GCSE in soft port

Briefing.

From CFNews:GCSE pupils could be analysing sexually explicit lads' mags as part of a Media Studies course, it has emerged. Teens could compare the 'style and tone' of magazines such as Nuts, FHM and Zoo, notorious for displaying semi-naked women on their covers.

The latest edition of Zoo features 'Britain's sexiest blondes - 14 topless pages proving they really do have more fun!' Family campaigners are outraged at the move by assessment body AQA.

The news follows a survey last week which showed nearly nine in ten 14 to 17-year-olds had viewed pornography. And alarmingly almost one in five confessed to accessing pornography more than once a week - mostly online or via mobile phone.

The updated syllabus is currently being taught to children aged 14 to 16, with the first examinations due to take place next June.

The examination requires students to 'identify/describe targeting of specific markets by magazines and comics eg 'lads' mags''.

They should 'analyse/interpret the relationship of content to target audience in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, social and educational background'.

Margaret Morrissey, Chairman of campaign group Parents Outloud, said: 'If we want to bring back some vestige of normality for our teenagers then we have got to stop exposing them intentionally to such things.'

An AQA spokesman insisted the magazines were not a compulsory part of the syllabus.

Last year MP Claire Curtis-Thomas warned that notorious lads' mags such as 'Zoo', and 'Nuts' were little more than pornography and should be given age-appropriate 16 and 18 certificates.

Mrs Curtis-Thomas voiced her concerns after commissioning The Top Shelf Report which recommended introducing 'statutory guidelines that are comparable to the existing standards for video, film and television.'

In the report a sample of sixth-form students were surveyed and it found that 100 per cent of girls who looked at 'The Daily Sport', 'Zoo' and 'Nuts' expressed being angry, offended or upset by the images they contained.

One fifth of male students sampled admitted that looking at this material encouraged them to see women as sex-objects. [Christian Institute] 

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Card. O'Brien on social collapse

Briefing: is it just me or are bishops saying more interesting things these days?

Cardinal O'Brien tells the Scottish executive that if you wreck society - undermine the family, forbid schools to exercise discipline, encourage under-age sex etc. - you should not be surprised when things even liberals don't like start happening: vandalism, yobbery, drunkeness, public health problems etc.. And having destroyed self-restraint you can't solve the problem with headline-catching initiatives like making booze marginally more expensive.

From CFNews: The leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics today hit out at the way politicians are trying to tackle society's problems, saying Scotland is now "staring into the abyss of social collapse".

Writing in a newspaper on Easter Sunday, Cardinal Keith O'Brien accused politicians of being "paralysed by a chronic fear of moralising" as he called on them to stop passing "frenzied regulation" and do more to look at the underlying causes of social problems, such as drug and alcohol abuse.

He also described the government's crackdown on cheap alcohol as stemming from a "deeply flawed" and "utterly discredited" approach.

He said: "Scotland is staring into the abyss of social collapse. Too many of our young people are caught up in a maelstrom of drug-and-alcohol-fuelled promiscuity, hedonism, vandalism and outright nihilism.

"It is a whirlwind which we will reap for a long time to come. We are paying the price for denying too many of our young people security, stability and morality, a price paid in shattered lives and broken children."

And the Cardinal, in his Easter Sunday Homily, said that too often public policy deals with the symptoms of social breakdown rather than the causes.

He said: "When our fellow citizens err and lapse we seldom focus on them or ask why they behaved as they did. Rather we rush to impose legal restraints on such action forgetting dangerously that no external restrictions can ever match the effectiveness of self-restraint.

"When a toddler is shot with an airgun we regulate the sale of such weapons, alcohol abuse by our young people is met with legislation to restrict sales and sexual promiscuity with regulations aimed at ensuring contraception and abortion are widely available.

"In every instance we seek to mitigate the effects of bad behaviour and perhaps place barriers in the paths of such acts. We do not as a society take action to tackle the underlying motivation; instead we limit our action to blunting the impact of our excesses."

The Scottish Government last month announced plans to set a minimum price for alcohol and ban money saving promotions such as "three for two" deals.

Ministers say alcohol misuse costs Scotland £2.25billion a year.

Cardinal O'Brien added: "In recent weeks much coverage has been given to the decision by the Scottish Government to limit sales of alcohol to young people by increasing the selling price through restrictions on a variety of retail offers and by asking local authorities to consider raising the age for alcohol purchases.

"This policy mirrors the approach taken by this and previous administrations to drug use, vandalism, anti social behaviour, obesity even promiscuity and might usefully be called the 'command and control' model of public governance.

"Advocates of such a model take the view that 'bad behaviour' whether it be public drunkenness, health-threatening over eating or teenage promiscuity are all immutable and unchangeable.

"The urge and desire to commit acts of this type cannot be curbed far less removed therefore public, social and health policy must all be orientated towards mitigating the effects.

"It is an approach, which is deeply flawed and utterly discredited."

Cardinal O'Brien called for action to address what he believes are the underlying causes of social problems, such as marriage breakdown the fracturing of family life.

He said: "Scotland has one of the highest divorce rates in the Western world we also have one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates and STI statistics, which are both alarming and growing.

"In the face of all this evidence our Parliament has enacted legislation making divorce easier and quicker and giving greater legal recognition to cohabitation, while our taxation system ruthlessly penalises long-term legal commitment." [STV]

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Archbishop Nichols calls for protests over abortion and condom ads

Action: please answer the Archbishop's call. The consultation has not been made very user-friendly but please take a moment to send something in.

All the documents you need are on this page. There is a 'cover sheet' which should accompany your submission, and a list of questions: the idea is that you select the questions you want to address and paste your responses into the document. There is also a guide to the consultation (and an 'executive summary').

Archbishop Nichols makes the very helpful points that the existing advertisment of condoms fails both 'truthfullness' and 'taste' tests: they are not truthful because they are demeaning; they are evidently distasteful. On abortion it is wrong to advertise abortion alongside ordinary goods and services because, like other medical services, but more so, it needs to be presented in a situation where there is proper information and counselling available, and not promoted as if it were a consumer item. This is why there are no adverts for medical products or practicioners in the UK: it is bizarre that it should be proposed to make abortion an exception. It is scandalous that the opportunity should be given to pro-abortion counselling services and not pro-life ones: there cannot be any justification for that. It is simply a matter of the Advertising Code taking a view on the what kind of advice women should be getting.

From CFNews: The Rev Vincent Nichols, Archbishop-designate of Westminster, has urged Catholics in England and Wales to oppose plans put forward to allow abortion services to advertise on television and radio.

The Archbishop also called on Catholics to make their opposition known to proposals to relax rules restricting the advertising of condoms on television.
Appointed as the new Archbishop of Westminster by the Pope last Friday, he said current television advertising for condoms 'demeaned' young people by depicting 'casual sex on the street corner' and 'drunken sex'.

He urged Catholics to respond to a consultation exercise on the proposed changes, saying that the country would not expect abortion to be advertised 'alongside a packet of crisps'.

Archbishop Nichols said: 'I would appeal to Catholics to respond to the consultation and two of the principles put forward are that advertisements should be truthful and tasteful.

'I doubt that any intended adverts about abortion would be fully truthful and tell the whole truth of the effects of abortion in a woman's life. I seriously wonder if any advertisements for the use of condoms would be tasteful because the ones we have at the moment are demeaning of the young people of this country.
'They depict casual sex on the street corner and drunken sex. I do not think these things do anything to genuinely help young people to understand themselves in their own dignity and in the proper meaning of what human sexuality is about.'

Under the terms of the proposals, adverts for pregnancy advisory services could be allowed in prime-time evening slots on the major channels and radio but advertisers would have to stipulate if the service does not refer women directly for abortion.

Condoms could be advertised on television before the 9pm watershed.

Currently Channel 4 is the only channel with permission to advertise condoms from 7pm.

The proposals would mean that for the first time pregnancy advisory services advertisements that were not Government approved would be permitted on broadcast media. [Telegraph]

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Teen mags sexualising children

Parents: you have been warned!

From CFNews: Teenage magazines are to blame for the 'early sexualisation' of their young readers and are failing to uphold their own guidelines on content, the Government's consumer watchdog has claimed. Ed Mayo, chief executive of Consumer Focus, said the magazines were 'pushing the envelope' and warned that parents would be shocked by much of their content.

A study by The Sunday Telegraph of several magazines aimed at teenage girls found that they contained sexually-explicit material which was potentially in breach of the industry's editorial code.

Campaigners have attacked the magazines' self-regulatory body as 'toothless' and have called for an independent organisation to monitor the publications, which are read by children as young as 11.

The move comes after Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, ordered a review into whether young girls are being sexualised through fashion, music, computer games and other industries.

Bliss magazine, whose readers have an average age of 15, features on the front of this month's issue the cover lines 'The Sex Factor, your questions answered on p46' and 'Gang raped - for a mobile phone.'

April's Sugar magazine, with readers aged 14 on average, features a spread entitled 'Is it a crush or are you gay?'. This month's Top of the Pops Magazine, with readers aged 11 to 15, is sold with a set of 'Kiss Me!' stickers.
It features photos of shirtless male celebrities and a picture of Justin Gaston, an underwear model, who appears to be naked except for a panel covering his private parts.

Bliss's website has previously invited girls to send in photographs of themselves to be marked on 'looks and pullability' in a contest called 'How Sexy Am I?' while Sugar has an annual modelling competition for girls asking: 'Want fame, freebies and fit lads?'

The Teenage Magazine Arbitration Panel (TMAP), the industry's self-regulatory body whose members include publishers and editors, is supposed to ensure that 'the sexual content of teenage magazines is presented in a responsible and appropriate manner'.

Its guidelines, which apply to magazines who have more than 25 per cent of their readership aged under 16, state that 'readers will always be encouraged to take a responsible attitude to sex' and that 'editorial content of the magazines will reflect the typical concerns of the magazine's readership'.

However, critics say that few parents know about TMAP. Since it was launched in 1996, to head off the threat of legislation clamping down on the magazines' sexual content, it has ruled on only three complaints, and in the past three years it has received only one.

Mr Mayo said: 'Teenage magazines do have a role to play in guiding teenagers through difficult issues, but when it comes to what is responsible and what is not, clearly the envelope is being pushed and parents would be shocked by much of their content.

'There is no doubt that some of these magazines are responsible for the early sexualisation of children. If you let industry set the rules, the industry will often find a way through. The answer is not always new rules, but I would welcome the current guidelines actually being enforced.'

Michael Gove, the shadow children's secretary, said: 'These magazines are pushing the boundaries of what parents would consider acceptable. Their publishers have to explain why publications aimed at girls below the age of consent carry this sort of material. The industry needs to look again at how it regulates itself.'

Sue Palmer, an educational consultant and the author of Toxic Childhood, said: 'The reality is that children as young as 10 read these magazines, and what they are being exposed to is often horrific and entirely inappropriate.

'The very blatantly sexual ethos expressed in them is becoming normalised among young girls. Then we wonder why we have such high teenage pregnancy rates and a booming ladette culture.

'The regulatory body is clearly a toothless watchdog. Magazines are blatantly flouting the guidelines, which need to be tightened up and have a real force of law behind them, with a watchdog that is independent of the industry.'

Dr Fleur Fisher, the chairman of TMAP, said: 'The magazines should be cross-checking their features with our guidelines, and if they are not, then that is where we come in. Any complaints we receive from readers are carefully checked against our guidelines, and we respond accordingly. Many of the features within these magazines are written in response to queries they receive from their readers [Sunday Telegraph]

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NHS advertising for 'long term contraception'

Action: please complain to the ASA if you've seen these adverts.

From an email to CRNews: 'I would like to draw attention to the following (perhaps the readers of your bulletin would care to be involved) CASH Contraception and Sexual Health, which I believe is an NHS initiative, has plastered the sides of buses and bus shelters in Oxford with a campaign 'three questions about sex'. Perhaps this campaign is also running in other parts of the country.

You may have seen recently in the newspapers that the Advertising Standards Authority ruled against the prominent use of the word 'sex' in a poster campaign for a nasal spray for prolonging sexual intercourse. Thanks to complaints, including mine, this poster was rapidly removed. Can I ask anyone who cares strongly about the increasing intrusion of inappropriate advertising into public spaces, and who has seen this advertising, to take 5 minutes to visit the ASA website and submit a complaint. Just follow this link .

This is my own complaint for your reference, but obviously use your own words, not mine.

I object to this campaign on 2 grounds:

(1) I object to seeing the word 'sex' prominently displayed in public advertising where children of ages 5-11 can read it. The copy of the advertisement also asks the reader if they are worried about getting pregnant: another adult concern which should not be thrust upon little girls. There is also mention of sexually transmitted infections and condoms. I regard the pre-pubescent years as a time of necessary innocence when children should be shielded from knowing about adult matters such as sex, which can only cause them unnecessary worries. Seeing this advert prominently displayed in public places can only lead to them asking questions to which they are not yet sufficiently mature to receive the answers. I refer to the recent adjudication made by the ASA against AMI Clinic Ltd in case no. A08-78392.

(2) The contraceptive implants/injections are clearly being advertised to a teen/young adult market due to the style of the advertisement. The contraceptive injections/implants they are offering are not of course risk-free despite the tone of the advertisement, and the advertisers have clearly tried to cover their backs by adding small print to the effect that this contraceptive form does not protect against STIs and condoms should be used. This last statement is deceptive as it implies that condoms prevent STIs when it is well known that condoms offer no protection against the common STI, chlamydia, and provide a false sense of security in the case of other STIs, on account of the proven yet not publicised high failure rate of condoms.

I would ask the ASA to call on CASH to withdraw this campaign immediately as it is both inappropriate for public spaces and is deceptive in its wording.

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Soft-porn advert for 'morning after' pill

Briefing.

From CFNews:A new advertisement from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), depicting a semi-pornographic Christmas scene is being used to tout free morning-after pills and condoms for the Christmas season.

The ad shows the lower half of a man clad in 'Santa' get-up grasping the rear of a woman in a mini-skirt whose leg is entwined around the 'Santa' figure, set against the backdrop of a typical Christmas living room scene. 'Santa only comes once a year ... but that's all it takes!' reads the ad, implying that the woman could get pregnant even if she only has sex with Santa once a year, without using contraception.

BPAS's website explains that they 'recognise that Christmas is a time when people don't think about contraception as a priority, but accidents still happen.' In order to remedy the shortened holiday schedule of family planning clinics and pharmacies, BPAS will be providing a 'Free Christmas Pack' containing a dose of the abortifacient morning-after pill, three condoms, a leaflet on 'what your options are in case the pill doesn't work' and another on general sexual health services.

BPAS, a non-profit organization, like its U.S. counterpart Planned Parenthood, is the U.K.'s largest single abortion provider.

Anthony Ozimic, political secretary for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), responded to the ad with disgust. 'It is certainly a despicable ploy which threatens unborn children, promotes promiscuity, undermines public health and insults the child-centred meaning of Christmas,' said Ozimic. 'The offensive sexual innuendo linked to Santa Claus is evidence of BPAS's morally bankrupt status.'

Ozimic also said it is revealing that the BPAS pack included information on 'options' in case of unexpected pregnancy. 'This makes us question whether not this free give-away isn't a thinly-disguised attempt by BPAS to drum up more abortion business in the new year,' he said.

'This style of promoting the morning-after pill will have an adverse effect on many young and vulnerable women,' Ozimic continued. 'It will encourage men to see females as sex objects, who can be exploited without responsibility for the consequences. The morning-after pill's promoters share in the abuse of women by misleading them about its potential effect, which, the manufacturers concede, may include causing an early abortion.'

The BPAS ad coincides with a Christmas campaign from the U.S. Planned Parenthood of Indiana, promoting gift cards to be redeemed for services such as birth control, STD testing, and abortions.

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Religious stamps available

Good news!

From CFNews: 'The 2007 Madonna and Child first and second class Christmas stamps are available to buy on the Royal Mail website. Just go to `online shop` at  http://www.RoyalMail.com and choose `stamps`. Scroll down past the pantomime figures which decorate this year`s stamps and you`ll come to the beautiful images we enjoyed last year. Available in sheets of 50, delivery is free.

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Chritianophobic hate-speach promoted at the Welsh Assembly

Action: Welsh readers should complain. 'All I preach is deicide'? The combination of ridicule of religious beliefs with with attacks on believers would make this work indefensible if the religion in question were not Christianity. It is now being promoted by the Welsh Culture Secretary in a reading at the Welsh Assembly: this is a kind of official endorsement. Email Peter Black, the culture secretary, and ">your own Assembly Member. 

From Christian Voice: WELSH LIBDEMS BECOME THE 'INSULT JESUS' PARTY.

Dated 10.40am 14th November 2008

The decision by Peter Black AM to invite the poet Patrick Jones to insult Jesus Christ in the National Assembly has been condemned by a Christian prayer and lobby group.

Christian Voice described the event, due to be held on 11th December, as a disgrace to the Assembly itself. The Waterstone's bookshop in Cardiff cancelled a reading of Jones' poetry on Wednesday night. after a 24-hour campaign by Christian Voice, whose members emailed and phoned the store to complain. At no time did Christian Voice make any threat of disruption to Waterstone's, who took the decision themselves.

But Peter Black, who is the LibDem's culture spokesman, has now invited Jones, a militant atheist, to read his poems, which insult Jesus Christ and call for an end to Christian worship, in Committee Room 24 of the Assembly at 12 noon on Thursday 11th December.

On BBC Wales yesterday afternoon, after being repeatedly challenged by Stephen Green, Black eventually agreed to extend an invitation to Christians to attend. Christian Voice is now awaiting an invitation.

Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, said today:
'This is a creepy event in the seat of government at which Jesus-hating AM's can swoon over poems packed with hatred for Christianity and which speak of Mary Magdalene and the poet having sex with the Lord Jesus Christ. They will also hear Jones' unfettered hatred of Christianity, which he has somehow managed to convince himself is indistinguishable from Islam.

'What they will not hear is Jones insult the prophet Mohammed. He dare not do that at all, let alone in the sexual way he insults Jesus Christ, whom he sees as a soft target.

'Christians in Wales must not take this lying down. We need to stand up for our Lord against this attack on His honour and on the Church itself by Peter Black. Black has gone out of his way to show contempt for Christians in Wales. As he is the LibDem Culture Spokesman, that means insulting Jesus Christ is now official LibDem policy. The LibDems have thus become a political party Christians can no longer in conscience
vote for or take any part in.'

NOTE: Patrick Jones emailed some of his poems to Stephen Green on Tuesday morning, then denied he had done that on BBC Radio Wales Thursday morning, then admitted it on the same station Thursday afternoon.

Waterstone's told Christian Voice they had cancelled Jones' reading at 10am on Wednesday morning, but did not email Jones to tell him until 2pm that afternoon.

The poems aren't actually much good, they hardly rhyme, they rarely scan or have rhythm, but they possibly have enough profanity and references to female genitalia to get the literati excited. One of them, to which we are taking the greatest exception, includes the blasphemous if not terribly original line: 'just like mary magdelene (sic), i f****d jesus'.

Other lines include: 'All I preach is deicide', 'today I have become a born-again atheist' and 'god does not die because he was never alive.'

One poem describes God as 'the first absent dad' who 'lorded it upstairs' while Jesus was on earth.

Another strikes at the fundamental right to hold a religious view and have freedom of worship, as Jones expresses his desire for 'prayers to be abandoned ... synagogues closed, churches morphed into pound shops' and concludes 'then they shall all be f***ing saved.'

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Hollis criticised for call to legalise brothels

A year ago Bishop Hollis of Portsmouth made widely criticised remarks on how brothels should be legalised for the sake of the prostitutes. The question, from a Catholic point of view, is whether the state should tolerate this evil for the sake of the common good: ie whether the law causes more harm than good. Hollis' judgement that it does ignores (1) the experience of Sweden, where prostitution has been much more effectively suppressed by focusing efforts on prosecuting clients, rather than the prostitutes, (2) the current situation in England, where brothels are de facto tolerated already, and (3) the reality of prostitution as the most appalling kind of exploitation of women.

Hillary White of Lifesitenews gives us this update:

PORTSMOUTH, UK, November 15, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Anti-trafficking organizations have demanded the resignation of Portsmouth Catholic bishop Crispian Hollis after he told media of his support for the legalization of brothels. He made his comments in response to a resolution passed by the Hampshire branch of the Women's Institute, the UK's largest women's organization, calling on the government to legalize brothels.

Hollis, whose diocese covers Hampshire, told media last weekend, "If you are going to take a pragmatic view and say prostitution happens, I think there's a need to make sure it's as well-regulated as possible for the health of people involved and for the safety of the ladies themselves."

The Irish Anti-Trafficking Coalition has called for Bishop Hollis to resign citing the Vatican's condemnation of the international movement to legalize prostitution. IATC director, Gregory Carlin told LifeSiteNews.com, "Legal brothels legitimize an industry that completely victimizes women."

Although the argument is routinely made that legalization protects women, anti-trafficking organizations insist that it fails to protect women or slow down the growth of organized crime, trafficking or sexual abuse of children. "No jurisdiction," Carlin said, "not Australia, New Zealand, Holland, or Germany has been able to migrate street prostitution to the brothel model."

"If the demand is legitimized or expanded in the UK it will increase the existing problem of sex tourism" in Europe, he said. "There are men who think they have a right to do these things. Legal brothels in Britain will offer a seamless opportunity vis a vis Germany, Holland, Belgium and other European countries."

In 2005, the Vatican released a document calling prostitution "a form of modern day slavery". The document, developed at the First International Meeting of Pastoral Care for the Liberation of Women of the Street, added that "sexual exploitation, prostitution and trafficking of human beings are all acts of violence against women," and "constitute an offence to the dignity of women and are a grave violation of basic human rights."

Carlin also called on the National Federation of Women's Institutes to disavow any support for the legalization of prostitution or brothels. Efforts by the Women's Institutes to legalize brothels, he said, "is not going to help anybody who needs help."

Eoin Redahan, head of Public Relations with the National Federation of Women's Institutes (NFWI), responded, however, that the decision to support legalization of brothels by the Hampshire branch "is not an issue that the WI" as a whole "has a position on."

Redahan wrote in an email, "The National Federation of Women's Institutes (NFWI) is made up of 70 federations representing more or less a county each. These federations are independent and are free to discuss whatever issues that feel may be of concern to their members. The Hampshire federation, in this instance, discussed and debated the legalizing of brothels and voted in favour of this resolution. This federation's resolution does not apply to any of the other 69 federations or to the NFWI."

But the Hampshire WI intends to try to bring the entire national organization into line. Jean Johnson, Hampshire WI advisor, told the BBC this week that if the Hampshire resolution was successful nationally the WI would then propose it to the British government.

She told BBC News that legalizing brothels would improve the access of prostitutes to medical care and "make it easier for police to tackle illegal human trafficking".

But actual human trafficking campaigners disagree, saying that legalization is a "gift" to those who live off the arrears of prostitution and traffic in women and girls.

Gregory Carlin said that the British police do not close illegal brothels, and that British men who frequent them are a "major part" of the exploitation of trafficked children in brothels. He alleged that they are frequently offered immunity from criminal prosecution in exchange for information about immigrants.

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Crown Prosecution Service stops prosecution in blasphemous statue case

Briefing

From the Christian Legal Centre: Emily Mapfuwa has been denied the right to bring a private prosecution against the Baltic Flour Mills Visual Arts Trust for displaying a traditional statue of Jesus with a grossly oversized phallus. When the Crown Prosecution Service
(CPS) discovered Emily Mapfuwa was going to bring a private prosecution they considered the case for over a month and then decided to take over the case in order to drop it.

They base their decision on the following: there was a sign outside the exhibition warning that the content of the artwork might be considered offensive, that a defence based on freedom of expression was likely to succeed and that there was no public disorder.

This was a highly controversial exhibition which caused deep offence to the Christian Community and was offensive to many members of the general public. Freedom of Expression under Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights is not unfettered but is subject to restrictions which include the protection of morals and the rights and freedoms of others.

We believe that such a scurrilous, gratuitous and offensive attack on the person of Jesus Christ who is held in veneration by millions of British citizens as the Son of God, and whose teachings have shaped our culture and heritage over centuries should not be tolerated in a civilised society.

At the Christian Legal Centre we believe the CPS’s actions fundamentally breach Emily Mapfuwa’s statutory right to seek to uphold the rule of law where the State will not intervene by virtue of section 6(1) of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985.

It is inconceivable that the CPS would have intervened in this way had the exhibition portrayed leading figures of other religions in this manner. Why is it that Christianity is now the one religion that can be derided and vilified with impunity? This is a sad day for truth and justice in our society.

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Blasphemy for sale at Waterstones

Briefing: we don't normally get involved in books, which are intrinsically less public than, for example, a statue in a public gallery, or a television broadcast. But there are a couple of interesting features to this.

The Welsh 'poet' Patrick Jones has published a book , 'Darkness is Where the Stars Are', which attacks Christianity and contains at least one blasphemous passage about sex and Our Lord. The Evangelical group 'Christian Voice' was planning to protest at a reading he was going to give in the Cardiff branch of Waterstones, and the event was cancelled. The PA of the Managing Director of Waterstones told them 'It is not appropriate for our stores to host events that are potentially disruptive'.

With this success won without a fight, Christian Voice are suggesting a number of options to thier supporters, including the boycotting of Waterstones. Here's another of their options:
One of the poems in the book includes the blasphemous line: "just like mary magdelene (sic), i f****d jesus"
You can find the book on the shelves at your local Waterstones, look for the offending words, which Patrick Jones has helpfully told me are in the poem 'Hymn', and if it causes you harassment, alarm or distress, contrary to Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, make a note of the facts and report the matter to your local police.

Yes, this sounds a bit mad, but the law is there, it has been made stronger and stronger in the context of harrassment to homosexuals and Muslims, the potential it has for persecuting Christians is immense, and possibly the best way to get it changed is to show how it can be used by Christians themselves.

Furthermore, the reaction of Waterstones indicates that the feelings of Christians cannot always be ignored. We shall see what happens if Christian Voice supporters report their distress to the police.

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Christian counsellor sacked by Relate

Briefing.

From CFNews: Gary McFarlane, a Christian counsellor from Bristol, has been dismissed from his position at Relate after raising concerns about advising same sex couples on directive sexual therapy. Mr McFarlane had counseled same sex partnerships, but when it came to directive sex therapy, he felt that he would be directly encouraging sexual sin For several years he has been able to successfully counsel couples, helping them to restore their relationships. He has always received positive feedback from supervisors and clients. In 2007 Mr McFarlane, whilst training as a sex therapist, discussed the potential conflict with his supervisor. However managers at Relate did not offer to accommodate Mr McFarlane's position but instead suspended him in December 2007 for what they believed was a breach of the equal opportunities policy. As a result, Mr McFarlane lost all his clients and was unable to continue counselling. In January 2008 he was reinstated on the basis that he would conform to the equal opportunities policy with the proviso that he could mention his concerns about sexual counselling in the future. However, a short time after returning to his job, complaints were made by employees and Mr McFarlane was called into a disciplinary meeting and eventually dismissed in March 2008 after his employers concluded that he had failed to adhere to the equal opportunities policy. Mr McFarlane was not given an opportunity to discuss his views and no attempt was made to acccommodate his beliefs, despite his success as a couple's counsellor.

Mr McFarlane also feels that the relationship of trust he shared with fellow employees was broken down after he discovered that details of his confidential discussions with his supervisor were leaked to other members of staff. Mr McFarlane became aware of a petition signed by twelve members of staff, demanding that he be removed from his position because of his views on sexual ethics. He was labelled 'homophobic' by fellow members of staff and treated in an increasingly hostile manner in the weeks before he was dismissed.

The Christian Legal Centre is supporting Mr McFarlane as he brings a claim at the Bristol Employment Tribunal.

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BBC cooks up sacrilegious and indecent series

Briefing.

From mediawatch-uk: This was the headline in a recent edition of the Sunday Express, which went on to say that the BBC is facing a backlash over a shocking new television drama featuring gay sex, murder and Mother Teresa. The six part series about exorcism, called 'Apparitions', was the idea of Martin Shaw, who stars in it as a Roman Catholic priest. According to the report, graphic scenes in the prime time drama, to be screened in November. Include a man possessed by the devil and being skinned alive in a gay sauna. In another episode, a father is shown threatening a sexual assault on his daughter. Mother Teresa is seen on her deathbed, her mind seemingly inhabited by demons. The newspaper went on to quote mediawatch-uk's John Beyer, who warned that the graphic sexual and religious scenes will cause outrage. 'This series is likely be a clear breach of the Broadcasting Code. I'm surprised the BBC agreed to commission a show like this as a way of debating the battle between good and evil. There must be better ways of doing that. They've got people spitting on crucifixes and it is likely to cause serious offence to the Christian community. Considering the reaction to Jerry Springer the Opera in 2005. BBC really ought to know better'.

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Scouts promote abortion

Action: the Boys Scouts movement is no place for Catholics. Any readers with links to the Scouts should protest, and withdraw from it if they refuse to change their policy.

From Christian Voice: The Scout Association was today accused by a Christian group of harming the children in its care by grooming them for sex.

Christian Voice said the Association's advice, 'Promoting good sexual health within Scouting', was 'bleak' and a travesty of the original aims of the Scouting Association. The group is urging a complete rethink by the Association, whose patron is Her Majesty the Queen.

Boys and girls barely out of their cub scout units could be referred under the guidance to sex clinics where they would be given condoms. Simon Carter, head of media at the Scouts, refused to give Christian Voice a lower age limit for the children who could be so advised. In a statement, Chief Scout Peter Duncan said: 'We must realistic and accept that around one-third of young people are sexually active before 16.'

Incredibly, the Scouting Association expects scout leaders to take time out from their traditional activities to research the contact details of local contraceptive services and sexual health (VD or STD) clinics. Scout leaders are advised to meet up with Government teen sex activists and to know where scouts and their girlfriends can find supplies of the abortifacient morning-after pill and pregnancy testing.

'If asked,' it says, 'you should try to provide details of local emergency contraception provision, which you can obtain from the local Teenage Pregnancy Coordinator.'

The factsheet 'Promoting good sexual health within Scouting' even suggests taking a unit of Explorer Scouts (aged 14-18) down to the local Venereal Disease clinic. There is 'no need' to seek written parental consent, it says, blithely, advising leaders simply to tell the Scouts' parents or carers that it is going to happen.

In a reference to the Fraser Guidelines, the guidance says 'an adult in Scouting may give advice without the parents' knowledge and consent' if 'the adult cannot persuade the young person to inform his or her parents.' Then in a Q&A section, which clearly betrays the fear of the Scouting HQ that Scout leaders will be less than happy with the guidance, the guidance says 'many young people will want to talk to someone who is not their teacher or parent. Sometimes an adult in Scouting will be the easiest person to approach.'

Church-based scout groups are told not to let their faith get in the way of sending children to anti-Christian agencies such at the fpa and Brook Advisory for information. 'Religion,' the Scouting Association Fact Sheet says, 'should not be a barrier to providing appropriate advice'. Scout leaders may also ride roughshod over the children's religious beliefs, including those of Christians and the Muslim girls featured heavily on the Scout website. While lip service is paid to 'respect' for 'everyone's religion and cultural beliefs', 'all young people are entitled to appropriate advice and information,' it says.

A web-page on the scouting web-site (www.scouts.org.uk/shis ) shows that part of that 'appropriate advice and information' is where to get an abortion, with weblinks to both Marie Stopes and British Pregnancy Advisory Service, the 'big two' abortion providers in Great Britain. Links are also given to the Terrene Higgins Trust, which promotes homosexuality, and to websites claiming that condoms protect against all sexually-transmitted diseases funded either by the Government or contraceptive providers.

Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, said today:

'We have sadly grown used to schools corrupting children behind their parents' backs, but now scout leaders are coming under pressure to do it as well. While Peter Duncan throws up his hands despairingly about the one-third of children he claims are sexually active, he is doing nothing to support the two-thirds who aren't.

'The Scouts have traditionally emphasised good works and the health benefits of an outdoor life. By encouraging premature sex, they are putting all of that at risk.

'Scout leaders should be teaching boys the virtues of chastity and chivalry, emphasising self-control and self-respect, showing them the value of caring for themselves and for others and of having respect for young women. Girls in the Scouts need to hear about the virtue of modesty and the value of their virginity.

'Instead, Scout leaders are going to send boys along to sex clinics and shove their pregnant girlfriends into the grasping clutches of abortionists. By promoting the condom culture, they will make it inevitable that the current rates of teenage pregnancy, abortion, sexual-transmitted disease and consequent infertility amongst the young will increase. On top of that, they are preparing boys for sexual advances from predatory homosexuals including some who may be drawn to positions in the scout movement itself. Their advice falls little short of grooming children for sex. "Be prepared" never included that.

'Ironically, the Scout Movement may well do what its Child Protection Policy specifically rules against, by exposing the young people in its care to all the physical, sexual and emotional harm associated with illicit sexual activity. Such harm can range from feelings of inadequacy that he or she is not sexually active to pregnancy, the emotional scars of abortion, and the contracting of sexually-transmitted diseases, chronic conditions such as genital warts and those which result in infertility which condoms are powerless to prevent.

'Young people deserve better than this bleak assumption that they are no better than farmyard animals. The Scouting hierarchy appear to have stumbled on the challenge of the teenage sex problem, and like rabbits caught in the headlights, the only people they thought of approaching were those in the teen sex industry who have a vested interest in keeping young people sexually active. They should have spoken to pro-life and pro-family groups as well. But their inexperience in this field does not excuse them. A word from the Lord about millstones around necks comes to mind. They should revise their advice drastically. In the meantime, Christians involved in scouting, churches associated with scout groups and parents should make very clear their complete opposition to these disgraceful developments.'

Last year the Girl Guides started a similar programme called 'Get Wise' to teach about 'sexual health'. The programme appears to have sunk into embarrassed obscurity, but the organisation's website has a page called  'fit for life' which promotes new age treatments such as aromatherapy, colour therapy (whatever that might be) and yoga. [The page has been removed, but here's Google's cached version.] Unlike the Scouts, there are no links to abortionists, although there is one weblink to the fpa and another to a Government url astonishingly called www.playingsafely.co.uk', as if sex is just an adolescent recreational activity. The link is redirected straight to a suggestive NHS website called condomessentialwear.co.uk.

The Scouting Association advice comes as figures show the number of sex offenders is on the increase.

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Homosexuals: privileged to break the law, again

Briefing.

From LifeSiteNews: Public homosexual activity in parks and public bathrooms must not be impeded by law enforcement officials except as a last resort, says a new set of draft guidelines for UK police.

Deputy Chief Constable Michael Cunningham of Lancashire Police, who drew up the 21-page report, titled 'Guidance on Policing Public Sex Environments', wrote, 'In any event it is not for the police to take the role of moral arbiter.' Rather than arresting those who have sex in public, the police should instead guard the 'human rights of those people who frequent open spaces' to seek anonymous copulation partners, an activity known as 'cruising.'

'The police role is to ensure that any complaints are dealt with fairly and professionally and that where individuals are engaged in lawful activity they may do so safely,' said the report. Mr. Cunningham is the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) spokesman on homosexual issues.

The constable encouraged police to study sex websites for insight into the whereabouts of homosexual sex hot spots. Such websites show, among pornographic advertisements, dozens of public haunts for homosexual men seeking anonymous sex - among the most notorious being Dartford Heath, where public sex has been said to have spiraled 'out of control.'

The report complained that previous activity on the part of police officers to stop public sex has alienated the gay community. The report blames law enforcement for leading to homosexual 'self-harm,' citing the fact that some homosexuals have attempted suicide who 'may have been arrested, charged or come into contact with the police in such a situation.'

'The impact of enforcement can also be severe and rarely resolves the community problems associated with the existence of a public sex environment,' wrote Cunningham.

'This impact can be extreme and can include humiliation, breakdown of relationships and the 'outing' of men living in an opposite sex relationship being perceived as 'gay.''

The ACPO already enforces guidelines for police officers handling the public indecency claims against homosexual cruising, which emphasize 'the value of building trust with local LGBT communities' to ensure that action against homosexual activity be 'fair, necessary, and legitimate.' The guidelines were authored by the ACPO Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Working Group in 2000 to provide 'a comprehensive LGBT policing strategy centered around anti-homophobia.'

Cunningham's report will now be submitted for approval by a committee of senior police officers before it is put in place across England and Wales. [LifeSiteNews]

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Quote of the Week

''If you were born female, still presently quite feminine, but defined as a man you should be able to go into the men's toilets. You don't necessarily have to have had gender reassignment surgery, but you could just define yourself as a man, feel very masculine in yourself, feel that in fact being a woman is not who you are." So says Jennie Killip, Woman's Officer at Manchester University, explaining why they are removing 'men's' and 'women's' signs from the loos. In future they will say 'toilet' and 'toilet with urinals'.

The point of separate conveniences, in large part, is to cater for women's desire for privacy from men. But feminists hate women, so it is quite natural for a politically correct 'Woman's Officer' to deny them something our society has taken for granted for many generations.

H-T to Christian Voice.

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Teachers want right to bed pupils

Briefing.

From Lifesitenews: The largest UK teachers' union wants the government to decriminalise sex with students who are over the legal age of consent. Chris Keates, the general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), said that teachers who have sex with pupils over the age of consent should not be placed on the sex offenders register. Keates called prosecution for statutory rape 'a real anomaly in the law that we are concerned about.'

NASUWT complained that media reports had misrepresented their position. 'To describe the NASUWT's comments on this as 'teachers want the right to bed pupils' as one report has done, simply for pointing out an anomaly which criminalises a teacher but would leave any other adult free from prosecution for the same type of relationship, is a travesty.'

Gregory Carlin, however, a child protection activist and head of the Irish Anti-Trafficking Coalition, said that such ideas were another sign of the erosion of legal protections for young people against exploitation.

'If the NASUWT philosophy has its day,' he said, 'exploiting a 16 year old in a brothel would carry no extra penalty.' Under the same logic, he said, 'Jail guards would be able to take their pick from their charges and foster parents would be spared prosecution for having sex with foster children.'

In an official statement dated October 6th, Keates said, 'From the time the Sexual Offences legislation was first drafted in 2001 the NASUWT consistently raised the significant anomaly within its provisions. A teacher having a consensual relationship with a pupil over the age of 16 on the roll of the school in which they teach is liable under the Act to prosecution and being placed on the sex offenders register.

'However, if the same teacher has a consensual relationship with a young person of the same age who attends another school they would not be prosecuted or classed as sex offenders.'

Carlin told LifeSiteNews.com that Keates 'knows what she was asking for,' which is simply to 'legalise sex crimes.'

List 99 is a secret register of men and women who are barred from working with children by the Department of Education and Skills. Carlin said, 'Thousands of teachers are referred to List 99 each year, most of them from the NASUWT. In fact, the referrals doubled between 2003 and 2005.' [LifeSiteNews]

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Blasphemous statue prosecution

Action: prayers, please, for the success of this court case. This is an update on the story about the statue of Our Lord in a state of sexual arousal: see the first post here. The statue is based on a statue of the Sacred Heart. This is a really vicious attack on Christianity, and Catholicism in particular. The prosecution is being organised by Evangelical Protestants, however: a big 'thank you' to them!

Christian Voice is also campaigning to have the statue destroyed by its art-collector owners.

From Christian Voice: Following a Court Hearing earlier today, the Baltic Centre in Gateshead faces a Crown Court trial over its exhibition of the blasphemous statue of our Lord and Saviour owned by Anita Zabludowicz. Despite a string of technical arguments, Gateshead Magistrates allowed the prosecution, brought by Emily Mapfuwa with help from the Christian Legal Centre, to proceed. They did not agree to the Baltic Centre's application for the Crown Prosecution Service to take the case over, but said they would instead inform the CPS as a matter of course.

The case will now come back to the same court in 21 days for a committal hearing to the Crown Court. Outraging public decency is a common law charge which can only be heard in the higher court. The lesser charge of an offence under Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 was
withdrawn.

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London Zoo: 'Gay Sunday'

Briefing. This is bizarre. The Evangelical group Christian Voice are calling for complaints and are organising a 'witness' in protest. It is certainly unjust to give a 20% discount on the basis of sexual orientation, and an indication of the Zoo's attitude in promoting the homosexual agenda: you have been warned. However, we don't want to go down the road of having apoplexy at every 'gay' event; we've got our work cut out opposing the sacrilege of the Warwick Street Masses.

From Christian Voice: London Zoo Gay Sunday 14th September 2008 They don't seem to be advertising it as much as last year, but London Zoo is giving homosexuals a discount again this year on 14th September by holding 'Gay Sunday' at this quintessential family venue (families will pay full price).

If the event is like last year, and the ZSL website suggests it will be:
The Zoo closes off the Mappin Terrace without telling the rest of the paying public, opens the Fellows' Lawn for a homosexual garden party.

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Heinz pulls indecent advert

Briefing and comment: never forget that complaints work!

From CFNews: A UK television commercial for Heinz mayonnaise which features two men kissing has been pulled by the company after it caused nearly 200 complaints. The advert shows a family scene, but 'mum' is played by a man with a New York accent. During the ad he kisses another man who plays the father role. It ends with the slogan 'Heinz Deli Mayo - Mayo with a New York Deli flavour.' According to the ad agency that created the commercial, the concept was supposed to convey the message that the product tastes so authentic 'it's as if you have your own New York deli man in your kitchen'. However viewers said it was 'offensive', 'inappropriate' and 'unsuitable to be seen by children'. Some parents said they had been forced to explain about same-sex relationships to their children after they saw the ad which was aired during daytime TV. The Advertising Standards Authority has not confirmed it is investigating the commercial, but with nearly 200 complaints it is already one of the most-complained-of ads this year.
Nigel Dickie, a spokesman for Heinz UK, said: 'It is our policy to listen to consumers. We recognise that some consumers raised concerns over the content of the ad and this prompted our decision to withdraw it. The advertisement, part of a short-run campaign, was intended to be humorous and we apologise to anyone who felt offended.'

Homosexual activist group, Stonewall, has called for a boycott of Heinz products for pulling the ad. The group is encouraging homosexuals to contact Heinz's customer support helpline to pressurise the company into making a reverse decision. [Christian Institute]

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