3 February 2021
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“But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.” [Ezekiel 33:6]
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” [Ephesians 6:12]
Presbyterians Week Headlines
[1] English and Welsh Church Leaders Withdraw Legal Action after Government U-Turn on Church Closures
[2] Case of Christian Actress Sacked for Biblical Beliefs To Be Heard at Employment Tribunal
[4] Union Theological Seminary’s 1800s-Era ‘Westwood’ House Demolished in Northside Richmond, Virginia
[5] Dutch Reformed Church Branches in South Africa Approach Court to Lift Ban on Faith-Based Gatherings
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[1] English and Welsh Church Leaders Withdraw Legal Action after Government U-Turn on Church Closures
122 church leaders have withdrawn their pursuit of a judicial review after restrictions on public worship were lifted in England and Wales following sustained political, legal and media pressure.
Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, a permission hearing for judicial review over the unprecedented decisions to close churches by the English and Welsh governments was due this week at Cardiff Civil Justice Centre.
The leaders, from different denominations and traditions within the Christian church in England and Wales, had launched the claim for judicial review in response to government lockdowns in October and November 2020.
Disturbing stories broke in the media following the implementation of the regulations, including a legal online church service wrongly being shut down by police and the pastor of the church being prosecuted on his doorstep.
The Welsh ‘firebreak’ lockdown, implemented in October 2020, also saw police shutting down a church service saying it was ‘illegal’. Mourners at a funeral service were also prevented from saying the Lord’s Prayer together, which led to national outrage.
However, the New Year regulations outlined by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Welsh Assembly respectively, saw both governments U-turn on their policy of closing churches during lockdown.
Despite this, there have been no reassurances from either government that they will not close churches in the future. The church leaders vow that they will be ready to pursue legal action again should they do so.
Now attention turns to Scotland, where the SNP has decided to close churches during the current lockdown. Church leaders from across Scotland are now considering whether to pursue legal action.
Must never happen again
Pastor Ade Omooba MBE, who led the church leaders’ legal challenge, said: “English and Welsh government bans on worshipping together were decided without sufficient and robust warning, proper consultation, and without even a mention at press conferences prior to our intervention.
“Since then, significant pressure has ensured the government’s U-turn and recognition that you cannot treat churches, and the crucial material, emotional and spiritual services they provide to their communities, as non-essential.
“Throughout the crisis, churches have demonstrated their love and leadership both by caring for the practical needs of their neighbours and by worshiping together safely, when possible.
“The language and the actions of the English and Welsh governments has now significantly shifted. We welcome this and have withdrawn our legal claim accordingly. Now we call on both governments to ensure consistency of appropriate dialogue and to uphold and protect the important and long held constitutional position of the independence of church and civil government.
“If places of worship close again in England and Wales, we will face no alternative but to pursue legal action again.”
Rev. Matthew Roberts, Minister of Trinity Church York, said: “As the pandemic and all its tragic effects continue, it has never been more important that people from across the country should gather safely to worship God. We are very grateful to the government for recognising this and preserving Christian worship through the current lockdown, and we see constantly the benefit of regular and safe worship in people’s lives.”
Criminalised public worship
Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, the leaders had sought permission for judicial review on the grounds that government restrictions on public worship breach Article 9 rights, including the freedom of Christians to manifest their religion or beliefs in communal worship, teaching, practice and observance.
The claim stated that the government failed to discharge their public law duty of enquiry, especially by failing to ascertain the extent to which leaving open places of worship would risk contributing to the spread of Covid-19.
Furthermore, the claim stated that the government’s regulations were made outside the legislative power conferred by the Public Health 1984 Act, an important principle long recognised by English law and the constitution.
The claim also argued that the state had unreasonably privileged the use of religious premises for secular purposes whilst prohibiting their use for religious purposes which are their raison d’être. This demonstrated that this ban on collective worship is manifestly unreasonable.
It outlined the position of the leaders on the issue saying that: “The English and Welsh Governments have now introduced two successive sets of lockdown measures which have completely prohibited and criminalised public communal worship, a core aspect of religious life for the Claimants and their congregations. With these measures, the Governments have inflicted a terrible human cost, without rigorous consideration of less onerous restrictions, and as part of a package which leaves places of worship open for secular activities.”
Government pressured to U-turn
The legal action followed new restrictions, which came into force in England on 5 November 2020, stating that “places of worship will be closed” with exceptions for funerals, broadcast acts of worship, individual prayer, essential voluntary public services, formal childcare, and some other exempted activities.
These restrictions once again made it a criminal offence for Christians to gather for worship or prayer, or to go to church for worship on a Sunday.
Ahead of the restrictions, over 1500 church leaders signed an open letter urging the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, not to close churches, describing the decision to do so as ‘baffling.’
‘We don’t have good data’
Former Prime Minister, Theresa May, also raised serious concerns over the government’s policy in parliament in November 2020, stating: “My concern is the government today making it illegal to conduct an act of public worship for the best of intentions, sets a precedent that could be misused for a government in the future with the worst of intentions. It has unintended consequences.”
When asked how the government had justified closing places of worship, chief scientific advisors, Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance, said in November 2020: “We haven’t got good evidence”, “this is not a very exact science at all” and “we don’t have good data to answer that with any degree of certainty.”
In Germany, Angela Merkel refused to close churches as part of their current lockdown as it raised serious ‘constitutional issues’, and earlier this year a French high court branded government church closures as unlawful and overturned the ban. Recently the United States Supreme Court allowed churches to remain open in New York state.
+ Christian Concern, 70 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8AX, England, 020 7935 1488, Contact Page
[2] Case of Christian Actress Sacked for Biblical Beliefs To Be Heard at Employment Tribunal
From Monday 1 February, the Employment Tribunal London will hear the high-profile legal case of sacked Christian actress, Seyi Omooba, 25.
The West End star was removed from a lead role in a musical for a four-year-old Facebook post that cited the Bible.
Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Miss Omooba is suing Leicester Curve Theatre and Global Artists Agency, who refused to act for her following the controversy, for discrimination and breach of contract.
The case will expose the mechanisms of censorship at the heart of the theatre industry, and how any dissenting views against LGBT ideology, especially Christian beliefs, are currently incompatible with a theatrical career.
The theatre had attempted to avert Miss Omooba’s lawsuit by offering to pay her the full wages she would have received for playing in the performance. However, Miss Omooba rejected that offer, and requested a formal and public ruling that the theatre has acted unlawfully and discriminated against her because of her Christian beliefs.
Approximate timetable
Monday 1 February: Introductory session at 10:00; the rest of the day reserved for reading the documents
Tuesday 2 February: The evidence of Pastor Ade Omooba MBE
Tue-Wed 2-3 February: The evidence of Seyi Omooba
Thursday 4 February: The evidence of Chris Stafford, the chief executive of Leicester Curve Theatre
Friday 5 February: The evidence of Michael Garret, the director of Global Artists Agency (and of another Global Artists witness)
Monday 8 February: Closing submissions
Tue-Thu 9-11 February: Tribunal’s deliberations in private
Thursday 11 February: Judgement
Raw talent
On March 14 2019, Miss Seyi Omooba, 25, from East London, had been given a lead role as Celie in Leicester Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome’s co-production of the award-winning musical The Color Purple, based on Alice Walker’s classic American novel.
The casting was announced the same day that Miss Omooba went with her father, Pastor Ade Omooba, an eminent international Christian campaigner and Christian Concern’s co-founder, to Buckingham Palace to receive his MBE.
Miss Omooba had developed her raw talent from a young age singing gospel in church and studying performing arts at Anglia Ruskin University.
She had already built up a portfolio of performances, among them parts in Hadestown at the National Theatre, Little Shop of Horrors, Spring Awakening, and had played the role of Nettie in the Cadogan Hall production of The Color Purple.
In a review of her full debut in the West End musical, Ragtime, Miss Omooba was described as: “jaw-droppingly good, and her ferocious gospel vocals…pin you to your seat. This is her professional debut, and she’s someone to watch.” In the production of A Color Purple at Cadogan Hall, Miss Omooba’s depiction of the character of Nettie was described as capturing the “very heart of her character.”
Facebook post from 2014
After the cast was announced, however, on March 15, Miss Omooba was tagged on Twitter by another West End performer, Aaron Lee Lambert, who is not known to her. With a screenshot of a Facebook post that Miss Omooba had posted four-and-half-years ago on September 18 2014, Mr Lambert wrote:
“@seyiomooba Do you still stand by this post? Or are you happy to remain a hypocrite? Seeing as you’ve now been announced to be playing an LGBTQ character, I think you owe your LGBTQ peers an explanation. Immediately.”
In September 2014, Miss Omooba was a 20-year-old student whose acting career had not even started. She regularly posts about her faith online without any issue, and in this post had written on her personal Facebook page, in the context of the government introducing same-sex marriage legislation, that:
“Some Christians have completely misconceived the issue of Homosexuality, they have begun to twist the word of God. It is clearly evident in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 what the Bible says on this matter. I do not believe you can be born gay, and I do not believe homosexual practice is right, though the law of this land has made it legal doesn’t mean it is right. I do believe that everyone sins and falls into temptation but it’s by the asking of forgiveness, repentance and the grace of God that we overcome and live how God ordained us to. Which is that a man should leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Genesis 2:24. God loves everyone, just because He doesn’t agree with your decisions doesn’t mean He doesn’t love you. Christians we need to step up and love but also tell the truth of God’s word. I am tired of lukewarm Christianity, be inspired to stand up for what you believe and the truth #our God is three in one #God (Father) #Jesus Christ (Son) #Holy Spirit.”
Miss Omooba received the tweet from Mr Lambert while supporting a grieving friend, and despite being deeply shocked and intimidated, refused to be drawn into an online discussion on the issue.
Called a n***** for citing the Bible
Calls for Miss Omooba to be removed from the cast followed, however, as well as online abuse which included her being called a ‘n*****.’
Miss Omooba, who visibly prays before each show and wears a ‘Not Ashamed’ of the Gospel wrist band, had accepted the lead role over Celie after originally auditioning for the character of Nettie, and disagrees with the interpretation that Celie is a lesbian character.
The character of Celie in The Color Purple has intrigued readers and critics since it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 after its publication the previous year. Set in the Deep South of the US, its main character, Celie, leads a life of immense struggle at the hands of men, until she briefly finds comfort and friendship with another woman. It was made into a Hollywood film in 1985 and starred Whoopi Goldberg, who described the film and the character of Celie as:
“Not really about feminism, or lesbianism, despite the fact that Celie finds out about love and tenderness from another woman….It has nothing to do with lesbianism. It has to do with, her eyes are opened, now she understands.”
Steven Spielberg, who directed the film, was pressed in 2011 on whether today he would make the ‘kiss’ scene in the film more explicit, but he said: “I wouldn’t, no. That kiss is consistent with the tonality, from beginning to end, of The Color Purple that I adapted.”
On the 15 March, Miss Omooba received a call from her agency, Global Artists, telling her that pressure was mounting for her to be removed from the show because of her views. She was told that only through retracting the comments and publicly apologising would she be able to continue under their management, which she refused to do.
Leicester Curve Theatre and the Birmingham Hippodrome then released a statement on 21 March which led to Miss Omooba’s contract being terminated. The theatres claimed in their statement that: “The play and production are seeking to promote freedom and independence and to challenge views, including the view that homosexuality is a sin.”
+ Christian Concern, 70 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8AX, England, 020 7935 1488, Contact Page
NEWS PROVIDED BY
D. James Kennedy Ministries
Jan. 28, 2021
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Jan. 28, 2021 /Christian Newswire/ — D. James Kennedy Ministries (DJKM) is mounting an “I’m With Franklin!” signature campaign to counter a left-wing group’s attack aimed at removing Graham as President and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse.
The I’m With Franklin! open letter is located at DJKM.org where visitors may sign it in support of Graham.
Faithful America—a group originally founded by the National Council of Churches and funded in the past by George Soros—is petitioning for Graham’s removal over an online post in which he said he tends to believe Donald Trump’s claim there was fraud in the 2020 election.
“This is just one more stunning display of the left’s bitter intolerance and its self-righteous determination to banish Biblically faithful voices from America’s public square,” said Frank Wright, Ph.D., CEO and President of DJKM.
Wright added:
“Franklin Graham is an international evangelist and a renowned humanitarian whose organization, Samaritan’s Purse, delivers aid across the world to people in need. He is also an outspoken defender of Biblical moral values at a time when the left is determined to purge competing voices from American public life.
“That is why D. James Kennedy Ministries is collecting signatures on our I’m With Franklin! open letter for delivery to our friends at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse.
“We want him, as well as the boards of BGEA and Samaritan’s Purse to know that faithful believers in Jesus Christ love Franklin and stand with him.”
To request an interview with Dr. Frank Wright, contact John Aman, Director of Communications, at j.aman@DJKM.org.
D. James Kennedy Ministries is a media ministry whose television programs, Truths That Transform and The Coral Ridge Hour, air nationwide. It actively communicates the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the supremacy of His Lordship, and a Biblically informed view of the world.
SOURCE D. James Kennedy Ministries
CONTACT: John Aman, j.aman@DJKM.org
+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com
[4] Union Theological Seminary’s 1800s-Era ‘Westwood’ House Demolished in Northside Richmond, Virginia
A 28 January 2021 Richmond BIZSENSE article by Jonathan Spiers titled “Seminary’s 1800s-Era ‘Westwood’ House Demolished in Northside” reports that Union Theological Seminary (UTS) in Richmond, Virginia during the week of 25 January 2021 razed the Westwood house, also known as McGuire Cottage, in the Northside section of the city. The house was almost 200 years old.
UTS spokesman Mike Frontiero said its board of trustees voted last year to demolish the structure, originally the home of Confederate surgeon Hunter Holmes McGuire, “as recognition of and in repentance for the resourcing provided to the seminary through the labor of enslaved persons.” McGuire additionally was said to have authored works describing blacks and other groups of people as being inferior to whites.
+ Richmond BIZSENSE, 23 W. Broad Street. Suite 401, Richmond, Virginia 23220, aaron@richmondbizsense.com
[5] Dutch Reformed Church Branches in South Africa Approach Court to Lift Ban on Faith-Based Gatherings
Pretoria – The government is facing a second urgent application – this time by, among others, several Dutch Reformed Church branches – to lift the ban on faith-based gatherings under the amended level 3 lockdown regulations.
The churches, of which several are locally based, filed papers in the Johannesburg high court, in which they are asking for an urgent order that faith-based gatherings be allowed.
+ Independent On Line, 118 St. Georges Street, Post Office Box 4116, Cape Town 8001, South Africa, +27-21-481-6200, Fax: +27-21-481-6294
A group of Scottish church leaders has launched a claim for judicial review over the Scottish Minsters’ unprecedented decision to close churches and criminalise public worship during the current lockdown.
Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, 27 church leaders from a range of Christian denominations, including the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing), the Church of Scotland, the Free Church of Scotland, and a number of independent churches, have launched the action, stating that the closures are unlawful and breach European Convention of Human Rights law and the Scottish constitution.
Restrictions outlined by First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, on Friday 8 January 2021, made it a criminal offence in the highest tiers for churches to hold services in-person and, for example, to conduct baptisms.
In response, the church leaders sent a pre-action letter to the Scottish Ministers on 15 January, urging them to re-open churches.
They emphasised that the regulations prohibit them from supporting the material, emotional and spiritual needs in their congregations and communities.
In the claim the church leaders outlined that they fully understand the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic and the difficult decisions the Scottish Government has had to take.
However, the leaders stated that they believe the Scottish Ministers’ have “failed to appreciate that the closure of places of worship is a disproportionate step, and one which has serious implications for freedom of religion.”
The Scottish Ministers’ responded by rejecting the claim and declaring that the state can ‘regulate the secular activities of Churches…for the purposes of protecting public health’ and that churches are compelled to ‘comply with secular law’ and therefore must remain closed.
This statement conflicts directly with the long-established and traditional authority Scottish churches have had over their own affairs, free from state interference. This is enshrined in the 1592 Act, the 1706 Act for Securing Protestant Religion and the Church of Scotland Act 1921.
There has been no attempt to close churches in Scotland since the persecution of the Presbyterian church, instituted by the Stuart kings, in the 17th century.
Left with no alternative but to pursue a judicial review, lawyers representing the church leaders, will now argue that the regulations are in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights (Articles 9 and 11) and the Scottish Constitution.
As part of the claim, the church leaders will seek a ‘declarator’ that the closure of churches in Scotland are unlawful, that church closure regulations must be reversed, and that a person may lawfully leave their home to attend a place of worship without fear of prosecution.
In the claim, the church leaders: ‘hold that public corporate worship, involving the physical gathering together of Christians… are fundamental and indispensable aspects of their religion’, and argue that ‘in the absence of the gathered people of God, there is effectively no “church.”’
The Scottish Ministers’ now have seven days to respond.
Closures ‘illogical’ says microbiologist
Scottish Ministers’ insist they are relying on ‘science’ to justify a number of lockdown measures, including church closures. However, an expert report, provided as part of the case by microbiologist, Dr Ian Blenkharn, describes the strategy as ‘illogical’ on a number of levels.
Dr Blenkharn says, for example, that it is: “illogical to propose that church premises can be used for blood donor sessions, food banks and other social support activities, and if required for Covid-19 testing and vaccination activities”, but not for public worship.
At present, a church building in Scotland could be used as a vaccination centre, but should the same people recite the Lord’s Prayer together, they could be prosecuted.
Dr Blenkharn’s report concludes that he can find: “No barriers to the safe opening of churches for worship. Indeed, there is an overwhelming and unavoidable comparator that church services present no additional risk of COVID-19 coronavirus infection than would the many different commercial activities in the manufacturing, supply and retail sectors etc that are now permitted to operate.”
‘Constitutional issues’
The decision to close churches in Scotland is out of step, not only with the decision of the English and Welsh government’s decision to allow churches to remain open under the current lockdown, but also internationally.
In November 2020, Chancellor Angela Merkel refused to close churches in Germany due to ‘constitutional issues’.
Earlier this year a French high court branded government church closures as unlawful and overturned the ban, and the Supreme Court of the United States recently allowed churches to remain open in New York state.
Vulnerable excluded
Rev. Dr William Philip, leader of the Tron church in Glasgow City Centre, which has over 500 members of all ages and backgrounds, said: “We are able to do some things remotely via broadcasting, but many – especially the poorest, the oldest, and those most vulnerable – have no access to this. They are excluded completely from the possibility of Christian worship, and the comfort and encouragement in life and death only this can give.
“Due to the severe restrictions upon gatherings and significant distress this has caused, we have faced no alternative but to pursue legal action.”
Rev. Nathan Owens, Minister of Maxwell Church in Kilmaurs, said: “I serve a number of vulnerable people and I have seen the dire consequences that shutting churches has had on those people for whom church is a lifeline. We think churches being open is not only a human right or a Scottish constitutional matter, but is one of the most vitally important ways our society can respond to this pandemic.”
Gerald White, Pastor of Hope church in Edinburgh, said: “I serve the local community on a council estate and there is a lot of darkness here. The church offers hope to the hopeless. People’s struggles with drug and alcohol addictions are exacerbated at this time. Mental health issues are even worse than they were before and single mothers in particular are struggling. Under these regulations we cannot reach and support those in greatest need.”
John William-Noble, pastor of Grace Baptish church in Aberdeen, said: “We do recognise that the pandemic is very serious and churches throughout this past year have followed a number of guidelines given by the government in order to protect health and safety. Churches have demonstrated that they are one of the most Covid secure parts of society.”
Rev. Dr Rupert Hunt-Taylor, Minister of Edinburgh North Church, said: “When the nation faces a life and death situation, with so much already taken away from so many, you don’t close down the one source of true hope that Scotland has turned to for centuries.”
+ Christian Concern, 70 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8AX, England, 020 7935 1488, Contact Page
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