UK

Common Sense for Free Speech Prevailed

Posted by whatyareckon on April 30, 2022
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‘An Employment Tribunal has ruled in favour of a Christian pastor and school caretaker who was punished for a tweet that said LGBTQ pride events are harmful and should not be attended by Christians and children.

Employment Judge King ruled that Pastor Keith Waters, 55, who has been supported by the Christian Legal Centre, had been discriminated against when he was hounded out of his part-time caretaker role at the Isle of Ely primary school in 2019 following a social media maelstrom, which included a death threat.

In an important ruling, the employment tribunal found in favour of Pastor Waters’ freedom to express his biblical beliefs on human identity and sexual morality on social media.

Furthermore, the ruling finds that Christian pastors that have employment alongside their church ministries are free to express their biblical faith online without fear of losing other jobs.

Before a full Employment Tribunal in Cambridge in January 2022, Pastor Waters’ lawyer, Michael Phillips, had argued that the Isle of Ely primary school had interfered with Pastor Waters’ rights to freedom of religion, thought and expression and that the tweet that led to his forced resignation was a manifestation of his Christian beliefs.

Freedom of Speech

Handing down judgment on the case this week, Employment Judge King ruled that Pastor Waters had been discriminated against by the school, saying: ‘The fact that the claimant made the tweet outside of work on his personal account as part of his role as a Christian Minister is highly relevant. It is one thing to have rules that apply during work and something else to extend those to one’s private life outside of work.’

Judge King added that: ‘To curtail the claimant’s freedom of speech outside of work which is an important part of his role as a Christian minister and thus part of freedom to practice his religion must be done with some exercise of caution and only in the clearest cases where the rights of others are being damaged should the School intervene to prevent the claimant from preaching.

‘It is clear to us that evangelical Christian ministers will have views not necessarily shared by everyone in Society but that is part of their duty as a Christian minister to preach those beliefs.’

Final warning

On whether it was lawful for the school to give Pastor Waters a final written warning, forcing him to choose between his caretaker role and freedom to ability to express the Christian faith on social media, Judge King ruled:

‘It was not proportionate to act in the way the [school] did given that the views expressed were done so as part of the claimant’s religious beliefs outside of work. The claimant relies on the risk of getting a disciplinary sanction as being the act of indirect discrimination. We accept that it was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim for the claimant to be investigated and called to a disciplinary meeting to explore further the relationship between the tweet and his roles but we do not accept that giving the claimant a final written warning for his tweet in this context was a proportionate means of achieving the legitimate aims. Giving the claimant a final written warning did not protect the School or the Trust as it would have been confidential and not in the public domain so as far as parents were concerned the claimant would have still been employed had he not resigned.

The judge ruled that giving a final warning, unlike a public statement, would not even reduce the alleged offence caused by the tweet, and said: ‘The giving of a final written warning cannot eliminate the offence caused to others .’

Christian beliefs protected and ‘worthy of respect’

Judge King made further important points on whether Pastor Waters’ Christian beliefs are protected under the Equality Act 2010. For example, on his beliefs are ‘worthy of respect in a democratic society’ as outlined as part of the seminal Grainger PLC v Nicholson (2010) criteria of what qualifies as a ‘philosophical belief’ to be protected under the Equality Act, Judge King said:

‘We discussed the claimant’s beliefs and we were satisfied that the claimant genuinely held these beliefs and that they formed a considerable part of how he lived his life as a Christian minister for his Church. To the claimant they were cogent, serious and of the upmost importance.’

‘We spent more time considering the last of the Grainger requirements and whether all of the claimant’s beliefs are worthy of respect in a democratic society and in particular his views on sexual relationships being only within heterosexual marriage as these may be said to conflict with the fundamental rights of others.

‘However, it is clear that the same could be said about some other aspects of Christianity which could conflict with other religions. This does not mean that they are not capable of being respected. Whilst a majority may not share those views, the claimant is entitled to hold them. This is of course different to how those beliefs manifest themselves and to the specific issues in this case.’

Furthermore, she said: ‘Beliefs which are offensive, shocking or even disturbing to others can still be protected.’

Relieved and delighted

Responding to the outcome Pastor Waters said:

“I am relieved and pleased with the outcome. This is a victory, not just for me, but for Christian evangelical leaders across the country.

“I pray that this ruling will help protect Pastors in the future that have to work part time in other jobs to make up their income. This is an important win for our freedom to speak the truth of the gospel without fear of losing our jobs.

“I took legal action, not because I wanted to sue the school, but because what happens to me goes to the heart of what it means to be free to preach the gospel in the UK. I believed the issues my case raised were much bigger than anything that was happening to me and that it was the right thing to do.

“Despite knowing this was the right thing to do, this whole episode has left me in some emotional turmoil and has taken a lasting toll on me and my family. In 37 years of employment, I have never been treated in such a heartless and hostile way. The freedom to resign from your job or be silenced from speaking as a Christian pastor is no freedom at all.

“I still stand by what I said, and I’ll always stand up for the truth. I believe that children’s safety is paramount, and that everyone, but especially Christian pastors, must be able to voice concerns and ‘raise red flags’ where children may be at risk”.

“Anyone who attends a ‘Pride’ event risks being exposed to obscenities. That is self-evidently harmful for children and in a free, responsible and truly loving society we must be free to say that and raise concern without fear.”

Children’s safety

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “We are happy that Keith has finally received justice in this crucial case for Christian freedom.  

“For loving Jesus, speaking biblical truth, and caring for the welfare of children, Keith became persona non grata – his words and intentions distorted, his character assassinated.

“Our schools and churches need more community-minded people like him, not less. For sending one tweet, that raised genuine concern for children, he was vilified, threatened and hounded out of his employment.

“Despite an abundance of psychological studies concluding that children exposed to sexually explicit content at an early age are more likely to develop disorders and addictions, there are many articles online that encourage parents to bring their children to Pride parades.

“Why should a Christian pastor not be able to speak out on such concerning issues without being threatened and losing his job?

“What happened to Keith Waters is the latest in a long line of cases where honest, kind, normal people are subjected to harassment and intimidation for expressing moderate, mainstream Christian views on sexual ethics.”‘ For more of this story go to https://christianconcern.com/news/pastor-who-warned-against-lgbtq-pride-events-wins-discrimination-case/

UK Hiding Data on Covid Vaccines

Posted by whatyareckon on April 8, 2022
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Yep, ‘Until last week, the British government offered the best source of raw data on the efficacy of the Covid vaccines. Each Thursday, the UK Health Security Agency reported the number of new infections, hospitalizations, and deaths by vaccine status.

Since last fall, and especially since the Omicron variant hit, the reports have presented an increasingly dismal picture of vaccine efficacy. Last week’s report showed that in March, nearly 90 percent of adults hospitalized for Covid were vaccinated. And OVER 90 percent of deaths were in the vaccinated:

—

The importance of these reports is hard to overstate.

They were the single best source of raw data about how well the Covid vaccines were or were not working anywhere in the world. It was a long-running sequential series with clearly defined rules from a large country with high vaccine coverage.

Plus, because the British have national health insurance, the government could determine with near-certainty who had been vaccinated. As you can see, fewer than 1 percent of the people in the reports are called “unlinked” – meaning their vaccine status was undetermined.

AS OF THIS WEEK’S REPORT THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT IS NO LONGER PROVIDING THESE CHARTS.

The British government is offering the nonsensical excuse that it can no longer provide the figures because it has ended free universal testing for Covid: Such changes in testing policies affect the ability to robustly monitor COVID-19 cases by vaccination status, therefore, from the week 14 report onwards this section of the report will no longer be published.

The British government is lying.

Even if the end of free testing somehow affected its ability to provide “robust” data about infections, it would make no difference to the hospitalization or death figures, which are far more important. Unless Covid patients are going to be hospitalized anonymously, the Health Security Agency will still be able to match their names (and the names on death certificates) against vaccination records.

In fact the British government would be derelict not to continue to collect the data, and it surely will. But the public will no longer see it.

Why?

One reason and one reason only. Ever since I mentioned the existence of these reports to Joe Rogan in October, they have become an embarrassment. They are impossible to spin, and the clearest possible signal of vaccine failure.

But hiding the numbers won’t make the vaccines work better. It will just make people less likely to believe anything else public health authorities tell them about Covid and the vaccines – if that’s even possible at this point.’https://alexberenson.substack.com/p/the-british-are-now-officially-hiding?s=r

Tommy Robinson, UK & Don’t Criticize Islam

Posted by whatyareckon on April 4, 2022
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‘As reported earlier by Richard Abelson — Leading British Islam critic Tommy Robinson was detained in Mexico landing at Cancun Friday and threatened with deportation, Gateway Pundit reveals exclusively.

A customs officer detaining Tommy told him the detention was “for United States”.

When Tommy, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, asked the customs guard for the reason he was being detained, the office told him the orders were “confidential from Mexico City” and for reasons of “national security.”

Tommy has visited Cancun twice without any issues. Speaking to the officer, Tommy noted he had had not committed any crime in Mexico. “What I do in my home country is, I criticize Islam.”

“Ah, that was the reason”, the customs guard replied. Then the officer seemed to misspeak. “For United States… I can’t say the word, but for that reason Mexico do not allow you to enter.”

Later, Mexican border officials told Tommy possibly the UK government was behind it.

So is the failing Biden Regime telling other countries not to let in critics of Islam?

On Sunday Tommy Robinson returned back home to Britain. Upon arriving at the airport a British police officer roughed Tommy up in what he says was an attempt to provoke him.

Here is the copper roughing me up in the airport, no doubt in the hope he provoked me into a reaction so he could do me for a bullshit assault on a copper charge.

So I’m a national security threat in Mexico according to the British government, but could legally come back to the UK and system pigs had to try and bait me into a reaction so they could arrest me legitimately.

You failed you wankers.

Via Tommy Robinson News Telegram.’https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/video-british-police-harass-rough-tommy-robinson-hoping-provoke-return-britain-following-bs-detention-mexico/

Who Will Be Censored in the UK Censor Law?

Posted by whatyareckon on March 18, 2022
Posted in: UK. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

‘The Online Safety Bill, the most far-reaching online censorship law to ever be proposed in the UK, has been presented to Parliament.

UK Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) Secretary of State Nadine Dorries, said her aim with the bill was to “make the internet, in the UK, the safest place in the world for children and vulnerable young people to go online.”

However, as with many bills that are positioned as a way to keep children safe, this Online Safety Bill contains sweeping speech restrictions that will affect all UK internet users.

The bill requires Big Tech companies to take action against “priority legal but harmful” content which will be decided by the government. The DCMS Secretary of State has the power to add more categories of priority legal but harmful content via secondary legislation in the future.

According to the Financial Times, this secondary legislation “requires less scrutiny from MPs [Members of Parliament] than the original bill.”

Companies are also required to report “emerging harms” to the UK’s communications regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom).

Additionally, the Online Safety Bill outlaws sending “knowingly false” communications that are sent “with the intention to cause non-trivial emotional, psychological or physical harm,” requires large social media companies to introduce identity verification tools, gives Ofcom the power to force companies to use “better and more effective” proactive content moderation technology, tasks Big Tech with determining which of its advertisers are pushing scams, mandates that any website hosting pornography put “robust checks in place to ensure that users are 18 years old or over,” and more.

UK citizens who are found guilty of offenses under the Online Safety Bill can be imprisoned or fined.

Not only does the Online Safety Bill contain numerous provisions that can be used to silence UK citizens and punish them for their online speech but powerful “recognised media outlets” are exempt from any regulation in the bill. Some of the outlets that will be getting special carveouts under this bill have even been praised by politicians for pushing for stronger “online safety” laws.

Tech platforms already remove millions of “harmful” posts each quarter and if this bill becomes law, they’ll have an even stronger incentive to censor.

The punishments for companies that fail to censor enough under the Online Safety Bill include having their sites blocked and being hit with multi-billion dollar fines worth up to 10% of their annual turnover. Tech company executives can also be jailed if they fail to cooperate with Ofcom’s information requests.

Despite introducing strong punishments for tech companies that don’t remove enough harmful content, the Online Safety Bill has yet to reveal the categories of legal the harmful content that tech companies will have to target under this bill.

Earlier this week, Dorries said large platforms will be required to remove legal but harmful content “if it is already banned in their own terms and conditions.”

Yet today’s UK government press release for the Online Safety Bill says that the categories of legal but harmful content will be “set by the government and approved by Parliament.” The press release also lists “exposure to self-harm, harassment and eating disorders” as examples of harmful content that online platforms will be required to remove.

The introduction of the Online Safety Bill to Parliament is the first stage of its legislative journey.

Numerous UK rights groups have blasted the Online Safety Bill and warned that it will restrict free speech.

“The Online Safety Bill is set to rip up the rule book as far as traditional British free speech standards are concerned,” Mark Johnson, Legal and Policy Officer at civil liberties group Big Brother Watch, said. “This is a censor’s charter that will give state backing to big tech censorship on a scale that we have never seen before.”

Toby Young, General Secretary of the Free Speech Union, warned that the bill will have a “chilling effect on free speech.”

“We are particularly concerned that the government has said it will force social media platforms to remove ‘legal but harmful’ content, including ‘harassment,’” Young added. “That will enable political activists and interest groups claiming to speak on behalf of disadvantaged groups to silence their opponents by branding any views they disagree with as ‘harassment.’”

Matthew Lesh, Head of Public Policy at the think tank Institute of Economic Affairs said: “The UK threatening tech executives with jail time is eerily similar to how Russia and other authoritarian countries are currently behaving. It is an attack on free speech and entrepreneurialism.”

Before the bill was presented to Parliament, the UK’s main opposition party, the Labour Party, suggested that it would offer little obstruction to the Online Safety Bill and complained that it hadn’t been introduced fast enough.

Last October, Labour Leader Keir Starmer lamented that it has been “three years since the government promised an Online Safety Bill. Starmer also claimed that “the damage caused by harmful content online is worse than ever” and promised to support the bill if its second reading was brought forward to the end of 2021.

More recently, Labour Member of Parliament (MP) and Shadow Culture Secretary Lucy Powell said that Labour supports “the principles of the bill that is finally being published” and claimed that “delay up to this point has come with significant cost.”’https://reclaimthenet.org/uk-online-safety-bill-censorship-parliament/

Doctor Saves Aborted Babies

Posted by whatyareckon on March 9, 2022
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‘For any NHS doctor, bringing new life into the world is an extraordinary privilege. And for Dr Dermot Kearney, smiling fondly at the trio of babies gurgling happily by his side, the knowledge that he played a small but crucial role in their arrival is particularly poignant.

But these three infants may never have been born were it not for his courageous intervention. The battles their families – and Dr Kearney – have fought have been deeply personal as well as medical.

In each case their mothers had, for their own reasons, chosen to start an abortion using NHS pills to terminate pregnancy.

Almost instantly, each of them became consumed with regret and desperate to reverse the process after taking the first of two tablets that sets it in motion.

Scouring the internet for an answer, they came across the details of Dr Kearney who, they discovered, was prescribing a hormone naturally found in the body which supports pregnancy. He became a saviour to them and their babies.

In just 12 months, the medic says, the unlicensed treatment – not available on the NHS – has preserved the lives of up to 32 babies in the UK, and saved their mothers from a lifetime of potential turmoil at their decision.

Indeed, the babies’ doting parents will forever be indebted to this softly spoken Irishman, who they describe as a lifesaver.’https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10582077/How-NHS-consultant-beat-campaign-struck-abortion-reversals.html?utm_source=Christian+Concern&utm_campaign=d63a7bc960-BN-20220224_DermotKearney_Victory&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9e164371ca-d63a7bc960-127681039

http://For any NHS doctor, bringing new life into the world is an extraordinary privilege. And for Dr Dermot Kearney, smiling fondly at the trio of babies gurgling happily by his side, the knowledge that he played a small but crucial role in their arrival is particularly poignant

Church of England Versus the Bible

Posted by whatyareckon on February 15, 2022
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Jude 1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Romans 1:24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

UK’s Labour Party Bars Former Leader Corbyn

Posted by whatyareckon on January 28, 2022
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‘Jeremy Corbyn, the one time leader of the UK’s left-wing Labour Party and the head of the opposition, was barred from being reinstated as a member of parliament after a 23 – 14 internal party vote.

“Today’s…vote and Keir Starmer’s ongoing decision to bar me from sitting as a Labour MP is disappointing,” Corbyn wrote in a Twitter statement on Tuesday.

“I am grateful for and humbled by the support I’ve received, especially from my Islington North constituents. The struggle for peace, justice and sustainability goes on.”

Corbyn was suspended from the party in October 2020, on the heels of a report that found widespread antisemitism within the Labour party.

He did not accept the findings of the report and suggested it was essentially a conspiracy aimed at ousting him from power, which led to him being barred from sitting as an MP for the party.

The UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) wrote that party leaders, including former London mayor Ken Livingstone and councillor Pam Bromley, used antisemitic tropes and smears freely, and that Jewish members of the party were regularly harassed and intimidated into silence.

“We found that the Labour Party’s response to anti-Semitism complaints has been inconsistent, poor and not transparent, in terms of the process used, reasons for decisions, record-keeping, delay and failures to communicate with complainants. Some complaints were unjustifiably not investigated at all,” the EHRC wrote.

Rather than take responsibility for the issue, Corbyn said that those complaining about antisemitism within the party were doing so not out of genuine concern, but to achieve strategic goals.

He downplayed the seriousness of the issue by saying that antisemitism exists everywhere in the world and that whistle-blowers were acting in bad faith.

“The scale of the problem was…dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media,” he wrote in a Facebook post at the time.

Corbyn, an outspoken pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel activist, has been vocal about his criticism of Zionism, but maintains he is against all forms of racism.’https://worldisraelnews.com/corbyn-barred-from-returning-to-labour-party-says-decision-very-disappointing/?

Ancient Human Intelligence

Posted by whatyareckon on December 22, 2021
Posted in: Europe, UK, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

‘Stonehenge in England is one of the most mysterious artifacts on earth. This megalithic structure dates to about 4,000 years ago with huge stones placed in concentric rings. Who built it, why, and how? 

There are two types of stones at Stonehenge. The larger sarsen stones are believed to have been brought from about 20 miles away. On average, one sarsen stone weighs 50,000 pounds. Eighty-one sarsens were needed. The bluestones weighed up to 10,000 pounds, and 80 of them were used. These bluestones came from 135 miles away (as the crow flies). Yet, they had to take a different route. The builders brought these stones from the mountains to the coast, shipped them by boat around the coast, and finally carried them over land. Large waste piles north of the stones’ excavation site indicate that the stones were shaped on-site before shipment. 

To fit the upright stones with the horizontal lintels, mortice holes and protruding tenons were created. In 1923, a professional mason did an experiment of shaping a single sarsen with a stone maul; he was able to remove about six cubic inches of stone per hour. Researchers estimated that it would have taken 50 masons, working 10 hours a day and 7 days a week approximately 2 years and 9 months to finish the dressing of the stones.

Then the stones had to be laid in a precise geometrical pattern. Holes were dug. Then the stones were hauled into position and stood upright. The skills required to build sophisticated megalithic structures came as a result of highly intelligent people in a stratified society. This project required designers, architects, surveyors, managers, masons, etc. A simple farming community does not generate these skills. People 4,000 years ago were not ignorant but intelligent, just as is recorded in the Bible. Man was intelligent from the beginning.’http://www.searchforthetruth.net/