidence, the report's commissioners met with Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury who is spiritual leader of the world's 800 million Anglicans; Ephraim Mirvis, the South African-born Chief Rabbi (Orthodox) of the Commonwealth; and leaders of Britain's fast-growing Muslim community (currently estimated at 2.8 million).

Even so, some Christians are furious. They believe humanists and secularists are the brains behind this controversial report, which has been damned as "seriously misguided" by the Church of England, the country's established church since the 16thcentury. Its Supreme Governor is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title "defender of the faith." 

At her coronation in 1953, Queen Elizabeth swore "to uphold the laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel, maintain the Protestant reformed religion established by law and preserve the settlement of the Church of England."

There is not a single reference in the coronation service to a religion other than Christianity or a denomination apart from the Church of England.

But that was over 60 years ago, when most Britons who were asked to fill in forms asking their affiliation simply put "C of E" (Church of England), whether they went to church on Sundays or not.

Meanwhile, the Church of England is battling internal divisions as well. Welby is busy preparing for a "make-or-break"  meeting in Canterbury next month—one that could determine the long-term future of the Anglican Communion.

He is attempting to hold together a group of 37 Anglican primates who are bitterly divided on the subject of human sexuality.

Church of England sources say the meeting will attempt to repair damage caused by feuding clerics on the explosive issue of full Christian rights for gay men and women and pave the way for the next Lambeth Conference — until now the showpiece of Britain's Anglican/Protestant Christian heritage—in 2018. 

© 2015 Religion News Service. All rights reserved.

Calls to cut number of bishops in House of Lords to make way for other faiths
Mon 07 Dec 2015
By Aaron James
A landmark review into the place of Christianity and other religions in Britain has recommended some Anglican bishops should be removed from the House of Lords to make room for other faiths.

Specifically, the Commission on Religion and Public Life called for the number of bishops to be cut from 26 to 16, to allow clerics from other major religions in Britain to be represented, as well as other strands of the Church currently which are excluded, such as the Roman Catholic Church and Black-majority churches.

The Commission is the first of its kind and took two years to compile. The commissioners involved, a third of whom were Christians, went across the UK canvassing opinions on how to adequately include different religions, and people with no religion, in modern Britain.

The review was launched on the back of three major changes since the Second World War:

A significant increase in the number of people identifying themselves as having 'no religion';
A significant increase in the proportion of people practising faiths different to Christianity, and;
A significant change in the diversity of the British Church, where Anglicans and Methodists have declined while Black-majority churches, Evangelicals and Charismatic and Non-Denominational churches have increased.
It made a number of other proposals, including:

Scrapping compulsory Christian worship at schools
Reducing the number of school admissions based on a child's faith or religious background
Making national events more inclusive of other faiths, for example the Coronation
Making religious programming more representative of British society, including other religions and atheists on Thought of the Day and Songs of Praise
Religious education to be compulsory in all schools, and for this to reflect other religions and atheism better
Promoting better understanding of all religions in the media and wider society.
Rt Revd Lord Harries, a former Bishop of Oxford and now peer, told Premier it "doesn't bother me at all" that the number of Church of England bishops in the House of Lords could be cut.

He continued: "I believe that Jesus is Lord and Saviour of the whole cosmos... But we live on Earth in a very diverse society, we also have to work to find those areas of commonality with other people.

"It's [the report] certainly not trying to take Christianity out of public life and public consciousness, but we are reflecting the fact that up to half of the population now say they have no religion.

"If we're wanting a society in which everybody feels truly home, our public events must be symbolised in a slightly different way.

Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, a Christian, former senior judge and chair of the Commission, told Premier: "I would not have put my name to this if I thought it was in any way likely to diminish the importance of Anglicanism and indeed the Christian religions.

"They remain enormously important. We still have 40% of people who for one way or another say that they are Christian.

"I would fight to support the Anglican religion in this country."

The Church of England welcomed some aspects of the review, but also said: "We are however disappointed that the report misunderstands the role of Church of England schools in providing a rounded education to more than a million pupils from all backgrounds as part of our commitment to the common good.

"If there is a significant problem with our schools it is that many of them are so popular that they are oversubscribed and not every parent who wants to can send their children to one.
 
"The report also misunderstands collective worship in schools. We believe that if the law on collective worship were repealed schools would risk losing this vital element of shaping a community that reflects the full breadth of human experience.

"We know, for example, that the response of many schools to the horror of the Paris attacks will have been in the context of collective worship.
 
"The report is dominated by the old fashioned view that traditional religion is declining in importance and that non-adherence to a religion is the same as humanism or secularism.
 
"In a fortnight where we have seen overwhelming public support for the Church of England over the Lord's Prayer cinema advert, it is important to remember that most public opinion is strongly opposed to the marginalisation of Christianity."

The Evangelical Alliance, present at the review's launch in Portcullis House in Westminster, expressed regret that it was not included in the group of commissioners who compiled the findings and recommendations, given that it represents more than two million Christians in Britain.

The commissioners said they included a wide range of evangelical views as they collected evidence from Christians across Britain.

It said in a statement: "The Evangelical Alliance welcomes the call in this report for government to acknowledge and embrace authentic plurality.

"Some suggestions in the report, particularly in relation to education, could be interpreted as reflecting a distinctly secular perspective and need clarifying, because there is no such thing as secular neutrality. It's a myth.

"Effective democracy, substantive human rights and liberty are intractably linked to the Bible and the Christian faith.

"If we want to continue to enjoy the fruits of our culture, as a society we will need to continue to tend, or at the very least acknowledge, the roots of our culture."
http://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Calls-to-cut-number-of-bishops-in-House-of-Lords-to-make-way-for-other-faiths?utm_source=Premier%20Christian%20Media&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6537615_News%20Dec%208&utm_content=religion%20public&dm_i=16DQ,3W4GF,619BHX,E14H8,1

Bishop of Carlisle: pray for Cumbria as Storm Desmond hits
Sun 06 Dec 2015
By Hannah Tooley
Cumbria has been hard hit by floods brought about by Storm Desmond.
As flooding continues to affect many areas of the region Christians are being encouraged to pray for all of those affected.
The Environment Agency has declared 130 flood warnings, while residents in parts of Cumbria were evacuated from their homes.
The Bishop of Carlisle, the Rt Revd James Newcome told Premier that through all the negative, he hopes that: "that out of all of this something very positive will come, in terms of developing relationships - kindness of all kinds shown, often in small but very significant ways, and a sense of people pulling together as they have in the past."
He said: "The last 24 hours have seen unprecedented weather conditions which have brought hardship to many living in Cumbria due to flooding.
"I live in Keswick so have seen for myself the terrible problems that this storm has created and fully sympathise with those affected."
MORE
http://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Bishop-of-Carlisle-pray-for-Cumbria-as-Storm-Desmond-hits?utm_source=Premier%20Christian%20Media&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6528983_Daily%20News%207th%20December&utm_content=flood&dm_i=16DQ,3VXSN,619BHX,E0GCT,1

"Our church is probably under water", says community worker
Sun 06 Dec 2015
By Hannah Tooley
Jonny Gios a Methodist Community Worker in Kendal has told Premier that the community spirit will overcome Storm Desmond.
He was speaking after nearly 200mm of rain fell in Britain's wettest area Shap, in Cumbria: "I'm still getting messages now saying 'can we help?', 'can we come down to the church a help rescue people and provide food and things?'
"So the community is really coming together - unfortunately our church, I think is probably under water."
A man has died as a result of Storm Desmond, causing Cumbria to declare a major incident.
The Environment Agency has declared 130 flood warnings.
Rain continued to fall overnight in Scotland, northern England and northern parts of Wales.
MORE
http://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Our-church-is-probably-under-water-says-community-worker?utm_source=Premier%20Christian%20Media&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6528983_Daily%20News%207th%20December&utm_content=cumbria&dm_i=16DQ,3VXSN,619BHX,E0GCT,1

The poor with no insurance are devastated: Cumbria church worker
A church worker in Cumbria, who has been helping to support victims of flooding, has told Premier that many poor people have lost everything because they did not have contents insurance.
"We need to get plans in and community support so that when this does happen we can respond better and help those who can't afford to be insured. I think that's something that we have to look at on a government level."
Talks are due to take place between churches and the council on Monday evening, in an attempt to help affected families recover in time for Christmas.
MORE
http://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/The-poor-with-no-insurance-are-devastated-Cumbria-church-worker?utm_source=Premier%20Christian%20Media&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6537615_News%20Dec%208&utm_content=flood&dm_i=16DQ,3W4GF,619BHX,E14H8,1

Archbishop of Canterbury's refugee plans stalled
Sun 06 Dec 2015
By Hannah Tooley
Plans for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, to offer a home to Syrian refugees in a Lambeth Palace cottage are on hold due to bureaucratic delays. 
The Archbishop made the announcement ten weeks ago as 84 Church of England bishops criticised David Cameron's government for ignoring their help to offer accommodation to around 50,000 refugees.
The Sunday Times has reported that officials at Lambeth Palace are so concerned about the delay that they have come up with a back-up plan to invite Christian refugees from the diocese of Egypt instead.
But they dropped this idea after worries were raised that it could single some families out and leave others behind.
MORE
http://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Archbishop-of-Canterbury-s-refugee-plans-stalled?utm_source=Premier%20Christian%20Media&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6528983_Daily%20News%207th%20December&utm_content=abc&dm_i=16DQ,3VXSN,619BHX,E0GCT,1

Multi-faith march in Bradford after Christian convert attacked
Sat 05 Dec 2015
By Hannah Tooley
A multi-faith peace rally will be held in Bradford on Saturday following the attack on a man who converted from Islam to Christianity. 
Wilson Chowdhry, from the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) is behind the idea and told Premier it is all about unity: "It's a multi-faith peace vigil that will be attended by key figures from the Islamic faith, Hindu faith, Sikh faith and Christian faith.
"We hope that by showing unity in this fashion we're showing seeds of peace and love, rather than hatred and division."
The event is being held after the attack of a Christian man in the city.
Nissar Hussain converted from Islam to Christianity in 1996 and claims that problems surrounding his faith began in 2008 when his family appeared in a Channel 4 documentary, Holy War, about how Muslim converts are treated.
Mr Hussain suffered a fractured knee cap and hand when he was attacked outside his home in St Paul's Road, Manningham, Bradford, last month.
CCTV footage shows that he was struck 13 times with a pickaxe handle and kicked and punched repeatdly.
Petition asks BBC to ditch Christian boxer Tyson Fury from Sports Personality of Year shortlist
MORE
http://www.premier.org.uk/News/World/Multi-faith-march-in-Bradford-after-Christian-convert-attacked?utm_source=Premier%20Christian%20Media&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6527029_Daily%20News%206th%20December%20&utm_content=nadmir&dm_i=16DQ,3VWAD,619BHX,E0BIP,1


A petition which is calling on the BBC to remove the Christian boxer Tyson Fury from its Sports Personality Of The Year shortlist is gaining support.
Wed 02 Dec 2015
By Antony Bushfield
A petition which is calling on the BBC to remove the Christian boxer Tyson Fury from its Sports Personality Of The Year shortlist is gaining support.

"Tyson Fury is not a role model," the petition says as it accuses him of being homophobic.

The devout-Christian gave the glory to God last weekend when he was crowned the new heavyweight champion of the world after beating Ukrainian Vladimir Klitschko.

Before the fight he tweeted: "Feeling great, blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ"

But he's a controversial character having previously told the Mail on Sunday there were three things that would happen "before the devil comes home".

He said: "One of them is homosexuality being legal in countries, one of them is abortion and the other is paedophilia. Who would have thought in the 50s and 60s that those first two would be legalised?"

In 2013 he was fined £3,000 by the boxing authorities after suggesting opponents were "gay lovers".

Those statements, and previous quotes deemed to be homophobic, have led to the petition being set up.

Mr Fury does not display "the kind of behaviour that merits inclusion on such a well-respected award programme", the petition claims.

But responding to the petition the boxer stood by his comments: "I don't regret anything I've ever said. I'm a man of honour and a man of my word, and what I've said I stick to through thick and thin.

"Whoever wants to challenge me, let them come and challenge me. Whoever doesn't like me, I don't care anyway.

"If you want to give me the award, give it me, and if you don't - keep it."

He's up against Jessica Ennis-Hill, Andy Murray, Lewis Hamilton, Chris Froome, Mo Farah, Kevin Sinfield, Adam Peaty, Lucy Bronze, Max Whitlock, Greg Rutherford and Lizzie Armitstead.

http://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Petition

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/203685#.Vk8VVtLhDct
UK teen spent student loan to join ISIS
19-year-old Yahya Rashid alleges he wanted to join 'Islamic Utopia' but not fight; jailed for five years.
By Arutz Sheva staff
First Publish: 11/20/2015, 7:33 AM
ISIS flagReuters
 A 19-year-old who spent his student loan traveling to the Turkey-Syria border and wanted to join the Islamic State (ISIS) group is behind bars in Britain, police said Thursday.
Yahya Rashid paid £906 (1,300 euros, $1,400) for himself and four friends to travel to the Turkish border town of Gaziantep in February.

He stayed in an ISIS safe house but shortly before he was due to cross into Syria, he changed his mind and returned to Istanbul.

Rashid, aged 18 at the time, was then detained by Turkish police and deported back to Britain, where he was arrested on his arrival.

Police believe his traveling companions did cross into Syria and are still there.

Rashid, whose family is originally from Somalia, was sentenced to five years in a youth offenders' institution Wednesday for terrorism offenses.

"You told the jury you had never held a gun in your life and there is no reason to believe that is untrue," Judge Philip Katz told Rashid as he passed sentence. "But goodness knows what you would have gone on to do as a foot soldier of ISIS."

Rashid's lawyer Mark McDonald claimed his client had wanted to live in an "Islamic utopia" but not fight.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/619371/Islamic-State-ISIS-Britain-London-Paris-attacks-Twitter
ISIS TERROR WARNING: Britain NEXT to be ATTACKED by jihadists, supporters claim
BRITAIN is at risk from the next Islamic State attack, supporters of the evil terror group have warned in unconfirmed tweets. By TOM PARFITT
They made the chilling threats on Twitter after at least 160 people were killed by a series of co-ordinated attacks on Paris last night.

After gloating about the horror that shocked the world, armchair jihadists tweeted that London could be next.

The twisted tweeters also claimed to have two other major capitals in their sights – Washington DC and Rome.
They made the chilling threats on Twitter after at least 160 people were killed by a series of co-ordinated attacks on Paris last night.

After gloating about the horror that shocked the world, armchair jihadists tweeted that London could be next.

The twisted tweeters also claimed to have two other major capitals in their sights – Washington DC and Rome.
London was last hit by a terror attack in July 2005, when 52 commuters were killed by suicide bombers linked to Islamist group al-Qaeda.

But officials have reportedly been working tirelessly to thwart ISIS attacks since the militants declared a caliphate last summer.

Last month Andrew Parker, the head of MI5, admitted the security service can "never be confident" in stopping all terror plots against Britain.
Washington DC's police department has deployed extra officers to high-profile locations in the city – including the government's Capitol complex.

But aspokeswoman insisted: "There is currently no known threat to the Capitol complex."

Security has also been beefed up at the city's French Embassy but a fashion show went ahead as scheduled at the venue yesterday.

Hosts paused the event for a moment of silence to honour the tragic victims of the Paris attacks.

London 7/7 bombings
Tue, July 7, 2015
On July 7th 2005 Aldgate, King's Cross, and Marylebone Underground stations, as well as a number 30 bus on Tavistock square, were attacked by a group of terrorists in London. SLIDESHOW 1 OF 60
The wreck of the Number 30 double-decker bus in Tavistock Square, Central London, following the July 7 terrorist attacks [AFP/Getty Images]
French president Francois Hollande at the Stade de France
The last terrorist incident in Washington DC was in April 2013, when a man sent letters laced with ricin to Barack Obama.

James Dutschke's plot to poison the President was thwarted by officials and he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
This summer a knife-wielding fanatic stunned Rome by holding the blade to a tourist's throat, according to reports.

He allegedly shouted "Allah is great" and "it is God that sends me" in front of horrified visitors to the Colosseum.

Chiara Frisco, 26, said: "I felt myself pulled suddenly into the middle of the crowd. 

"Then I felt the blade of the knife that he was holding against me. I feared the worst would happen.

"I could not see the weapon. The whole attack lasted seconds but I felt a tremendous fear.

"The man was yelling like a maniac. Luckily the police came though."

Paris terror attacks
Sat, November 14, 2015
Around 127 people have been killed and dozens injured after a night of gun and bomb attacks in Paris. The attacks took place at the Bataclan concert hall, Boulevard Voltaire, Belle Equipe bar, rue Fontaine au Roi, Petit Cambodge restaurant, and Le Carillon bar.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/619371/Islamic-State-ISIS-Britain-London-Paris-attacks-Twitter

http://www.clarionproject.org/news/cameron-unveils-new-counter-extremism-strategy
CAMERON UNVEILS NEW COUNTER-EXTREMISM STRATEGY
The UK prime minister unveils the specifics of a counter-extremism strategy promised earlier in the year and gives $7.7 million to the fight.
Mon, October 19, 2015
Parents will be able to have the passports of their teenage children canceled if they are at risk of joining the Islamic State or other Islamist terrorist groups.

The measure is part of new “Counter-Extremism Strategy” being announced by David Cameron today.

Other steps include:

Preventing radical preachers from posting materials online.
Barring anyone convicted of terrorist or extremist activity from working with children or other vulnerable people.
The announcement comes a day after a £5 million ($7.7 m) fund was established to provide “credible alternative narratives to the dangerous views propagated by extremists.”

The money will go to fund a “national coalition” against radicalization, formed from local initiatives, charities and a Muslim newspaper putting out an anti-extremist message.

Cameron first announced his anti-extremism strategy in a speech in June, when he pledged to fight both violent and non-violent extremism and to completely overhaul the government’s approach to de-radicalization.  

In that speech, he became the first Western leader to pinpoint the ideology of Islamist extremism as the root cause of terrorism, distinct from, but related to, the religion of Islam.


The British counter-extremism think tank the Quilliam Foundation, staffed primarily by former Islamist extremists who now challenge their former ideologies, advised the government on its new more direct policy.

Approximately 700 British nationals have travelled to Syria or Iraq to fight for extremist groups such as the Islamic State.