INCITEMENT TO RELIGIOUS HATRED:

LATEST NEWS AND URGENT PRAYER REQUEST

24 March 2005

Dear Friends,

Our campaign against Incitement to Religious Hatred Laws is now in its last few days. We are pleased to be able to update you with the latest news which seems hopeful. At this stage we would really value the prayers of Barnabas Fund supporters, their friends, family, home groups and churches over the Easter holiday, details below. We trust that you all enjoy a happy and blessed Easter.

SECOND READING DEBATE

Incitement to Religious Hatred laws were debated by the House of Lords for the first time on Monday 14 March as the Serious Organised Crime and Police (SOCP) Bill received its Second Reading. Before the debate peers were inundated with well over 100 letters each from Barnabas Fund supporters. One commented that the issue had generated for him his “largest mailbag” on any issue except the Hunting Bill.

As a result of the concerns you raised over 40 peers spoke in a debate which lasted almost 9 hours. Twenty-nine of these spoke specifically on Incitement to Religious Hatred with 19 of them strongly opposing it, almost twice as many as those supporting it. Whilst almost all support came from Labour loyalists, attacks came from across the House with multiple speakers from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Labour and the Crossbenchers. Leading the attack were several widely respected and influential members, the former Lord Chancellor Lord Mackay, former Home Secretary Lord Baker and noted QC Lord Lester.

WHAT NEXT?

This strong level of opposition appears to have had the effect Barnabas Fund supporters hoped and prayed it would: the government may be preparing to drop the law.

The SOCP Bill will now begin its Committee Stage in the House of Lords on Tuesday 5 April. However, it now appears almost certain that the general election will be called for sometime around 5 May. This means parliament, which rises for the Easter recess today and returns on Monday 4 April, will only have four days until Thursday 7 April before it breaks up for the election. This means the SOCP Bill will run out of time and will be lost unless the government negotiates some kind of deal with the opposition parties to enable the SOCP Bill to go through on the nod.

At the moment the opposition parties appear to be standing firm and insisting that the government drops Incitement to Religious Hatred laws from the Bill, in which case they will back the rest of the Bill to allow it to be passed. Newspaper articles have already begun appearing which indicate that the government may be preparing to do this.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=622464

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,1443699,00.html

Barnabas Fund is cautiously optimistic that this may happen. However, we cannot take this for granted. Things could still go badly. We are requesting your prayers over this Easter period at this key strategic time. More on this below.

DURING AND AFTER THE ELECTION

If the government does drop the Incitement to Religious Hatred laws before the election, during the election campaign they will almost certainly be promising the Muslim community they will bring them back again if they are returned to power. They may even make this a manifesto commitment. Therefore if, as expected, the government is returned to power with a large majority, we may well have to continue to fight this campaign in a few months time. Please pray for guidance for Barnabas Fund and the members of the coalition of groups concerned about free speech which we are co-ordinating as we make strategic decisions about continuing the campaign after the election. More on this below.

PRAY

Barnabas Fund is calling on its supporters to make a special effort to lift up this situation in prayer over Easter in the final days of this stage of the campaign. Please pray in your own devotional time but also encourage friends and family too. If you are a member of a house group or church prayer group please bring this to them for prayer as well. Please also bring this matter before your wider church in prayer over the next couple of weeks.

• Pray that the government will drop Incitement to Religious Hatred laws from the SOCP Bill. We cannot by any means take this for granted. Pray that it will occur.

• Pray that the opposition parties will remain firm in their opposition to Incitement to Religious Hatred laws and their insistence that they are dropped from the SOCP Bill.

• Pray that the government will not make this an election issue, that they will not put it in their manifesto and that if returned to power they will not re-introduce it.

• Pray for wisdom and guidance for our government and all parliamentarians. The Bible teaches that God has placed them in their position of authority and commands us to pray for them. Many are professing Christians. Pray that the Lord will guide them all. Pray for wisdom, courage, strength and integrity to do what is right. Pray that parliament will be guided in its discussions, debates and votes, that no law that is passed, whether this or any other, will be contrary to God’s will.

INCITEMENT TO RELIGIOUS HATRED LAW TV PROGRAMME

You may be interested to know that there is an informative 20 minute TV News programme that has just been made about the Incitement to Religious Hatred law. The programme can be watched on the Internet with Windows Media Player. Presented by Roger Stanway and Tim Finch. The programme will also be aired on Satellite TV – see below.

Its produced by Omni Christian Media, an independent Christian TV production organisation. The programme is called UK Christian News, and can be seen online at

http://www.ukchristiannews.tv/incitehatred/

The programme features interviews with — Paul Cook, Barnabas Fund — Baroness Cox, Cross Bench Peer — Mark Mullins, Lawyers Christian Fellowship — Daniel Scot, Australian pastor being prosecuted for an equivalent offence

The programme will also air on Revelation TV Sky Channel 676 a number of times over the next two weeks, including a special 1 hour programme at 9pm – 10pm on Thursday 31st March about the law. The programme, World In Focus, will feature live studio guests Charlotte Vincent, Lawyers Christian Fellowship, and Paul Cook, Barnabas Fund, taking calls after the UK Christian News programme has been shown in full at the start of the hour.

BARNABAS FUND E-MAIL NEWS SERVICE Barnabas Fund’s e-mail news service provides the media and our supporters with urgent news briefs concerning suffering Christians around the world.

If you would like to receive news briefs from the Barnabas Fund please contact us with your name, postal and e-mail addresses.

Further details, quotes and photos on this and other stories may be available for news editors on request.

Barnabas Fund works to support Christian communities mainly, but not exclusively, in the Islamic world where they are facing poverty and persecution.

Barnabas Fund, Web: http://www.barnabasfund.org