‘Stop Islam’ campaign on social media
25 Mar 2016
Shortly after the attacks in Brussels were carried out, a wave of anti-Muslim sentiment began hitting social media, with people using the hashtag #StopIslam. Hundreds of thousands of messages with that hashtag have been posted across the world on Twitter, according to Dataminr, a monitoring service. By Wednesday morning Twitter users were using the social media platform in a war of words, and some believed that comments on the #StopIslam hashtag platform were beginning to be censored due to its trending so powerfully. Initially users tweeted with the tag to express their frustration with another terrorist attack as well as the politicians who refuse to link the extremism with Islam. As the tag spawned a huge wave of tweets from around the world, people began using it to argue against condemning an entire religious group for the attacks. Other messages posted were ‘Christianity must be disempowered and demonised’, ‘Islam must be empowered and promoted’, and ‘#StopIslam is trending worldwide. There will never be peace in the Western world until Islam is gone’. See also:
Brussels bombs
25 Mar 2016
A series of deadly explosions rocked Brussels on Tuesday, targeting the Belgian capital's main airport and metro system. Christians across Brussels have called for prayer. The coordinated attacks came as the city was on a high level of alert following the arrest of Paris atrocity suspect Salah Abdeslam last week. The Archbishop of Canterbury said: ‘In the great Holy Week of Christian prayer and mercy, the Brussels attacks shock all those who seek peace and justice through the terrible cruelty and utter separation from all that is of God. Once again we see the contrast between the vain efforts to terrify through indiscriminate murder and the call of God to us to show mercy, seek peace and pursue it. Let us at every service this week pray for those caught up in the traumatic events at the airport and in the city of Brussels.’
Good Friday BBC reappraisal of Judas
25 Mar 2016
Some clerics, including a Church of England bishop, have joined the call for a reappraisal of the disciple who betrayed Jesus, leading to his crucifixion. The Rt Rev Nick Baines, the Bishop of Leeds, said Judas has had a ‘lousy press’ for the last two thousand years; while he is reviled as the ultimate traitor, the truth behind his decision to hand Jesus over to the religious authorities may have been decidedly more complicated. His comments come in an article in this week’s Radio Times ahead of a new BBC documentary by the Church of England vicar and reality television star Rev Kate Bottley. In the programme ‘In the Footsteps of Judas’, to be shown on BBC One on Good Friday morning, she examines theories about what led him to betray Jesus for pieces of silver and later to hang himself.
Martin McGuinness and Christianity
25 Mar 2016
Comments made by Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister that he is a ‘very broad-minded Christian’ and a ‘practising Catholic’ have been slammed by a victim of the Troubles. Ann Travers, whose sister Mary was murdered by the Provos, said she was ‘flabbergasted’ to hear Mr McGuinness, a former IRA commander, call himself a practising Catholic. The Sinn Fein man said he was a very young man when the conflict began and he was very much involved in participating in the civil rights protests. He then went on to describe how his family were devout and he prayed every night. Mr McGuinness said his faith was important in finding common ground with Mr Paisley during the peace process.
Police corruption
25 Mar 2016
Three policemen and a retired police officer were arrested in an inquiry into fraudulent activity at the Police Federation of England and Wales. Surrey Police are investigating the transfer of £1m to a charitable account last August. One of those arrested quit as federation vice-chairman earlier this week. Two of the men are Met police officers on secondment. The organisation represents thousands of constables, sergeants and inspectors. Surrey Police's economic crimes unit were involved in the probe and are contacting the Charities Commission. Meanwhile a detective constable from a London unit, which investigates rapes, serious sexual violence and child abuse, was charged with a string of child sex offences and suspended from duty. DC Chris Maitland was originally arrested last November, and has now been charged with two counts of sexually touching a girl under 13, five counts of taking indecent images of children, and seven counts of making indecent images of children. Pray for our police at
A different type of Stations of the Cross
25 Mar 2016
The traditional Stations of the Cross are a series of fourteen images depicting the stages of Christ’s journey on Good Friday. This year Premier Christianity has created a unique photographic study of a parallel journey retold through the lives and stories of the refugees in Calais, Lebanon and the UK. The dramatic new project is called The Stations, and mirrors the Stations of the Cross through images and stories of today's refugees. A special exhibition of The Stations is being held at St Martin-in-the Fields, London from 15 March until 10 April. People are being invited to take their copy of Premier Christianity to the exhibition to use as a guide.
Anti-Semitism in universities
25 Mar 2016
In England we have ‘Jewniversities’. These ‘Jewnis’, for short, are universities with large percentages of Jewish students. Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Manchester, Oxford and Cambridge have 61% of UK’s Jewish students. Many say that anti-Semitism is to blame for this fact. If young Jews believe universities are hostile to pro-Israel viewpoints, they actively seek like-minded people at ‘Jewnis’ for reasons of comfort and security. Jewish students generally have positive experiences. However, in York University Jewish students refused to sign a joint statement with their university over their complaints of anti-Semitism, as it does not acknowledge the issue properly. In Oxford, the Labour party’s national student organisation launched an inquiry into allegations of anti-Semitic behaviour and intimidation. The London School of Economics Israel Society has called on the student union to change its attitude towards Israel and Jewish students. It published a poster online attacking the union for failing to take action over anti-Israel events on campus. See and
Political power in the UK
25 Mar 2016
The Prime Minister has mounted a fightback against Iain Duncan Smith’s comments and government voices. Tory MPs are pressurising the Chancellor to rewrite his Budget. Jeremy Corbyn is saying that the Chancellor should resign for a Budget that doesn't add up. Brexit MPs and Non-Brexit MP’s are becoming more and more vocally offensive towards each other as the June EU referendum draws nearer. We can pray for our government to execute justice in all decisions. We can pray that they will follow the Lord's ways and repent if they don't. We can pray for them to govern with wisdom for the welfare of the country, not for personal advancement. We can pray that God will accomplish His purposes through them regardless of their willingness to be used by Him. Prov. 21:1 tells us, ‘The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He will.’ We ask God to work His purposes out even through those who are resisting Him.