Same-sex marriage: 'Contrived deadlines'

Only minor changes were allowed in the same-sex marriage bill, passed in the House of Lords on Monday, approved in the House of Commons on Tuesday and given royal assent on Wednesday.

Why all the intransigence, and why all the haste? What can be the explanation for the rush?

In Monday's third reading debate in the Lords, Lord Framlingham said: "The questions that many are asking are: why now and why the haste? 

"The simple truth is that the coalition Government have colluded with equal love campaigners and the European Court of Human Rights in bringing a case - an appeal - against our country’s long-established and settled position on marriage. There was a suggestion - some would call it a threat - that if legislation were not brought forward by June this year then changes would be forced on us.

"The House of Lords library tells me that as legislation is proceeding the case in the European Court of Human Rights will probably not now be pursued. What outrageous, behind-the-scenes arm-twisting.

"The result is that not one meaningful amendment has been accepted, not because none has been worthwhile but for the sake of entirely contrived deadlines, which suit campaigners in a hurry and a Government who want it off their plate well before the next general election. How cynical and how dangerous.

"Given the huge effect the bill, if passed, will have on millions of people, what an abuse of the parliamentary system to put speed before truth. So many important issues causing great concern have been left unresolved and hanging in the air, such as the effect on teachers, faith schools, the issue of adultery, consummation, the effect on registrars, which has already been referred to, and the use of premises - issues touching the lives of thousands every day, not to mention the effect on marriage itself.

“Those of us who have sat through all the stages of the bill and have watched the Government knock down amendment after amendment have despaired at their intransigence. This House prides itself on being a revising chamber. On this bill it has been a bulldozer. We are being used to bulldoze through an ill thought through bill, the ramifications of which the people have not begun to understand.

"All great issues are essentially very simple. We make them complicated when we do not want to face them or when we are anxious to hide their true meaning and purpose. This bill is built entirely on pretence. It pretends that there is no difference between a man and a woman. From this deceit have sprung all the problems we have been wrestling with - problems we have failed to resolve and which will bedevil generations to come. How can we possibly give our blessing to legislation built on pretence?”

In France there have been massive demonstrations in protest at the approval of same-sex marriage. Complaints about police violence, including the use of tear gas against peaceful demonstrators, have been made to the UN Human Rights Council. Videos show police using tear gas and clubs against elderly, women and children.

Le Figaro estimates that police have brutalised and arrested 1,000 pro-family demonstrators, with 500 detentions. Police were said to be increasingly complaining at being used to oppress pro-family demonstrators.

The two abortions of Penelope Trunk

A blog post by David French tells the story of the two abortions of Penelope Trunk, who appears to be a journalist specialising in career advice.

Says Penelope:

The first one was when I was twenty-seven. I was playing professional beach volleyball. I was playing volleyball eight hours a day and I spent two hours a day at the gym. 

When she found she was pregnant, she was 14 weeks.

 I told my mom I was pregnant. She said, “Get an abortion.”

I didn't say anything. I wasn't really thinking I had any choices. I didn't have a job that could support a child. And I wasn't sure if I was planning to marry my boyfriend, although we were living together. I knew that I had big ideas for my life and I hadn't figured things out yet.

My mom got militant. “You'll destroy your career possibilities.”

Here's what else happened: Other women called. It turned out that many, many women I knew had had an abortion. This is not something women talk about. I mean, I had no idea how ubiquitous the procedure was, at least in my big-city, liberal, Jewish world.

Each of those women told me that I should get an abortion so that I could keep my options open. “You're a smart girl. You can do anything with your life right now. Don't ruin it.”

She went to Planned Parenthood. You had to go once to set up the appointment, and then go back.

When I went back, I had a panic attack. I was on the table, in a hospital gown, screaming.

The nurse asked me if I was a religious Christian.

The boyfriend asked me if I was aware that my abortion would be basically illegal in seven more days.

I couldn't stop screaming. I was too scared. I felt absolutely sick that I was going to kill a baby. And, now that I know more about being a mother, I understand that hormones had already kicked in to make me want to keep the baby. We left. No abortion.

But she persisted.

I scheduled another abortion. But it was past the time when Planned Parenthood will do an abortion. Now it was a very expensive one at a clinic that seemed to cater to women coming from Christian countries in South America. I knew that if I did not go through with it this time, no one would do the abortion. I was too far along.

So I did it.

I went to sleep with a baby and woke up without one. Groggy. Unsure about everything. Everything in the whole world.

People think abortion is such an easy choice - they say, “Don't use abortion as birth control.” Any woman who has had one will tell you how that is such crazy talk. Because an abortion is terrible. You never stop thinking about the baby you killed. 

So the second time I got pregnant, I thought of killing myself. My career was soaring. I was 30 and I felt like I had everything going for me - great job, great boyfriend, and finally, for the first time ever, I had enough money to support myself. I hated that I put myself in the position of either losing all that or killing a baby.

I didn't tell anyone I was pregnant. I knew what they'd say.

So I completely checked out emotionally. I scheduled the abortion like I was on autopilot. I told my boyfriend at the last minute and told him not to come with me.

He said forget it. He's coming with me.

I remember staring at the wall. Telling myself to stop thinking of anything.

The doctor asked me, “Do you understand what's going to happen?”

I said yes. That's all I remember.

I got two abortions to preserve my career. To keep my options open. To keep my aspirations within reach.

I bought into the idea that kids undermine your ability to build an amazing career.

And here I am, with the amazing career.

But also, here I am with two kids. So I know a bit about having kids and a career. And I want to tell you something: You don't need to get an abortion to have a big career. Women who want big careers want them because something deep inside you drives you to change the world, lead a revolution, break new barriers.

It doesn't matter whether you have kids now or later, because they will always make your career more difficult. There is no time in your life when you are so stable in your work that kids won't create an earthquake underneath that confidence. 

French comments:

"The abortion debate is conducted on dishonest terms, with one side working mightily to confine the debate to cases of rape, incest, and desperate women facing desperate circumstances. But there’s another side of abortion - mass-scale killings for the sake of simple ambition to advance personal careers. In other words, here’s one woman’s 'choice' - to hire a doctor to kill her own baby for the sake of volleyball.

"It is striking how completely the idea of such act inverts Judeo-Christian morality, which is saturated with an ethic of care, where self-denial is a prime virtue. Christians are quite directly called to 'deny self' even to the point of taking up one’s figurative cross to follow Christ. Yet the ethic of 'choice' is simple: Kill others to pursue self-interest. I suppose if you want to make a career omelet, you have to break a few eggs.

"In less than two generations even the most 'soaring' career will mean virtually nothing. At best, most of us will be a fond memory for surviving family and close friends. In three generations, even those memories will fade. In four generations we’re simply a name on a family tree. But hundreds of thousands of Americans see that wisp of a career as important enough to kill a child to preserve.

"May God have mercy on our nation."

Getting it right

When man gets to his lowest ebb, God sometimes shows him a vision of Himself, seated on a throne. Just to remind him that He exists, and He is still in charge.

Isaiah saw it (Isa 6:1); Ezekiel saw it (Eze 1:26); Daniel saw it (Dan 9:7); the apostle John saw it (Rev 4:2).

 Men who have no time for God would like to tear Him from His throne:

The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
"Let us break their bonds in pieces
And cast away their cords from us."
He who sits in the heavens shall laugh, 
The Lord shall hold them in derision.
Then he shall speak to them in his wrath,
And distress them in his deep displeasure.  Psa 2:2 - 5.

Such men sanctify that which God hates, and legalise that which He says is an abomination.

But they won't succeed:

Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever;
A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of your Kingdom.  Heb 1:8.

He created all things, "and by your will they exist and were created."  Rev 4:11.

He is worthy to be worshipped.

Edmund Clowney says: "God is the centre of all things. We worship so that we live in response to and from this centre, the living God. Failure to worship consigns us to a life of spasms and jerks, at the mercy of every advertisement, every seduction. If there is no centre there is no circumference. People who do not worship are swept into a vast restlessness. . . with no steady direction and no sustaining purpose."

The man whose life is right is the man who worships God.

Death pathway to go

The Liverpool Care Pathway is to be scrapped by the NHS, it was announced yesterday.

Stories in the media of patients being appallingly treated led to an independent review. The review heard allegations of patients placed on the pathway without relatives' knowledge, being unnecessarily sedated and being denied food and water.

The pathway will be phased out in the next few months and individual care packages introduced, approved by senior clinicians.

The LCP was largely the responsibility of Professor John Ellershaw, medical director of the Marie Curie Hospice in Liverpool and clinical director of palliative care at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, a man with a genuine concern for excellent care for the dying. The LCP, carefully used, can be of help where the patient is properly monitored.

But who in the world authorised the LCP to be rolled out across the NHS, where it can be so easily abused? And who thought up the idea of paying bonuses for the number of patients placed on the pathway?

'Undemocratic first and last'

The British people have been betrayed by the parliamentary system. Same-sex marriage, though the majority of people do not want it, looks like becoming law.

The third reading in the Lords today appears to be a formality. It is suggested there will not be a vote.

When the bill was debated at report stage in the Lords on Monday and Wednesday last week, an amendment making clear distinctions between opposite-sex  marriage and same-sex marriage was defeated by 314 to 119. An amendment providing space for conscientious objection for a registrar was defeated by 278 to 103.

An amendment providing that no teacher would be obliged to endorse same-sex marriage was defeated by 163 to 32. An amendment that schools "of a religious character" would be able to teach marriage according to the tenets of their faith was withdrawn. An amendment providing for a referendum on same-sex marriage was rejected.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Justin Welby, and the bishops, noting the strength of the opposition, are said to have decided not to oppose the bill, but to concentrate on amendments. Some people believe they failed to take a Christian stand. Only two bishops were present when the bill was debated on Monday.

Said the Coalition for Marriage: "The bill was undemocratic from the start, introduced without a mandate from the voters and after a sham consultation which threw 500,000 legitimate responses in the bin. The bill has been undemocratic to the very end, with the parties using their power to apply exceptional pressure on MPs and peers. Whatever the parties may say, we know the votes on civil liberty protections were not truly free.

"There is a very good case for reasonable and necessary safeguards to protect the civil liberties of people like you - people that believe in traditional marriage. Several courageous peers tabled good civil liberty amendments, which we supported. But the bill's backers - including the leadership of the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and Labour - saw to it that none of them were voted into the bill."

Since marriage can only be between one man and one woman, marriage certificates issued by the Government for same-sex couples next year would be perfectly lawful, but actually fake. "We should also remember that the Government said, during debates, that fidelity was not important in marriage and same-sex couples make better parents."

The Maranatha Community said while the bill was before those responsible for the government of the nation, it was vital that we continued to engage in the battle by praying and speaking out for truth, justice and righteousness.

"Our attitude should not be based on whether we think we can make a difference, but rather upon God's call to us to sound the alarm in the face of what is happening in the nation. We are answerable to Him. Remember the Lord said to Ezekiel, 'You must speak my words unto them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious' (Ezek 2.7)."

'Faith illiteracy' at the BBC?

Krish Kandiah, Christian author, pastor and lecturer, complains of a lack of faith literacy among BBC researchers and sometimes BBC journalists.

Told by a researcher that they were "doing a special on the Bible" and wanted someone who believed the Bible was true to put opposite someone who thought it wasn't, he asked the researcher a basic question about which parts of the Bible she had read. She said she had never read the Bible. This, he says, is inadequate for a researcher on a religious programme about the Bible.

I mention this because the BBC has just published a new report on the breadth of opinion reflected in its output in key areas, including its treatment of religion.

Peter Hitchens says "The BBC does implicitly take a side on whether Britain is a Christan country - that it is not a Christian country and should be multicultural. Both Christianity and Islam are statements of opinion with which anyone is entitled to disagree, but on Radio 4's Sunday programme, Islam gets a free ride compared to the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, which are endlessly bombarded on that programme with stories about paedophilia, homosexuality and women priests."

BBC presenter Roger Bolton says "If a Christian is interviewed by the BBC about their objections to abortion on religious grounds, they are treated as though they are just a bit barmy."

Theologian Robert Beckford says "Worship is not aimed at or structured around the dominance of black Pentecostalism. More black people go to church in central London than any other ethnic group."

Replying to secularists' arguments that the BBC spends too much time on religious programmes, the BBC's Christine Morgan says more and more young people are interested in religion whether or not they are religious, because it is arguable that they cannot understand the modern world unless they understand religion.

The report is largely favourable. It says "The BBC's services of worship, news and analysis produced by its Religion and Ethics team is comprehensive and impressive. I found no convincing evidence that voices which could and should have been heard had not been heard,  and no convincing evidence that the BBC had not reflected an appropriate balance between different religions"

but 

"BBC journalists  need. . .  to examine their own assumptions about 'shared consensus' before embarking on interviews involving deeply held beliefs."

There is intelligent comment on the report at God and Politics' blog. It says if the BBC is to remain a credible broadcaster it needs to work hard to keep the trust of its audiences, and treating those who hold religious beliefs with respect is integral to that.

What comes with same-sex marriage

Legalising same-sex marriage won't affect the daily lives of heterosexuals? Don't believe it, says an article at LifeSiteNews.

After same-sex marriage was legalised in Canada, hundreds of marriage commissioners were ordered to violate their consciences and perform same-sex marriages or be fired. A Christian pastor and a Catholic bishop were hauled before a human rights tribunal for repeating 2,000-year-old Christian doctrine on homosexuality.

A Catholic magazine was almost forced into bankruptcy after being targetted with a frivolous "hate speech" complaint. A teacher was suspended and threatened with removal of his teaching licence for writing a letter to the editor in defence of traditional marriage.

A Catholic city councillor had a death threat spray painted on his business after stating his beliefs that homosexual acts were "not natural." Other individuals had lifetime speech bans placed on them to prohibit them from ever writing or speaking critically about the homosexual lifestyle.

In schools, homosexual topics were woven into all subjects and all grades, starting in kindergarten. Some school boards refuse to give parents advance notice of lessons dealing with sexual orientation, and deny rights of parents to opt-out children from such lessons.

A TV sports broadcaster was fired for tweeting support for the traditional definition of marriage after work hours, from home, on his personal Twitter account. A real estate brokerage fired  a Catholic agent for promoting the idea that children do better with a mother and father, as against homosexual parenting.

"Though you may be battle weary," the author says, "it's worth the fight to escape the yoke of tyranny Canada already wears."

After same-sex marriage, another writer warns, comes the intense transgender agenda. In Massachusetts, a series of bills filed by the homosexual lobby and the radical left were being considered at a public hearing before the Joint Judiciary Committee yesterday.

They include bills to repeal laws against bestiality, "unnatural and lascivious acts," soliciting in taverns for immoral purposes, public blasphemy, fornication and teaching virtues to children. Pro-family organisations were countering with pro-family bills.

Abstinence in a sex-crazed age

There is no doubt that the healthiest plan for adolescents is to save sexual relationships until marriage. But how to achieve that in this sex-crazed age?

Here's some sound advice from the American College of Pediatricians:

1. Understand the relationship between increased commitment and increased intimacy. Hold the line on physical intimacy.

2. Make your decision now to be abstinent.

3. Set limits on physical intimacy and be assertive to keep within those limits.

4. Hang out with friends who share your values and are abstinent.

5. Keep your thoughts clean by avoiding sexually explicit music, movies, magazines, and the internet.

6. When on a date keep busy with fun activities and do not spend a lot of time alone late at night.
 
7. Get involved in some after-school activities such as sports, theatre, clubs, or part-time work.

8. Take part in meaningful religious activities such as going to church, reading Scripture, praying and talking with religious leaders.

9. Realize that the risks of premarital sex are real and could happen to you. You could get pregnant, or get someone pregnant, or get a sexually transmitted disease.

10. Recognize the benefits of being abstinent, including no worries about pregnancy or STDs and an unhindered future.

11. Remember you are free to make choices regarding your sexual behaviour, but you are also responsible for those choices. Once you make bad choices you are not free to avoid or set aside the consequences of your behaviours.

12. If you make a mistake in your sexual behaviour you can change and return to a virtuous life.

For more, including what parents can do to encourage youngsters in abstinent behaviour, see here.

Petition: 'Stop undermining marriage'

If you haven't yet complained about the same-sex marriage bill, now would be a good time.

The Lords will debate the bill on Monday, next Wednesday, and finally on Monday,July 15. MPs are likely to consider the Lords' amendments to the bill on July 16 or 17. SPUC is asking people to write to or e-mail Lords and their MP, asking them to stop efforts to undermine marriage.

It's been a right old week for pro-lifers. 

Four politicians in the ruling Fine Gael Party have reportedly been sacked from the party and told to clear their offices after opposing a bill to ease abortion law in Ireland.

Pro-abortion campaigners chanted "Hail Satan" to drown out pro-life demonstrators singing Amazing Grace at the Texas State Capitol.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue said it would be unfair to say that all pro-abortion supporters would support giving glory to Satan. "Among hardcore activists, though, there are no doubt more than just a few who feel comfortable invoking Satan's name on behalf of their cause."

 In Germany, six 11 and 12-year-old students fainted during a graphic sex education lesson and had to be taken to hospital.

And SPUC is asking for signatures on a petition opposing pornography lessons in school. They are proposed by the Sex Education Forum, which advises the Government. The SEF explains: "The rationale is that if young people choose to look at pornography or if they come across it by accident, they would know how to interpret it."

It's like giving illicit drugs to young children so they'll know how to say no when they're older.

Street preacher arrested

Tony Miano, according to his website (tmiano.com) is a retired, 20-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

He has served as a gang investigator, field training officer, drug recognition expert and a DUI enforcement specialist. During his career, he received more than 60 commendations and citations for meritorious service, arrests, criminal investigations, critical decision-making and community service.

He is active in Christian service, not least as an open-air evangelist.

While preaching in the open-air in Wimbledon this week, he took as his text 1 Thess 4:1 - 12, and spoke on sexual immorality, both heterosexual and homosexual. A woman heard him say that homosexuality is a sin, verbally abused him and called the police.

Tony was arrested under Section 5 of the Public Order Act. At the police station, he was photographed, fingerprinted, had a DNA sample taken and was placed in a cell for seven hours. He describes the whole incident on a video, which I earnestly encourage everyone to watch. You can see the video here.

A letter describing the incident is to be sent to every member of both Houses of Parliament.

Tony explains in measured terms that the church at large has "basically abdicated their responsibility to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to this lost and dying country," as it has in the United States.

"The day is coming," he says, "when Christians will be arrested not only for what they say, but for what they believe."

Be prepared.

Taking the 'informed' out of consent

The Welsh Assembly has stood the word "donation" on its head. Last night it voted for an "opt out" system of organ donation.

To date in the UK there has been an "opt in" system. Organ donors volunteer to be placed on the organ donor register. But if you have lived in Wales for 12 months and you do not carry a donor "opt out" card, your body is no longer your own. From 2015 you will be presumed to have given consent, and your organs may be taken for transplantation.

The move is an attempt to increase the number of transplantation organs available. There is pressure for similar legislation in England and Scotland.

Said Joyce Robins, of Patient Concern, "Everyone knows the absence of refusal is not consent. Pretending that it can be is dishonest and disrespectful. Provision of a right to opt out is a smokescreen. 

"Assurance that every citizen would hear of the new law, understand it, realise its implications, grasp how to opt out and get around to doing so - if they wish - is pure fantasy. Silence should not amount to consent."

Hearts, livers and pancreases for transplantation are taken only from patients who have been diagnosed brain-stem dead. Such a patient is breathing and his or her heart is beating. She can digest food, urinate, and can develop bed sores. If she is a pregnant woman, she can bring the baby to term. I do not believe that brain-stem death is in fact death, but rather an excuse to take the organs.

Doctors would say they are ending a life - a strange term to use for someone they say is dead already - to save the lives of others.

The end does not justify the means.

Hearts, livers and pancreases for transplantation are taken only from patients who are breathing and whose hearts are beating. Organ donors and their next of kin are given to understand that life support - a ventilator - will be turned off and the organs then removed. In fact, the organs are removed and then life support is turned off.

Many doctors do not give an anaesthetic when the organs are removed. To do so would be to admit the patient is alive. There is a violent physical reaction, but doctors say the patient is unaware. Complete unawareness is difficult to prove.

The fact that potential organ donors and their next of kin are not told that donors will be breathing and their hearts beating when organs are removed is unethical and immoral.

Promoting Islam on TV

Channel 4 is to broadcast the adhan, the Muslims' call to prayer, every day during Ramadan, which begins next Tuesday.

Ralph Lee, Channel 4's head of factual programming, said in the Radio Times: "No doubt Channel 4 will be criticised for focussing attention on a 'minority' religion, but that's what we're here to do - provide space for the alternative and a voice for the under-represented. Let's not forget that Islam is one of the few religions that is flourishing in the UK."

There are 2.8 million Muslims in the UK.

Observing the adhan on Channel 4 would act as "a nationwide tannoy system, a deliberate 'provocation' to all our viewers in the very real sense of the word."

"Provocation" is the right word.

The adhan contains the phrases "Allah is the greatest," "There is no god but Allah," and "Mohammed is the messenger of Allah." Perhaps because it is broadcast in Arabic, Channel 4 is hoping viewers won't notice?

Can you imagine Channel 4 broadcasting the Lord's Prayer each day? Or a statement on the Trinity? Or "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"?

Me neither.

Thousands call for Morsi to go

The Middle East is in turmoil.

Two years ago crowds packed Tahir Square in Cairo calling for President Hosni Mubarak to go. Yesterday - the first anniversary of President Mohammed Morsi's appointment - tens of thousands packed the square calling for him to leave. 

Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Cairo were stormed and ransacked. In outlying towns, armed gangs were said to be attacking governors and burning emblems of government. The ruling Muslim Brotherhood was using armed men to strike back. Police and the army did not intervene.

Opponents say Morsi has failed to tackle economic and security problems. He has broken off diplomatic relations with Syria, and appointed 16 territorial governors, including seven members of the Muslim Brotherhood and a known terrorist.

More than 100,000 have died in the fighting in Syria, including 6,000 children. As Russia has continued to supply heavy weaponry, the fighting had turned in favour of President Bashar Assad's regime.

Russia is sending 12 additional ships to patrol the Syrian coast. The weaponry they are supplying includes S-300 anti-aircraft missile batteries, which Israel says could be used to target Israel Defence Forces helicopters and warplanes flying inside Israeli airspace.

US President Obama has begun to send light weaponry to rebel fighters in Syria, including anti-aircraft and anti-tank rockets, despite concerns that they might be used by Muslim terrorist groups linked to al Qaeda. Russian-US relations are said to be at their lowest since the Cold War.

Divisions between Sunni Muslims and Shi'ite Muslims are threatening the security of the entire region. Shi'ite Iran, said to be fully committed to supporting Assad's regime, is sending 4,000 Revolutionary Guards to support Assad's forces. Thousands of Hezbollah militiamen from Lebanon are fighting in Syria.

President Morsi sponsored a conference of Sunni clerics in Egypt who described Shi'ites as heretics, infidels, oppressors and polytheists and called for a holy war against Damascus. In Gaza, Hamas called for Hezbollah fighters to leave Syria and concentrate on the war of annihilation against Israel.

Christians in Syria are caught in the crossfire between government and opposition forces and suffer violence from both parties, writes World Watch List's Dennis Pastoor. They face "a distinct peril so dire" that their ability to survive in Syria is doubted by church leaders and secular observers alike.

Christians are the targets of an ethno-religious cleansing by Islamic militants and courts, says Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute's Centre for Religious Freedom. There is still no news of two archbishops, Yohanna Ibrahim and Boutros Yazigi, kidnapped in April.

Ribal Assad, a cousin and outspoken critic of Bashar Assad, said the rebels making up the Free Syrian Army were primarily Islamic extremists who were "worse than the Nazis." Many were members of al Qaeda.

Israeli warplanes are believed to have attacked military consignments of weapons in Syria intended for Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it plain he will start a war with no one, but he will not fail to defend Israel's interests where necessary.

Sexually transmitted diseases increased

Almost half a million new cases of sexually transmitted infections were diagnosed in 2012, according to figures from Public Health England. 

There were 448,422 new cases - a rise of five per cent on the previous year. There were 206,912 new cases of chlamydia. Diagnoses of gonorrhoea were up 21 per cent.

The impact of sexually transmitted diseases was greatest on young people under 25.

(Among men who have sex with men, there was a 37 per cent increase in new cases of gonorrhoea, an eight per cent increase in chlamydia and an eight per cent increase in genital warts.)

Peter Saunders claims to have the remedy. Marry a virgin, he suggests, and stay faithful to him or her throughout your lifetime.

It is, he says, amazingly effective.

The battle's not over

When the same-sex marriage bill arrived in the House of Lords, Lord Dear, concerned at the undemocratic way it had been rushed through the Commons with no electoral mandate and no proper parliamentary scrutiny, proposed that the bill be dropped. His amendment was defeated by 390 votes to 148.

From the result, you might suppose that the Lords were in favour of introducing same-sex marriage. Not necessarily so. Some are said to have feared that if the Lords rejected the bill out of hand, the Government might use the Parliamentary Act to force it into law as it stood.

Says the Coalition for Marriage, the organisation set up to fight for traditional marriage:

The Coalition Government has agreed to change the criminal law to put it beyond doubt that disagreeing with same-sex marriage is not a hate crime. That should send a helpful message to those who throw around the "bigot" label far too freely.

However, Government ministers are being advised by officials in the equalities office to block any other protections in the civil law. We think reasonable changes need to be made to employment law and equality law to protect people like you – people who believe in traditional marriage – but the Government is not listening.

The House of Lords is currently examining the bill line by line. The legislation is getting the kind of prolonged scrutiny that the Government did not permit in the Commons. In the Commons the Government guillotined debate and stacked the committee with the bill’s supporters, but they can’t do that in the Lords. Now that the bill is under the spotlight in the Lords, gaps are beginning to show.

Astonishingly, the Government says fidelity is not a necessary part of any marriage. The exact quote from the Government minister is: “In terms of the law, marriage does not require the fidelity of couples. It is open to each couple to decide for themselves on the importance of fidelity within their own relationship.”

In other words, under the bill, the Government doesn’t think faithfulness is important in marriage. This is because it wants to avoid the legal problems which would otherwise be created if it introduced laws about adultery or consummation for same-sex marriage. That shatters the argument that this bill will strengthen marriage. No, it will wreck marriage.

Up until now, officials in the equalities office have been telling Government ministers that the bill won’t harm the liberty of people who disagree with it. But after pressure in the House of Lords, Government ministers have admitted they want commercial companies to be able to sack staff who refuse to be involved with same-sex marriages.

The Government thinks commercial chauffeurs who object to a same-sex marriage should be dismissed. By the same logic, florists, photographers and cake makers would also be in the firing line. We want a reasonable accommodation for such workers, a bit of flexibility which takes account of people’s sincere beliefs. But so far the Government has stubbornly refused.

We are also calling for protections for public sector workers like teachers and chaplains; and we want to make sure that local councils can’t penalise organisations who disagree with same-sex marriage. So far, the Government won’t give way.

But the Lords are putting the Government on the spot, making life very uncomfortable for them.

Each amendment suggested by the Lords will have to go back to the Commons for consideration. Prime Minister David Cameron is said to want the parliamentary process completed by July 18.

The battle about same-sex marriage is not over. Not by any means.

The story of Jonathan and Dora

Jonathan and Dora McLeod met in 2003 and fell in love. But things didn't go the way they were supposed to. . . 

Jonathan suffered from anger. It expressed itself not only in fighting in the ring, but in bare-knuckle fighting. He developed a severe addiction to painkillers. One day he decided he couldn't take it any more and attempted suicide.

After a week or two in hospital, he was placed in a mental institution. When he was released from there, he still suffered from depression.

Watch as Jonathan and Dora tell the story of what happened to them on video. You can see the video here.

Abortion horrors 'not unique'

Illness prevented me from commenting on the result of the case of Dr Kermit Gosnell.

Dr Gosnell  was an abortionist. He was estimated to take $10,000 to $15,000 for a few hours' work each day. His abortion clinic in Philadelphia was dirty and reeked of urine. There were cat faeces on the stairs. There was blood on the floor, and furniture and blankets were bloodstained. The emergency exit was padlocked and no one knew where the key was.

Medical equipment, according to the grand jury report, was generally broken, and when it worked, it wasn't used. Disposable medical supplies, intended to be used once, were used until they broke. Venereal disease was spread with infected instruments. Bowels, cervixes and uteruses were perforated and women left sterile.

Gosnell had staff, but there was not a qualified doctor or a qualified nurse among them, and they were allowed to give repeated doses of drugs at their discretion. He would seldom arrive at the clinic before 8pm. Foetal remains were stored haphazardly in milk jugs, orange juice cartons, cat food containers and plastic bags. Dead foetuses were stored in paper bags in the employees' lunch refrigerator.

Gosnell was known as a doctor who would perform abortions at any stage. Abortions were performed long after the legal limit by inducing delivery of the babies, who were then killed by having their spinal cords cut with scissors. One clinic worker testified that a baby she estimated at 30 weeks had been delivered into a toilet. She had slit the baby's throat.

Officials from the Department of Health had not inspected the premises in 17 years, and ignored complaints against the doctor and 46 lawsuits filed against him, said prosecutors.

Gosnell faced charges of first-degree murder of babies born alive, one charge of third-degree murder of a 41-year-old Bhutanese refugee from an excess of drugs before her abortion, multiple charges of performing abortions past the legal limit, conspiracy, drug delivery resulting in death, infanticide, corruption of minors, evidence tampering, theft by deception, abuse of corpse and corruption - and despite the sensational evidence there was a virtual media blackout on the case, apparently because the case didn't fit the pro-abortion position of the majority of the American media. It was left to a couple of journalists and bloggers to shame the media into some coverage, but the case then apparently receded once more into oblivion until sentence was passed.

(In Britain, there was an occasional story in the Telegraph, the Times and the Guardian. The exception was the Daily Mail, which was said to have printed 26 stories on the case since 2011 - more than all the stories in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, ABC, CBS, NBS, and CNN combined.)

The prosecution could have asked for the death penalty. But since Gosnell might have died from natural causes by the time he had exhausted the appeal process - he was 72 years old - the prosecution is reported not to have asked for the death penalty in exchange for a promise not to appeal the sentence. He was sentenced to several life sentences without parole.

One pro-life organisation said when given the choice, Gosnell had chosen life. It was a pity, they said, that the children he had killed were not given the same choice.

Leaders of pro-life organisations said the incidents at Gosnell's "house of horrors" were not unique, but reflective of abuses that characterised the entire abortion industry. Other authorities seem slow to prosecute.

We're back

After a pause, I'm blogging again - with a difference.

Comments will now be allowed on blogposts. To leave a comment, click on "comments" at the base of the blogpost.

Comments will be mediated. Comments containing bad language will not be permitted.

Archbishop gets a soaking

The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Belgium, Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, remained calmly seated with eyes closed in prayer as four topless women attacked him with shouts and curses and doused him with water from bottles formed in the image of the Virgin Mary.

The incident took place at the ULB University in Brussels, where the archbishop was participating in a debate on blasphemy laws.

The four women, representing the pro-abortion and homosexual group FEMEN, took to the stage where they disrobed to reveal black-painted slogans on their chests and backs, such as "my body my rules," and "anus dei is coming." They also held signs reading "stop homophobia."

Le Soir reports that one of the women said of the archbishop: “He was very calm and maintained a position of prayer. I have to believe he was praying for us.”

Hundreds of thousands protested as a law permitting same-sex marriage and homosexual adoption was passed in France. At least 150,000 (40,000, say official police figures; 270,000, say anti same-sex marriage demonstrators) took to the streets for a fourth major rally in Paris. Previous events attracted 300,000, a million and a million and a half.

Some 60 young people who had conducted a nightly sit-in to protest were arrested and held for 17 hours in dirty cells with little water and no food till lunch. Many astonished police by singing grace before their lunch. Streets giving access to the presidential palace, the Elysée, and to the prime minister’s office are heavily barricaded.

Surrogate motherhood is illegal in France, but the justice minister, Christiane Taubira, has said children of French nationals obtained through surrogacy
abroad will be given French status and allowed into the country. A Connecticut surrogacy and egg-donor business, CT Fertility, anticipated demand with a presentation in Paris. One woman was told it would cost $100,000.

In Britain, the same-sex marriage bill will have its third reading in the House of Commons around May 20 and will be debated in the House of Lords iin June. Many people wrongly assume that there is nothing now to stop the bill becoming law. This is a false assumption. There is still a long way to go, and the bill could be defeated.

Critics say the bill's approval would mean a sexual free-for-all and a virtual destruction of marriage. Adultery would be abandoned as a ground for divorce, they say, and there would come demands for marriage of more than two people. They urge protests to politicians and a careful eye on local elections on May 2.

Flourishing in old age

"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day," writes John the apostle in the first chapter of Revelation.

He had been exiled to the isle of Patmos "for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." He is believed to have been an old  man, and hard labour was probably part of his exile. But the Lord Jesus was about to reveal to him the extraordinary revelation which forms the book "to show his servants things which must shortly take place."

The circumstances might appear to have been against John. The Lord's Day wouldn't  be observed on Patmos. But nothing could come between John and his Lord.

Consider:

The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Those who are planted in the house of the Lord
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They  shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be fresh and flourishing.
To declare that the Lord is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.  Psa 92:12 - 15. 

And again:

We are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,

nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Rom 8:37 - 39. 

Nothing - neither authorities nor powers, old age, illness nor infirmity, accident, geographic position nor any other thing - can separate us from God's love. 

Equality quango's 'frivolous nonsense'

Three months ago judges at the European Court of Human Rights decided British Airways check-in clerk Nadia Eweida had suffered discrimination at work because she was told she could not wear a cross.

Following the decision, the Fquality and Human Rights Commission now says druids, vegans and green activists should also be given special treatment at work.

In written guidance to employers, it says employers should consider excusing ecologists from duties that increase CO₂ emissions, and consider giving time off to druids wishing to go on pilgrimages, such as to Stonehenge for the summer solstice.

A vegetarian kitchen worker's sincere request to be excused from cleaning out the fridge if it contains meat should be granted, providing other staff can carry out the task.

It insists Christian rights in the workplace are strictly limited. A magistrate asking to be excused from handling cases involving the upbringing of children by homosexual couples should be refused, as the right of homosexual couples trump her beliefs.

MP Brian Binley said the economy could not afford such "frivolous nonsense." Dominic Raab MP, a former international lawyer, said "This is a recipe for every crank and crazy to take their boss for a ride. The EHRC has become an expensive taxpayer-funded laughing stock."

An EHRC spokesman said "The Commission does not make the law on what is or isn't a legitimate religion or belief. This is set by Parliament. The Commission's role is to provide free, expert advice to employers helping them understand and deal with what can be complex iasues, and helping them avoid potentially costly legal action."

Israel joins gas producers

Natural gas has started pumping from Israel's offshore Tamar gas field to Israel's refineries and the international status of previously energy-poor Israel suddenly changed. The Tamar field has an estimated 10 trillion cubic feet of gas - sufficient to meet Israel's energy needs for decades and allowing surplus for export.

Israel's larger Leviathan field, as yet undeveloped, has an estimated 16 trillion cubic feet of gas. Lebanon, still technically at war with Israel, claims some of the Leviathan field is in its waters.

Other countries, including Russia, the largest gas supplier in Eastern Europe, are interested.

Weeks after he won the Israeli election, Prime Minister Banjamin Netanyahu managed to form a coalition government, retaining control over foreign affairs and national defence.

His problems are many. The nuclear threat from Iran continues, with no evidence of a serious effort to end it. Six or seven months ago, an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites seemed likely. The killing of Iranian nuclear scientists and sabotage attacks at nuclear sites, culminating in a reported major explosion at the giant underground Fordo plant in January, have bought time.

Israeli strategic affairs minister Yuval Steinitz called for world powers to set a deadline of weeks for military action to persuade Iran to halt its enrichment programme after talks with Iran ended without progress.

Continuing disintegration in Syria is a constant headache. Syria has large stocks of chemical weapons. There are constant fears that these could fall into the hands of people who would use them against Israel - and for international terrorism.

There have been continued rocket attacks from Gaza, riots on the West Bank that could lead to a third intifada, and some attacks from the Syrian side of the Golan. Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza remained armed with tens of thousands of rockets. The Israel-Egypt peace treaty is in the doldrums.

Some 3,000 years ago, King David appealed for people to "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (Psa 122:6). The exhortation is as needful as ever it was.

Prison, beatings and unspeakable joy. . .

A further letter has been received from Saeed Abedini, born in Iran and now a naturalised American citizen, serving an eight-year sentence in Iran. I wrote about him here and here. Saeed, who is 32, is in the notorious Evin Prison.

His letter is written in the margins of scraps of newspaper. It says, in part:

Maybe you ask, what is the secret of being so happy in such a hard situation?

Forgiveness and a change in attitude. When we forgive, we become free and we become messengers of peace and reconciliation and goodness.

I forgave the prison doctor who did not listen to me and did not give me the medication that I needed. I forgave the interrogator who beat me. Every day when I would see the interrogator and for the last time when I saw him I forgave him. I smiled at him and with respect shook his hand and I said my goodbye. The minute I forgave them and loved them, that second I was filled with an unspeakable joy. I saw in the eyes of the interrogator that he had come to respect me and as he was leaving, he could not look behind him. Love is as strong as death. . .

The joy of the Lord is my strength.

You can read the full letter here.

In the same prison is Farshid Farhi, a 33-year-old pastor serving a six-year sentence for "actions against national security," "being in contact with enemy foreign countries" and "disseminating religious propaganda."

A letter to his father says:

Dear Dad,

Probably I cannot be with you for a few years. However your word and exhortations are in the ear of my soul. I hope that at the end I will be able to see you. But if the Father calls me to the eternal abode, please protect and support my family more than before, especially my children who are the dearest of my heart.. . . 

In our land the fig tree does not blossom, the produce of olive has failed. The flock is cut off from the fold. Yet we rejoice in the Lord and take joy in the God of our salvation. Because neither the walls nor the barbed wires, nor the prison, nor suffering, nor loneliness, not enemies, nor pain, nor even death separates us from the Lord and each other.

With love and greetings in Christ.

You are asked to pray for them. If you do pray for them, do not pray for them only, but for all who are suffering from the clampdown on Christianity in Iran. God bless you.

Waiting 50 years for a Bible

I was at a conference in Belgium 30 years ago. A young Chinese girl living in the West had returned from China, where she had visited believers in underground churches. She had photographs, one of which is burned in my memory.

"How many of you have Bibles?" she had asked. "Hold up your Bibles." They had held up their Bibles. Their faces were radiant. Their Bibles were two pages torn from an exercise book with several Bible verses written on them in pencil.

In recent years the authorities have permitted Bibles to be printed in China. Times have changed somewhat. But it's reckoned that about half of China's estimated 100 million believers still don't have a Bible. The appropriately named American organisation Bibles for China has just returned, having given out 20,000 copies of the Bible in Mandarin to rural Christians.

Some of the recipients had been following Christ for 40 years without access to the Scriptures. One of the recipients was 91. He had waited 50 years for his first Bible, and was overwhelmed that someone should have travelled so far to give it to him.

You can see a video of Chinese Christians receiving their first Bibles here. The origin of the video is unknown.

Bad behaviour by schoolchildren increases

A survey of teachers suggests a rise in the number of schoolchildren with emotional, behavioural and mental health issues. So says an article in Christian Today.

Almost 80 per cent of the 844 teachers surveyed,  by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, believed the rise in bad behaviour was due to a lack of boundaries set by parents in the home.

Sixty-two per cent said behaviour was worse now than two years ago. Seventy-seven per cent reported verbal aggression, and 57 per cent physical aggression. Some 23 per cent reported students breaking or ruining the belongings of others. Teachers reported being spat at, kicked, punched and scratched by pupils.

The History Channel's 10-part series on the Bible has been a surprise hit in the United States, with viewing figures that have confounded critics.

Not like the situation in Europe, says Cristina Odone, where secularist authorities have created total ignorance of the basics of Christian religion among two generations.

"Schoolchildren today know that they should take off their shoes when they enter a mosque and what the Diwali Festival is about, but couldn't recite more than two of the Ten Commandments or name the Four Gospels. This ignorance is not confined to schools but blankets university campuses, factories, City trading floors and even BBC newsrooms. . . 

"Maybe the Coalition should make the History Channel's compulsive series compulsory viewing in schools. . . and at the Beeb."

Are the two subjects connected? They certainly are.

Former Cabinet minister Ann Widdecombe says she was asked to take part in a scene for the BBC's family show for Comic Relief that was "so grossly offensive that it should have been unthinkable to approach an elderly practising Catholic, but they don't think, believing naively that their humour is universal and that everyone seeks fun in filth.

"BBC bosses believe that raising money for charity justifies anything."

And Peter Hitchens at MailOnline deplored "the embarrassingly bad lines, full of coarseness and crudity," mouthed by Rowan Atkinson  on Comic Relief.

"Even ten years ago, these events would have caused an enormous row, not the mild media tremor they actually brought about. We have been shocked so much that we are numb. What worries me is this: if this could happen in 2013, what will be considered normal in 2023?"

Good question.

For God so loved the world

When man sinned, God had a problem. God is not only love, God is also just. He has to punish sin. We are all sinners. We have all done things we shouldn't have done, and not done things we should have done.

God's infinite justice demands that He punish our sin. God's infinite love wants to find a way to avoid punishing us. The only way round the impasse would be to find someone who was without sin who would take our punishment for us. Someone who voluntarily chose to do that.

That someone was Jesus, who came down from heaven, lived a life that was without sin, then allowed His life to be taken in your place and mine.

 The greatest fallacy that man believes is that he is good enough to be forgiven - good enough to get to heaven. That if he does enough good deeds, the bad deeds will be overlooked, and he will somehow be allowed in. It isn't true. If man has sinned against an eternal God, he deserves eternal punishment. Heaven is perfect. Heaven is where God is.

 Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). That's because it's true.

If it were possible to get to heaven by any way other than by trusting Jesus, then God had Him die for nothing.

But here's the thing. God loves us so much that He won't force us to accept Christ. Despite all that it cost, He holds out the offer, but gives us the right to refuse.

The choice is yours - and mine.