US State department ‘monitoring’ Bournemouth abortion buffer zone case
The US State department says it is monitoring the case of Livia Tossici-Bolt, a retired medical scientist charged with a public order offence for violating the “buffer zone” around an abortion clinic in Bournemouth. In a post on Tweet / X it says it is concerned about freedom of expression in the UK. Ms Tossici-Bolt, aged 64, is the leader of the Bournemouth branch of the Christian anti-abortion charity “40 Days of Life”, and was charged after holding a sign in March 2023, saying: “Here to talk if you want”. She is represented by the Christian legal advocacy group ADF UK, denies the charges and is awaiting a verdict to be delivered on Friday. The case is fueling JD Vance’s accusation that free speech is being infringed upon in the UK. Vance took up the case of Adam Smith-Connor, who was found guilty of praying in a buffer zone, also in Bournemouth. He was also defended by ADF-UK, part of a global group founded in the US, which says: “It is right for the US State Department and JD Vance to warn the UK that censorship is antithetical to freedom, democracy, and societal flourishing.”
Faith groups ‘horrified’ by police raid on Quaker meeting house
Quakers in Britain say the police raid at a Meeting House in Westminster was “massively disproportionate” and they have been overwhelmed by messages of support from other faiths “horrified at the violation of a place of worship”. Six young women from the organisation “Youth Demand”, were arrested while meeting in a room they had hired on the premises. Met police say the group planned to shut down London in protest at the government’s policy on Israel’s attack on Gaza, among other issues. Quaker spokesperson Oliver Robertson said the raid was an example of excessive policing under new laws brought in by the previous government. Laws are needed to enable participation rather than suppress it, he said. A mass, silent Quaker Meeting is to be held outside New Scotland Yard in London, at 1200 on Thursday 3 April, in protest at the police raid.
Sir Simon Schama warns of ‘toxic spread’ of antisemitism
Sir Simon Schama has spoken out about the “toxic” spread of antisemitism in popular culture since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. Speaking at the Contemporary Antisemitism London 2025 conference at the JW3 centre in London, he said that the rise of anti-Jewish hatred before that attack was “extremely upsetting”, but since then the hatred has spread like an “infection”. He described the “trivialisation and debasement” of holocaust memory by controversial public figures with vast social media followings, singling out the disgraced rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, for the design of his latest album which he said was “nothing more than an enormous swastika,” as well as billionaire Elon Musk for doing the “heil salute twice in a public setting”. Next week, Sir Simon’s film “The Road to Auschwitz” will be screened on BBC2, an opportunity he said to tell the story to a younger audience who are least likely to be familiar with the Holocaust and most likely to dismiss its magnitude. Read Lianne Kolirin’s report on the conference here
Giant white prayer loop sculpture set for summer construction
Work to build “The Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer”, a 53-metre-high construction in the shape of a giant white loop, is expected to start this summer in Coleshill, outside Birmingham, with an estimated completion date of 2027. It’s the brainchild of Richard Gamble, a pastor from Leicester and the former Leicester City football club chaplain, who believes the idea came from God. He has said it will be a witness to the Christian faith, a sign of hope, and a symbol large enough to be seen from the M6, M42 and Birmingham airport. The project began in 2004 and has so far cost £10 million, mainly donated by the public. It has moved slowly, in stages and there is an “urgent and immediate” £65,000 shortfall. Mr Gamble told a Religion Media Centre briefing back in 2020 that that it would be made from one million bricks representing people who say that their prayers have been answered. He said the prayer wall would be unashamedly Christian and would not include prayers from other faiths: “We are pretty unashamed that this is a Christian landmark. Now, I think there are sensitivities around that, for which we need to be wise. At the end of the day, this is a piece of public art, and the purpose is to provoke a conversation about prayer.” Telegraph report here
British Hindus say suggestions of far right links are ‘completely untrue’
British Hindu groups have condemned suggestions that extremists are forming alliances with far- right groups. The Daily Mail reported that a leaked document from the National Police Chiefs Council warned that Hindu extremists had met Tommy Robinson to promote anti Muslim campaigns. But Naomi Canton, writing for The Times of India, quotes Hindu groups saying the claims are “completely untrue, misleading and baseless” and part of an anti-Hindu agenda. Letters have been written to the editor and a complaint has been filed with IPSO.
Campaign for equality of women in the Church of England
The Church of England campaign group “Watch”, Women and the Church, has launched a campaign to end discrimination against women in the church, and to abolish the “five guiding principles”, which allow opponents to have space within the church. Churches can choose an alternative bishop and refuse to appoint a woman priest on theological grounds. The Bishop of Croydon, Dr Rosemarie Mallett, told a Watch conference that the principles had not been fully thought through, and had cemented inequality and discrimination. People thought the culture of the church would change, she said, and no one foresaw the underlying trend of paternalistic and patriarchal perspectives. Church Times report here
Cardinal urges Catholics to persuade their MP to vote against assisted dying bill
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, has written a pastoral letter urging Catholics to contact their MPs requesting that they oppose the Bill that seeks to legalise assisted suicide. The letter will be read in the parishes of Westminster archdiocese over the weekend of 5-6 April. As well as restating the bishops’ objections to the bill in principle, Cardinal Nichols expresses his dissatisfaction regarding the “deeply flawed” parliamentary process, saying the bill needs properly scrutiny and questioning why there has not been a Royal Commission or independent inquiry before considering changing the law on matters of life and death. More here
Trump’s press secretary on spiritual warfare and evil forces
Donald Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has said there is spiritual warfare in America. In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, she has said: “I certainly believe in spiritual warfare. And I think I saw it first-hand, especially throughout the campaign trail with President Trump. And I think there certainly were evil forces”. Ms Leavitt, aged 27, attended a Catholic high school in Lawrence, Massachusetts followed by Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire. She added: “I think that the president was saved by the grace of God on July 13th in Butler, Pennsylvania, and he’s in this moment for a reason.” Telegraph report here
