England: Christians to launch new declaration calling on leaders to respect freedom of conscience

“Christians from different denominations and traditions will make a united stand for the faith in London on Saturday.

The cornerstone of the event will be the signing of the 2025 Westminster Declaration, a document calling on leaders in government, academia and wider society to respect human dignity and freedom of conscience. …”

– Report from Christian Today.

And in Australia – The FREEDOM25 Conference is on Saturday, 27 September 2025, at Village Church Annandale.

On September 11, Two Australians reflect on a sickening murder in the USA

Stephen McAlpine and Murray Campbell each reflect in their own way on the murder of well-known conservative activist and debater and professing Christian Charlie Kirk –

“Reading the commentary today feels as though a black veil has descended upon  America. Here in Australia, young people especially know the name Charlie Kirk. He was followed by millions, including many Gen X and millennials across Australia. …”

–  Charlie Kirk murdered. R U OK? – Murray Campbell.

“I am sitting here on September 11 in Sydney, on a pouring wet spring morning, trying to take it in.

Yes, September 11.

I remember sitting in our lounge in Perth late that night in 2001 while Jill was feeding our baby daughter watching in horror as the Twin Towers came down.

Back then, in the aftermath of those events, the West sincerely believed that the existential problem it had was coming from the outside. We had to ensure that we were better organised and that our borders were more secure.

Now waking up to the terrible news that Charlie Kirk has been shot and killed at a university reveals the ugly truth: the existential problem of the West has come from the inside. Our borders can be as secure as we like, the people that truly hate us come from within us. We have rotted from within. …”

– Charlie Kirk is dead. And I am Sad (Sad and Angry) – Stephen McAlpine.

See also:

A Day That Will Shape a Generation: The Murder of Charlie Kirk – Albert Mohler.

Where Is King Jesus When Violence Reigns? – Collin Hansen at The Gospel Coalition.

Thousands stand for the unborn at March for Life in London

“Thousands of people from across the UK came together to be a powerful voice for the unborn at the March for Life in London on Saturday.

Organisers estimate that at least 10,000 people turned out for March for Life UK 2025 on Saturday. …

This year’s March for Life was supported by a number of Christian leaders including Anglican and Catholic bishops, evangelist Glen Scrivener, Christian Concern CEO Andrea Williams …”

– Report from Christian Today. (Updated link.)

Image: March for Life UK.

Are You Willing to Walk for the Unborn?

“I often talk to people who question why it took the Christian church so long to abolish slavery. They then quickly add that if they had been alive back then, then they would have definitely stood up and said something.

But I often wonder whether they really would …”

– Mark Powell shares details of the next Love Sydney Walk for Life – at AP, the online Presbyterian journal.

Christian MP dragged back to court in Finland

“The consequences of one tweet posted seven years ago continue to reverberate for Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen, who is at the centre of an ongoing legal case for ‘hate speech’. …

The charges related to the tweet, to her comments in a radio debate, and to a church pamphlet published in 2004. The co-publisher of the pamphlet, Bishop Juhana Pohjola, was also charged. …

Both Räsänen and Pohjola were acquitted of all charges in 2022 and again in 2023. However the prosecutor has appealed yet again, taking the case to the Supreme Court, which is set to hear oral arguments on 30 October.”

– Report from Christian Today.

“Canada is Turning itself into a Death Cult”

In his The Briefing broadcast for Tuesday 19 August 2025, Dr Albert Mohler turns to the disturbing and sobering topic of medical killing (‘Medical Assistance in Dying’) in Canada.

After discussing hopes for an Ukraine – Russia peace agreement, he turns – at 07:25 – to what is happening in Canada. What worldview calls for this? How should Christians respond?

The Case for Pew Bibles

These days, how many of our churches use pew Bibles?

This article at Mere Orthodoxy makes a good argument for doing so –

“Is something lost when we depend on digital media for our Scripture consumption? Is projecting the Scripture passage onto the screen adequate for whole-person and whole-church discipleship and mission, or can a case be made that pew Bibles are an essential part of making God’s Word accessible for all?

…

Pew Bibles empower the people in the hearing and heeding of God’s Word since they place the revelation of God in their hands with no impediment and with the endorsement to see for themselves. As the pastor speaks the Word of God, the people may follow along; they are both physically and metaphorically on the same page.

The presence of pew Bibles is certainly not the only way to accomplish this, but a church that actively and intentionally places the Word of God before the people signals the leadership’s subservience to the Word.”

– Read it all here. (Link via challies.com.)

“Church of England’s treatment of Bernard Randall is evil”

“The Church of England’s treatment of former school chaplain, Rev Dr Bernard Randall, deserves to be described as evil.

The Christian Legal Centre is rightly calling for Dr Randall to be restored to ministry after statutory authorities found that he did not pose a safeguarding risk. …”

– Julian Mann writes at Christian Today.

Earlier posts.

Photo: Christian Concern.

Has Living in Love and Faith come to an end? An open letter to the Archbishop of York

At Psephizo, Ian Paul writes to the Archbishop of York:

“Dear Stephen

I read with interest your address to York Diocesan Synod on 5th July, and one word leapt out for me: ‘final’. Near the end of your address, you comment:

The Living in Love and Faith process is not yet complete. Some final proposals will be brought to the February 2026 meeting of the General Synod.

If that is the case, I am and countless others (on all sides of this debate) will be delighted. This has been a disastrous and divisive process since 2017; I wonder whether you realise how damaging it has been, and whether you will ever publicly acknowledge that. It sprang out of Justin’s spontaneous and ill-conceived phrase ‘radical new Christian inclusion rooted in scripture and Christian theology’ which was both incoherent (how can this be new if it’s rooted in existing theology?) and immediately open to misinterpretation …”

– Read it here.

Image: Ian Paul speaks at last year’s Church of England General Synod.

Men and Women: Re-thinking the reality, role and differences.

From Phillip Jensen at Two Ways News:

“As we come to the end of Genesis Chapter 2, we open up some of the biggest topics for debate, happiness and unhappiness in humanity today. Re-thinking marriage has been part of our social dialogue since the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s. Re-thinking the reality and role of men and women, their sexual differences and similarities has caused great turmoil in society.

I’m sure you will find our discussion in this episode gives more food for thought and ammunition for debate.”

– Hear the latest illuminating chat with Phillip and Peter Jensen.

The Quiet Judgement on the UK

“And so, it has happened. It came – not as a bolt of lightning. Not as a flash of thunder. Not with a mighty roar like an earthquake. It did not come in the form of war, plague and famine. It came as the pale horse whose rider was named Death (Revelation 6:8).

The judgement of God has finally come upon the United Kingdom. Quietly. Silently. Like a thief in the night. It came in the form of an irrational, emotive and Godless parliament who this week voted to permit the killing of babies in the womb up until birth, and has now introduced the National Suicide Service, with its vote to permit assisted suicide. God has given us what we voted for. …”

– Published on Saturday at The Wee Flea, David Robertson laments what is happening in the United Kingdom.

Statement from the Bishops of the Anglican Network in Europe following the passing of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill and the amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill

“This week (June 16th-20th 2025) the Westminster Parliament has voted effectively to permit babies to be killed in the womb without restriction or time limit. It has also voted to permit health professionals to end the lives of adults in certain circumstances. The vote on abortion took place with very little debate or scrutiny; the debate on ‘assisted dying’ went through a long process where many eminent voices in committee and on the floor of the House raised concerns about safeguards and warned about the damaging implications of passing the Leadbeater bill. Yet in both cases a majority of MP’s saw fit to ignore and override the warnings, and vote for the removal of restrictions which have for decades and even centuries protected the most vulnerable in society: the unborn and the very infirm.

These votes show that while we live in a democracy and respect it, many of those elected to positions of the highest power can no longer be trusted to carry out their responsibilities with wisdom. Sadly, but not surprisingly, leaders from the established church who have influence in government have for the most part been reticent to speak God’s word; to call the faithful to pray in these dark and uncertain times, and to call godless rulers to repentance and faith in Christ.

We cannot say that this is a ‘political’ matter, that it is none of our business as Christians, that it somehow belongs to the realm of secular activity while the church should concentrate on ‘the gospel’. As Bishops of the Anglican Network in Europe  we urge all faithful believers in Christ to consider and lament what Parliament has done this week. May we repent of sin personally and corporately as churches, plead with the Lord to have mercy on the nations which are affected by this and similar rulings, and re-commit to the urgent proclamation of the life-affirming and saving gospel of Jesus in the face of the culture of death.”

– Source: Anglican Network in Europe.

Assisted suicide backed: A dark day for the vulnerable

“Just moments ago, MPs voted 314 to 291 in favour of the assisted suicide bill. Lives will be needlessly lost as a result.

Despite the many flaws with the legislation, intense criticism of the process and the fervent prayers of God’s people, state-sanctioned suicide will become a reality from 2029 onwards.

It is a desperately dark outcome. …”

– At Evangelicals Now, James Mildred laments the vote in Westminster last night Australian time.

Church of England responds to House of Commons votes

“There have been two instances this week of votes in the House of Commons on issues where members have been free to vote in line with their personal opinions. The Church of England has issued press releases in each case.

First, a change to the law on abortion was approved …

Second, MPs in the House of Commons voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, with 314 votes in favour and 291 against, a majority of 23.”

– from Thinking Anglicans. Not a good time for the not-yet-born, the old, or the very ill in England.

Bishop of Leicester steps down as lead on Living in Love and Faith

“The Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Martyn Snow, has announced that he is stepping down as lead bishop for the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process.

On Facebook on Friday afternoon, he wrote that he was doing so ‘with a very heavy heart’. He was ‘hugely grateful to the staff team that I have worked with over the last 18 months and similarly the Working Group members who have given hours of their time to seek an agreed way forward in the Church of England on matters of sexuality, relationships, and marriage. I hope it may yet be possible to reach such an agreement, but I don’t think that can happen under my leadership.’…”

– Report from Church Times.

Image from an October 2024 (now deleted) video by Bishop Snow.

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