Government urged to stop paying Palestinians teaching martyrdom
Dame Louise Ellman MP, the vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel, presented a bill in Parliament on 9 January under the ten-minute rule, arguing that British taxpayers are funding the teaching of a curriculum that preaches martyrdom and jihad. She told the House of Commons that young Palestinian minds are being poisoned, and the opportunity for Britain to help promote the values of peace, reconciliation and coexistence is being squandered. ‘This is not about a peaceful future. It is a scandal.’ Britain will donate £125 million to the Palestinian Authority by 2021, and. £20 million will go towards the education curriculum. The bill, which is supported by a handful of MPs,l will be read for a second time on 8 March.
Praying for our leaders
The Evangelical Alliance writes, ‘Paul reminds Timothy that praying for our leaders “pleases God our Saviour, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.’’ (1 Timothy 2:4) So we should not just be praying for competence for our leaders, but that they would know Jesus Christ. If they already say they know Jesus, we should be praying that their faith would deepen and grow. Paul’s life gives us a number of principles that can guide our prayers for those in authority. However, there is still a difficult question: how do we pray together for our politicians when we may disagree quite strongly on their policies? This question is an important one for Christian unity, and will get more acute as the Brexit debates enter a new stage.’ Nevertheless we can all recommit to praying for our political leaders to know Jesus.
Northern Ireland exit agreement
Arlene Foster, its leader, has said that the DUP will act in the best interests of the UK. ‘The promotion and protection of the Union is at our core’. She added, ‘We had made clear in all discussions that letters of reassurances were not enough to win our support for the backstop.’ She also said that the backstop did not respect Northern Ireland's constitutional position: ‘Immediately after the Government's meaningful vote defeat, I said we would work to set out a plan which deals with the flawed backstop. When meeting with MPs from all parties over the last few days, I have emphasised that the DUP's clear preference is to have a deal and an orderly exit from the EU. We will meet again with the Prime Minister in the coming days, and will stand up for the Union. We shouldn't fear uncharted waters. We should see them as an opportunity to seize and lay a better foundation for the next generation.’
A disturbing atheist trend
Ten years ago the notorious atheist bus campaign marked a high point for militant atheism. But now there's a new and more serious challenge to the Church. It is ‘identity politics’. Although it highlights oppression or injustice in a way that the Church can support, at its worst it pits different social groups against one another, black vs white, female vs male, transgender vs feminist, rich vs poor. It encourages judgement and prejudice against those who are allegedly powerful - a white, straight man is deemed ‘privileged’ though he may have experienced many power-limiting experiences in his life. It provokes its followers to see antagonism within every social interaction. Identity politics has taken over much of the media, academia and political discourse. Google employee James Damore lost his job for asserting that the gender gap in the tech industry is due to biological differences.
