“But if the watchman
see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if
the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his
iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.” [Ezekiel 33:6]
“For we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
[Ephesians 6:12]
Presbyterians Week Headlines
[1] Canadian
Father Jailed after Publicly Objecting to Minor Daughter Taking Testosterone
---
[1] Canadian
Father Jailed after Publicly Objecting to Minor Daughter Taking Testosterone
A father who has long
objected to his minor daughter taking testosterone as part of an experimental
gender transition has been jailed in British Columbia for contempt of court.
Robert Hoogland was arrested
Tuesday after a warrant was issued by a judge earlier this month for telling
the public his name and showing his face, according to sources close to the
situation. He will reportedly remain in police custody pending a decision on
his release to be made at 9:30 a.m. Friday in the British Columbia Supreme
Court in Vancouver.
+ The Christian Post,
National Press Building, 529 14th Street Northwest, Suite 420, Washington DC
2004 5, 202-347-7734, info@christianpost.com
A Christian college in
Michigan hosted an event that told students that the evils of white
evangelicals brought rise to the “least-Christian president in American
history,” Donald Trump.
Calvin University hosted an event titled
“Jesus and John Wayne,” hosted by history and gender studies professor Kristin
Kobes Du Mez. The event was based on Kobes Du Mez’s book entitled “Jesus and
John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation.”
+ The Daily Wire, 15021 Ventura Blvd #503, Sherman Oaks, California
91403, Contact Page
+ Calvin University, 3201 Burton Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546, 616-526-6000
+ Christian Reformed Church in North America,
In an historic judgment, today a judge has
ruled that the Scottish Ministers' decision to ban and criminalise gathered
church worship during the current lockdown was unconstitutional and a
disproportionate interference of Article 9 ECHR rights.
The ruling is believed to be the first successful legal case against covid
regulations in the UK.
Handing down judgment, Lord Braid also ruled that online worship is not real
Christian worship, stating that it is not for the Scottish Ministers to: "dictate
to the petitioners or to the additional party, that, henceforth, or even for
the duration of the pandemic, worship is to be conducted on-line. That might be
an alternative to worship but it is not worship. At very best for the
respondents, in modern parlance, it is worship-lite."
Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, 27 Scottish church leaders, from a
range of Christian denominations, had brought the legal action stating that the
unprecedented closures were unlawful and breached Human Rights law and the
Scottish constitution.
The leaders come from the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing), the Free Church
of Scotland, the Church of Scotland, and a number of independent churches.
Their claim came in response to the restrictions outlined by First Minister,
Nicola Sturgeon, on Friday 8 January 2021, which made it a criminal offence for
churches in the highest tiers, to hold in person services and, for example, to
conduct baptisms.
At a full judicial review hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh earlier
in March, the leaders had sought a declarator (an declaration order) that the
restrictions on churches were unlawful and a declarator which would allow
people to attend church, should the tier system be reintroduced.
There has been no attempt to close churches in Scotland since the persecution
of the Presbyterian church, instituted by the Stuart kings, in the 17th
century.
‘Must never happen again’
Responding to the ruling, Rev. Dr William Philip, Senior Minister at the
Tron Church in Glasgow, said: “We are very pleased that Lord Braid has
recognised how essential gathered church worship is to our communities and to
Scotland as a whole.
“From the outset we have recognised the serious decisions the Scottish
Ministers had to take in response to the pandemic. However, its approach to banning
and criminalising gathered church worship was clearly an over-reach and
disproportionate and if this had gone unchallenged it would have set a very
dangerous precedent.
“However well intentioned, criminalising corporate worship has been
both damaging and dangerous for Scotland, and must never happen again.
"There is an urgent need for a message beyond that of just health and
safety: a message of hope and salvation, and Jesus Christ is the only hope that
dispels all fear, death included. Now is the time as we begin to exit the
current lockdown for the church in Scotland, and across the UK, to provide the
spiritual leadership that is so desperately needed.”
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre,
said: “Over centuries, Christian worship has been regarded as a
fundamental freedom in the nations of the United Kingdom. During this pandemic,
for the first time in history, our governments chose to criminalise gathered
church worship.
"We are thankful and relieved that the High Court in Scotland has
recognised this dangerous interference with our God given right to engage in
worship for exactly what it is, and ruled it unconstitutional. The
fundamental principle of freedom has prevailed with a strong dash of good
old common sense.”
‘Irreconcilable conflict’
During the judicial review on the 11 and 12 March, Janys Scott QC, representing
the 27 Scottish church leaders, argued that the pandemic had highlighted
an “irreconcilable conflict” for church leaders between
obeying the state and God.
“Church leaders do not lightly take to law,” Scott told the court.
“My note of argument makes no apology for starting with a statement — and that
is Jesus is Lord because that encapsulates the issue as far as the petitioners
are concerned.
“The Scottish ministers have presented these 27 church leaders and very many
more ministers, church elders and ordinary members of congregation with a deep
crisis.
“As Christians their primary obedience is to God and not to the state and
there is a fundamental obedience in regular communal public worship.
“Regular communal public worship is a central part of the Christian’s life
of faith and of the church’s being.
“And to be absolutely clear this is not about buildings — it’s about
assembly of congregations; the sacraments of communion and baptism and the
ministry between members of a church are integral aspects of expression on what
it is to be a Christian and to belong to a Christian church.
“The petitioners would say that faith is a matter of hope in life and in
death and it’s more than mere obedience and that it is essential particularly
at a time of national crisis.”
Scott argued that the closure of churches is unlawful, criminalises public
worship and goes against centuries old practice that churches in Scotland have
authority over their own affairs free from state interference.
She accused John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister of holding a “condescending
and inaccurate” attitude towards public worship, by treating churches
as if they are a “matter of personal welfare or comfort”.
“The Deputy First Minister does not understand”, Scott said. “The
primary purpose for worship is not for social or mental well-being. Public
worship is a robust central aspect of the practice of the Christian both
individually and as a church.
“It is important because that it is no exaggeration to say that over the
centuries Christians have died in the defence of the public worship in the
church and Christians continue to die in the defence of the public worship in
church.
“There is an irreconcilable conflict between the obedience of the Christian
church to their God or God and obedience to the state.”
Scott told the court that past legal rulings and the nature of the constitution
meant that the state couldn’t interfere with churches.
She also said the European Convention on Human Rights did not allow the
Scottish Ministers to take the action of stopping public worship.
“It’s not for the government to question the legitimacy of beliefs or the
manner in which they are expressed,” she said. “The
petitioners say that public corporate worship is essential to the church — it
is of the essence, of the being of the church and that is a matter for them.”
‘Double-Speak’
In her concluding remarks, Scott said: “Without wanting to resort to
hyperbole, what is worryingly insidious about the way this has been presented
to us politically is, ‘oh no, we haven’t closed your churches’ – and that’s in
the face of a regulation that says places of public worship will be closed.
“That’s what the First Minister said and that’s what’s been said in the
course of argument for the Scottish Ministers.
“When one starts using double-speak like that one gets to exactly the issue
which Article 9 is designed to forfend.
“I’m saying this from the perspective of a group of ministers and church
elders who want to defend their right to worship, but it is there as an
underlying point which is protected for good reason by the European Convention
on Human Rights.”
+ Christian Concern,
+ Free
Church of Scotland, 15 North Bank Street, The Mound, Edinburgh,
Scotland EH1 2LS, 0131-226-5286, Fax:
0131-220-0597, catherine@freechurchofscotland.org.uk
+ Free
Church of Scotland, 15 North Bank Street, The Mound, Edinburgh,
Scotland EH1 2LS, 0131-226-5286, Fax:
0131-220-0597, catherine@freechurchofscotland.org.uk
+ Church
of Scotland,
