Police say offending someone is an offence
Christian street preacher, Joshua Sutcliffe, was warned and told by police at Oxford Circus, London, that it is now a crime to offend someone in public. While preaching a message about Jesus’ love and forgiveness for everyone and referring to 1 Corinthians 6:9, Joshua had said that “homosexuality is wrong”. However, the police came and ...
10 March 2020 Articles
Kristie wins hearts at Free Speech Union launch
Tim Dieppe reports on the launch of the Free Speech Union This week saw the launch of a new initiative to defend free speech. The Free Speech Union (FSU) has been set up by journalist Toby Young in order to help protect and support people who suffer in the work place or the public square ...
28 February 2020 Articles
Responding to the Conservative manifesto
The Conservative manifesto, released over the weekend, contains no policy proposals on liberalising abortion, gender self-declaration, or no-fault divorce. This sets the Conservatives apart from the other two main parties, both of which have extreme proposals on abortion and gender self-declaration, and both of which propose to introduce unilateral destruction of families through no-fault divorce. Same-Sex ...
28 November 2019 Articles
Appeasement, compromise and silence in a D-Day for the Church
Wilberforce Academy Director, Dr Joe Boot, comments on the state of the nation and where we have gone since the Britain of the 1930s and 40s. Sadly, he says, with eroding freedoms and emptying churches, “the heart and soul of the nation [has become] disease-ridden, on life-support and on the edge of extinction.” How will ...
14 June 2019 Articles
Government refuses to say evangelism isn’t hate speech
Tim Dieppe comments on this week’s House of Lord’s debate on religious hate speech. Lord Pearson asked an oral question in the House of Lords this week: “To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether section 29J of the Public Order Act 1986 remains in force, and if so, what is the basis in statute for the ...
7 December 2018 Articles
Share your experience of life as a Christian in the UK today
The All-Party Parliamentary Group, Christians in Parliament are running an inquiry into ‘Being a Christian in the UK Today’. The group is concerned with what it is like to live as a Christian in the UK in 2018, and there is scope for churches or organisations to respond as well as individuals. What is it ...
6 December 2018 Articles
Scotland’s alarming hate posters
Tim Dieppe discusses posters used in a hate crime awareness campaign by the Scottish Government and Scottish Police. The Scottish Government and the Scottish Police, under the banner One Scotland, are running a hate crime awareness campaign. The campaign consists primarily of posters addressing ‘Bigots’, ‘homophobes’, ‘transphobes’, and others, and signed ‘Yours, Scotland’. David Robertson ...
12 October 2018 Articles
Pastor Oluwole Ilesanmi acquitted of hate speech
A Christian street preacher has been acquitted of using ‘threatening and abusive language’ whilst preaching in Wood Green, London. Pastor Oluwole Ilesanmi, aged 62, had been charged concerning a sermon that he preached on 24 June 2017, when a Muslim and two political activists pressed charges when he criticised the Quran. Although he was charged ...
20 December 2017 Articles
Peer fears evangelism could be hate crime
Lord Pearson of Rannoch has said that that he fears that telling other people about Christianity could soon become a hate crime. In an interview with Premier Radio, Lord Pearson said that free speech is being eroded by hate crime legislation. Last week, in a debate on freedom of speech and the definition of hate crime, ...
13 December 2017 Articles
The Challenge of Islam in the UK
Tim Dieppe writes about the challenge of Islam in the UK, asking how the church should respond. This article was originally published in the Affinity Social Issues Bulletin for November 2017. You can read Tim’s 2024 update on The Challenge of Islam in the UK here. The Influence of Islam The fastest growing religion in ...
22 November 2017 Articles
Tim Farron’s resignation shows ‘totalitolerance of illiberal elite’
Tim Farron’s resignation as leader of the Liberal Democrats “demonstrates that Christians are simply not tolerated by the illiberal elite”, says Andrea Williams. In his resignation statement, Farron said that to be leader of the Liberal Democrats and “to live as a committed Christian…felt impossible” to him. He added, “we are kidding ourselves if we ...
15 June 2017 Articles
University ‘thought police’ remove student from social work course
Andrea Williams comments on Felix Ngole’s case and its wide-reaching ramifications for the freedoms of Christians in all areas of public life. Felix Ngole puts another face to the increasing alienation of Christians from the public square. In 2016 he was expelled from the University of Sheffield for expressing support for the biblical view of ...
26 April 2017 Articles
Judge censors Bible for public preaching
A Christian street preacher has been convicted of a Public Order offence for using the wrong Bible verse in a public conversation with a man who identifies as homosexual. But the preacher was acquitted of two other Public Order charges. Unusual judgment In a highly unusual judgment, Michael Overd, who regularly preaches on the streets ...
24 March 2015 Articles
A miscarriage of justice: how ‘buffer zones’ silence democratic debate
Holly Baines dives into chapter 12 of the “Abortion ‘Buffer Zones’ report” and summarises the key findings exposing the weaponisation of abortion buffer zones to erode freedom of speech Have abortion buffer zones been weaponised to shut down democratic debate? And are pro-lifers facing a miscarriage of justice due to financial disparities during private prosecutions? ...
17 July 2025 Articles
The culture wars are not women versus ‘trans people’
Our Chief Executive, Andrea Williams, comments on the supreme court ruling that the definition of a woman is a biological woman, exploring how the truth about men and women benefits all of society. This week’s Supreme Court ruling was not a case of women’s rights defeating trans rights; it was a victory for truth over ...
17 April 2025 Articles
Freedom to criticise other religions
Our head of Public Policy, Tim Dieppe, writes about the importance of Christians having the freedom to criticise other religions. This is a slightly updated version of an article first published in Affinity’s Social Issues Bulletin for Spring 2025. Paul in Athens When Paul was in Athens, he was greatly distressed by the sight of ...
1 April 2025 Articles
Report from ‘The Challenge of Islam’ book launch
Holly Baines reports on the successful book launch event for Tim Dieppe’s newly released book The Challenge of Islam. She writes about the state of Islam in the UK, and shares how attendees were encouraged to be bold in their faith, bold in their opposition to Islam, and bold in their love for Muslims. Yesterday, ...
7 February 2025 Articles
2024: a year of resistance, endurance, and determination
We have now entered the new year – but what a year 2024 was! Critical legal cases were fought in the battle for Christian freedoms, we stood tirelessly for life against abortion and assisted suicide, and we equipped the Church to respond to these challenges and more with courageous faith in Jesus Christ, our true ...
3 January 2025 Articles
Christian freedoms cases over the years: we love Jesus too
Marc Guéhi is not alone in standing courageously against false ideologies despite opposition. At Christian Concern and the Christian Legal Centre, we serve to keep the truth of Jesus in every area of public life. Last week, Crystal Palace football captain Marc Guéhi was placed under immense pressure to wear an LGBT+ armband to commemorate ...
5 December 2024 Articles
One million Korean Christians stand for biblical truth
Christian Concern’s chief executive Andrea Williams reports on the courageous faith of the Korean church and the power of prayer that she experienced during her recent trip to South Korea to speak at a rally attended by 1.1 million Korean Christians On Thursday 24 October, after a day spent with the ‘Darlington Five’ – ...
31 October 2024 Articles
Christian lecturer begins giving evidence at Tribunal
On 29 May 2024, Dr Aaron Edwards, a lecturer and father of six, sacked by a Methodist Bible College for one tweet on human sexuality, began giving evidence in Sheffield before an Employment Tribunal. Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Dr Edwards has taken legal action against Cliff College, an evangelical Bible college in Derbyshire, ...
29 May 2024 Articles
Teacher to appeal professional ban for not using preferred pronouns
A Christian maths teacher who was found guilty of ‘misgendering’ a female student who identified as a boy and was subsequently banned indefinitely by the Secretary of State for Education, is set to appeal the ruling. In May 2023, Mr Joshua Sutcliffe, 32, who is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre, was banned by ...
22 January 2024 Articles
The spectre of Londonistan
Head of Public Policy Tim Dieppe looks at Hamas-supporting marches in London It is now one month since the brutal and horrific terrorist attacks on innocent Israeli civilians by Hamas operatives. Every Saturday since then, around tens of thousands of Muslims have gathered to march through London in protest at what is happening in Gaza. ...
8 November 2023 Articles
Meet the Christians who have fought transgender ideology
Communications Manager Paul Huxley on the Christians who’ve been on the frontlines of opposing transgender ideology As society begins to realise the harm that has been caused by radical transgender ideology, more commentators and pundits are raising their voices to side with ‘gender critical’ feminists. For example, Andrew Neil recently said he’s proud to be ...
7 August 2023 Articles