Orthodox Christian bloggers such as the Revd John Richardson and the Revd Peter Ould were in the forefront of getting to the heart of the matter over the Cornish B&B prosecution.
That is the fact that the Judge ruled that there was 'no material difference' between marriage and civil partnerships. John explained how the Bishop of Chester had prophesied during the House of Lords debate on civil partnerships that such an equivalence would emerge in English law.
The coming to pass of Dr Forster's prediction is indeed the death knell of Christian Britain.
The superb coverage by orthodox Christian bloggers raised this question in your curate's mind at least: if the UK segues into a politically correct dictatorship and it becomes illegal for Christian bloggers to denounce false religion, false teaching, idolatry and immorality in the robust way in which the New Testament does, what then?
Cranmer's Curate is an ordinary blogspot boy and is very far from being an expert on internet technology.
He does know that the internet is notoriously difficult to censor, as the Wikileaks affair has demonstrated. But what are the ways and means oppressive governments could deploy to suppress Christian blogging?
How would Christian pirate blogging work out in practice? Presumably it would not be necessary to resort to blogging from ships a la pirate radio in the 1960s or would it?
Furthermore, is it worth risking jail for the sake of blogging? Should Christians engage in illegal internet activity whether as writers or readers?
Any wisdom from the youth group on the ethics and practicalities of Christian pirate blogging under a PC dictatorship?
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Plans are already being put in place by the authorites to allow the police to take down any website without recourse to the courts, through the entity which controls the .uk part of the Internet - Nominet.
ReplyDeleteThis power has been requested by the Serious Organised Crime Agency.
And this is the rub, namely, as the Christian worldview is increasingly viewed a subversive by our ‘elite class’, there is a danger that Christian websites could be censored by the police for falling foul of ‘politically correct’ legislation.
I have quite a detailed blog post on this very subject if anyone's interested:
Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) request website censorship powers from Nominet
You are right to be aware that we are bordering on becoming 'hate criminals', now that immorality is rewarded and morality is punished.
ReplyDeleteJournalist Peter Hitchens, who lived for two years in Russia under the oppressive regime there, has this to say in this morning's Mail.
'As I suspected they would, the Christian hotel owners, Peter and Hazelmary Bull, came off worse in their courtroom struggle against Politically Correct Britain.
The law believes such people have no right to follow their own morals, except in private. The law also now states that homosexual partnerships are equal to heterosexual marriage, which New Labour tried to pretend was not the case.
Perhaps most importantly, the homosexual couple had their action paid for by us. Britain’s embryonic Thought Police, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, provided the money on your behalf and mine, whether we like it or not.
This is not the end of the revolution we are passing through. By the time it is finished, I will not be allowed to write or say this. Don’t believe me? Wait and see.'
Jill
One thing worth bearing in mind is how local authorities (mis)used anti-terrorist legislation to pursue other causes (such as people trying to get their kids into the wrong schools).
ReplyDeleteThe problem at the moment is that I wouldn't have a clue how to set up a pirate blog. On the other hand I'm sure there must be a Christian twelve year old out there who does.
It could all become like Martin Marprelate in the 16th century, except the authorities would be trying to shut down websites, rather than find a printing press!
People in my age group remember how, back in the 1970s we thought persecution in the West would be exciting and would strengthen the Church. Now we know it isn't exciting, it's a pain, and the other thing is how many Christians have folded and will fold - maybe even ourselves!
As a Christian to be honest I would be pleased to see some sites taken down eg those inciting to crime/terrorism or porn sites. But obviously not sites engaging in legitimate philosophical and political debate or those graciously and lovingly and faithfully proclaiming orthodox Christian truth!
ReplyDeletePresumably the UK authorities can't prevent UK residents accessing overseas sites? A layman friendly techi explanation as to how a UK resident would go about pirate blogging would be illuminating.
I'm off on a clergy conference till Wed so comment posting is subject to delay.
Every blessing
PS thank you for these excellent comments.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Cornish B&B case to the death knell of Christian Britain, and then on to PC governments shutting down Christian blogs! This really is the sort of paranoia that invites ridicule.
ReplyDeleteSir, this is one of those 'what if' scenarios. None of us is suggesting we are there yet. But hate speech legislation is on the agenda in Western nations increasingly driven by PC. It seems somewhat utopian to think it won't affect orthodox Christian blogs.
ReplyDelete"...persecution in the West would be exciting and would strengthen the Church" - no, it won't be exciting, but it still might strengthen the Church.
ReplyDelete"Presumably the UK authorities can't prevent UK residents accessing overseas sites?" - the Chinese do this, don't they? I'm sure they'd be happy to share their technology if Mr. Cameron asks; easier than giving pandas, I'm sure.
"This really is the sort of paranoia that invites ridicule" - yes, it may be at present, but the 'paranoia' may help us get ready for a real situation that is definitely coming sometime - "It seems somewhat utopian to think it won't affect orthodox Christian blogs." - exactly; and as I have one myself, it's not just something academic I'm never going to have to think about ...
The establishment has never possessed hitherto the means to take people offline, because it has never had any real motivation to try. Julian Assange has changed that! Watch what is happening with that to see how it will all work.
ReplyDeleteSo far arrangements have been made to pull the plug financially by getting sites like Paypal and Amazon to fall into line -- never previously possible.
International police agencies are this week coordinating arrests of members of "Anonymous" (who presumably thought they were) for the DDOS attacks on Paypal.
Governments already monitor web traffic; and remember every click on the web involves two IP addresses, the destination address and the person clicking's address.
So the infrastructure is being put in place right now, on some rather valid national security grounds (thanks, Mr. Assange). It will, of course, be used for other things once it is all there. Including censorship of us.
Do we have a duty to preach against vice? To some extent. Do we have the right to disobey the state to so do? To some extent, yes: I would suggest it happens once the state makes a deliberate policy of making demands purely to cause Christians to do wrong in the sight of God. (And why else is homosexuality being promoted, than out of spite?)
Thank you for posting on this. The silence has been terrifying.