Hate speech

Jesus laptop tweeting CofE charter social media

CofE Social Media Charter neuters the prophetic and subsumes truth to ‘respect’

"I just signed up to #CofECharter," tweeted the former Times religious affairs correspondent (and quite delightful) Ruth Gledhill, precisely 48 seconds after the Archbishop of Canterbury had announced his initiative to bring more love and peace to social media. "Fantastic…

street preacher arrested met police london

Christophobia: Met Police arrest street preacher and confiscate his Bible

February 25, 2019
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Over the weekend a Christian street preacher was arrested outside Southgate tube station, London N14. It is reported that he was being 'Islamophobic', but what preceded the encounter with the…

Why are there anti-Christian extremists on the Commission for Countering Extremism?

February 4, 2019
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"The Commission for Countering Extremism supports society to fight all forms of extremism", declares the Government website for the Commission for Countering Extremism. "It advises the government on new policies…

Bishop blocked by Twitter – for telling the truth about sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church

October 1, 2018
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That notorious purveyor of hate and guile, the Rt Rev'd Dr Gavin Ashenden, has been blocked by Twitter. Actually, the tense is wrong: he was blocked by Twitter, but recanted…

Online hate: Twitter speaks what the heart is full of

September 10, 2018
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Life is a lot of bitterness and hate: there are oppressors and victims; struggles, dilemmas and protests. There is suffering and pain, anxiety and change. There are cries for vengeance,…

Anti-Brexit bishops jump on Boris burqa bandwagon

August 14, 2018
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This isn't a post about Brexit; it really isn't. Nor is it a post about banning the burqa. It isn't even a post about Boris, or whether what he said…

Met Police confirm that criticism of Islam constitutes ‘Islamophobia’

June 5, 2018
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The Metropolitan Police Service report 'Hate Crimes against London's Muslim Communities' was published five years ago, and it outlines the everyday nature of Islamophobic incidents: The Islamophobic incidents reported to…

jo johnson freedom of speech universities

Jo Johnson’s muddled and aimless thinking about freedom of speech in universities

December 28, 2017
130 Comments

Universities Minister Jo Johnson delivered a much-trailed (..and here, here, here...) speech about the imperative of academic freedom of speech, which he says must be guaranteed on pain of universities…

Prince of Wales to UK Christians: “Do not take your rights of freedom of worship and freedom of expression for granted”

December 21, 2017
269 Comments

The Prince of Wales has visited London's Melkite Greek Catholic parish, based at St Barnabas Church in Pimlico. Coptic Orthodox Bishop Angaelos was in attendance, along with Syriac Archbishop Athanasius…

Church of England school headteacher brands Crossteach educational charity ‘extremist’

October 19, 2017
397 Comments

Dan Turvey B.Ed (Hons) NPQH is headteacher of St John's Church of England Primary School in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent. "Christian values are at the heart of all we do…

Corbyn Monoxide: why does the Left get away with anti-Tory hate?

September 11, 2017
177 Comments

It's supposed to be a joke, of course, and we're all supposed to laugh. But imagine – just try to imagine – if these students had written such vile comments…

If a bigot can’t be PM, why should one be allowed to become an MP?

September 7, 2017
397 Comments

Jacob Rees-Mogg walks into a TV studio. Grand Inquisitor Piers Torquemorgan has wheeled out his rack; his beatific assistant Susanna Reid has greased up the Judas cradle. Heresy is not…

Prison chaplains may no longer convict offenders of sin: preaching must be ‘sensitive’

August 2, 2017
360 Comments

Remember the case of the Rev'd Barry Trayhorn, the 'tent-maker' (gardener) volunteer prison chaplain at HMP Littlehey in Cambridgeshire? Being an ordained minister in the Pentecostal Church, he quoted Scripture…

Redefining hate: from diabolical anti-love to any criticism of the fragile self

July 14, 2017
327 Comments

This is a guest post by by the Rev'd Dr Gavin Ashenden. _____ During the General Synod debate on homosexuality I took to twitter. It’s like sitting up in the…

Government to establish ‘Commission for Countering Extremism’ – Be afraid. Be very afraid

June 23, 2017
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"A commission for countering extremism will be established to support the government in stamping out extremist ideology in all its forms, both across society and on the internet, so it…

Piers Morgan on the “evil cult” of Scientology – why is Dianephobia not a hate crime?

June 22, 2017
289 Comments

"Why do you not want to read the violent paragraphs of the Qur'an?" Piers Morgan was asked by Ramthrax on Twitter after interviewing the 'hate preacher' Tommy Robinson. To his…

We need to talk more about Jesus and Mohammed and less about Christianity and Islam

June 5, 2017
380 Comments

This is a guest post by the Rev’d Dr Gavin Ashenden. _____ The Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham claimed in public that Salman Abedi, the man who slaughtered children…

Islam, Islamism and Islamophobia: our culture has lost its reason, or its capacity to reason

May 25, 2017
300 Comments

This is a guest post by the Rev’d Dr Gavin Ashenden. ___________________________ The public square is a charged place. Three contenders are striving against each other. Emotion, reason and fundamentalism…

As Theresa May preaches freedom to proclaim faith in Christ, street preachers are convicted of a public order offence

March 1, 2017
464 Comments

"How refreshing to hear a Prime Minister talk about their Christian faith, and sound like they mean it," writes Tim Stanley in the Telegraph. He continues: At a Downing Street…

There's one surefire way of silencing objectors to women bishops – without changing the liturgy

August 11, 2016
144 Comments

There is a serial objector who pops up at the consecration of just about every woman bishop in the Church of England, and he isn't even an Anglican. The…