Congress members blast UK for ‘harassment’ of Christians in uncommon rebuke of shut US ally

FIRST ON FOX: A number of members of Congress fired off a letter Wednesday urging the U.S. ambassador-at-large for worldwide spiritual freedom to show his consideration to the worsening therapy of Christians in the UK.

The letter, written by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, comes amid what a British lawyer who makes a speciality of discrimination in opposition to Christians not too long ago described to Fox Information Digital as rising persecution within the nation.

“The U.Okay. is now on an unsettling path that might probably lead to existential threats to freedom of speech, freedom of faith, and even freedom of thought,” learn Roy’s letter to Ambassador Rashad Hussain, which was cosigned by GOP Reps. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina, Mary Miller of Illinois, Randy Weber of Texas, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Ben Cline of Virginia, Andy Ogles of Tennessee and Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin.

Roy famous that not less than 5 municipalities within the U.Okay. have authorised “Public Areas Safety Orders” (PSPOs) that permit Christians and others who specific their pro-life spiritual beliefs to be prosecuted in the event that they breach “buffer zones” round abortion clinics roughly the dimensions of a soccer stadium.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, penned a letter to the U.S. ambassador for worldwide freedom urging him to show his consideration to the worsening therapy of Christians within the U.Okay. (Invoice Clark/CQ-Roll Name, Inc through Getty Pictures)

Laws is pending in Parliament that will increase PSPOs associated to abortion clinics all through England and Wales, and the Home of Commons on March 7 voted 299-116 in opposition to an modification that will have permitted silent prayer and consensual dialog inside what Roy described because the “censorship zone.”

‘Authorized and state-sanctioned harassment of Christians’

The members pinpointed the current authorized motion in opposition to Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, Adam Smith-Connor and Father Sean Gough as notably egregious examples of “the British authorities’s violation of spiritual freedom.”

“The U.Okay. is now on an unsettling path that might probably lead to existential threats to freedom of speech, freedom of faith, and even freedom of thought.”

— Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas

Vaughan-Spruce and Gough have been criminally charged in current months for praying silently exterior abortion clinics after police interrogated them concerning their non-public ideas.

Gough was acquitted, and the costs in opposition to Vaughn-Spruce stemming from her December arrest have been dropped, however she was arrested once more for a similar offense earlier this month.

Smith-Connor, a British Military veteran, was fined in January after police requested him “the character” of his prayer exterior an abortion clinic in Bournemouth. He informed them he was praying for the son he misplaced to abortion.

UK MAN FINED FOR SILENTLY PRAYING OUTSIDE ABORTION CLINIC: REPORT

“Arresting people for silent prayer is a gross, aggressive, and needlessly escalatory assault on one’s elementary freedoms,” the members wrote, including that enforcement of such regulation has created “a deeply regarding sample of authorized and state-sanctioned harassment of Christians and different pro-life Brits.”

Noting the “particular and uniquely shut relationship” between the U.S. and the U.Okay., the members concluded that “it’s crucial that the U.S. communicate boldly and clearly to its pal when the U.Okay. has failed to guard unalienable rights.”

The members urged Hussain to talk out in opposition to such incidents and the legal guidelines that allow them. The U.S. State Division didn’t reply to Fox Information Digital’s request for remark by time of publication.

‘It was alien’

Andrea Williams, chief govt of the London-based Christian Authorized Centre (CLC), informed Fox Information Digital that discrimination in opposition to Christians is “completely” growing in her nation and has been simmering for years, particularly over problems with sexuality and gender.

Williams mentioned the nonprofit CLC, which was established in 2007, is coping with roughly 1,000 circumstances annually and receives calls nearly every day from dad and mom incensed about radical ideology seeping into U.Okay. faculties.

PARENTS PULL 4-YEAR-OLD FROM CHURCH SCHOOL FOR PROMOTING ‘GENDER IDENTITY’ LESSONS: ‘CRUEL DECEPTION’

Catholic girl Isabel Vaughan-Spruce has been interrogated by police about her ideas and arrested twice throughout the previous three months for praying silently exterior an abortion clinic in Birmingham, England. (ADF UK)

When she started working towards regulation within the Nineteen Eighties, Williams mentioned it will have been “not possible” to think about a medical physician within the U.Okay. dropping his job for refusing to establish folks based mostly on their chosen gender identification as a substitute of their organic intercourse, like CLC consumer Dr. David Mackereth.

Neither may she have envisioned a scenario the place a instructor could be dismissed for gross misconduct after objecting to socially transitioning 8-year-olds within the reverse intercourse, like one other CLC consumer who can’t be named for authorized causes.

UK WOMAN ARRESTED A SECOND TIME FOR ‘OFFENSE’ OF SILENTLY PRAYING OUTSIDE ABORTION CLINIC: ‘THIS ISN’T 1984’

“If any of that had been mentioned to me within the Nineteen Eighties, it will have been like somebody chatting with me from Mars,” she mentioned. “It was alien, however it will have been alien to most individuals to suppose like that as a result of that simply wasn’t in our regulation.”

Christian Authorized Centre govt director Andrea Williams warned that points Christian discrimination she would have thought “not possible” 40 years in the past now cross her desk every single day. (Craig Hastings through Getty Pictures)

“Now it is these sorts of points which might be with me each single day,” she added, noting that such developments accelerated within the wake of human rights laws within the U.Okay. that ostensibly protects faith, however has additionally come to embody sexual orientation and gender identification.

CHRISTIANITY DWINDLES TO MINORITY RELIGION IN ENGLAND, WALES FOR FIRST TIME ON RECORD: ‘NOT A GREAT SURPRISE’

Adam Smith-Connor, a military veteran, was fined for privately praying for his aborted son exterior an abortion clinic in Bournemouth, England, after police inquired concerning “the character” of his prayer. (ADF UK)

“Once they come right into a courtroom, folks suppose you may go away your faith at your door, however not your sexuality,” she mentioned. “Basically, for plenty of years, sexual orientation rights within the courtroom have trumped spiritual freedom rights.”

‘The world’s gone mad’

CLC has additionally not too long ago represented clergy and others related to the established Church of England, whose leaders Williams claimed have successfully enabled Christian discrimination by failing of their responsibility “to disciple the establishments” of the nation.

Based on Williams, paperwork corresponding to “Valuing All God’s Kids,” which is the Church of England’s steering for faculties, have been utilized in opposition to her in courtroom. Critics have argued that the steering opens the door to affirming youngsters as younger as 5 years previous within the reverse intercourse, although the church has denied such accusations.

Church of England leaders, who maintain seats within the U.Okay. Parliament, have failed of their responsibility “to disciple the establishments” of the nation, mentioned Andrea Williams. (Gareth Fuller/PA Pictures through Getty Pictures)

“We used to have a service that opens up the authorized yr to clarify that there’s a regulation above the regulation,” she mentioned. “And what ‘human rights’ have executed, in impact, is to say the very best level of data is our widespread humanity and our totally different rights, which now compete within the public sq. with no increased regulation.”

She characterised such a worldview as a seismic upending of the Christian foundation for English widespread regulation extending again to the Magna Carta of 1215.

UK GOVERNMENT ADMITS ‘INAPPROPRIATE’ TO ARGUE BIBLE ‘OFFENSIVE’ IN CASE AGAINST CHRISTIAN STREET PREACHER

Current purchasers CLC has advocated for embrace Rev. Bernard Randall, a chaplain who was reported as a terrorist and blacklisted by his diocese for telling college students at a Church of England college that they’re free to simply accept or reject the claims of LGBTQ activists.

Rev. Dr. Bernard Randall was reported to the U.Okay.’s terrorism watchdog following a sermon questioning LGBTQ activists. (Christian Concern)

Sam Margrave, who was elected to the church’s Basic Synod on a platform of “upholding biblical values,” informed Fox Information Digital final month that he was formally rebuked by the church’s highest-ranking clerics and reported to the police by his personal archbishop for opposing the sexualization of kids on social media.

ANGLICAN LEADERS REJECT ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY AFTER SAME-SEX MARRIAGE DECISION: ‘FALSE TEACHING’

David McConnell, a road preacher from Leeds who gained his enchantment final week after being reported as a terrorist for misgendering a member of the general public throughout a sermon, informed Fox Information Digital he has been arrested eight occasions since 2018 with no conviction due to his speech.

Dave McConnell, a Christian road preacher who has been arrested eight occasions since 2018, worries U.Okay. legal guidelines will finally change to permit felony conviction of those that adhere to their religion. (Christian Concern)

“I am involved that if issues proceed to go on as they’re, because the tradition adjustments, slowly the legal guidelines will get modified, which can hinder freedom of expression and provides authorities extra powers to close folks like me down and truly get convictions for preachers,” McConnell mentioned.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“The world’s gone mad, the nation’s gone mad,” he added. “Commonest, on a regular basis folks simply suppose it is loopy, however most individuals are frightened to talk up.”