The Government must reform the Public Order Act to protect freedom of speech, MPs have warned during a debate in Parliament. Edward Leigh MP insisted that the Bill should be used to remove the word “insulting” from Section 5 of the Public Order Act, and listed numerous examples of people whose free speech had been restricted by the existing law.
The website Libertad Digital reported on March 11, 2011 that animosity against Christians and in particular Catholics is aggravating in Spain. Journalist Javier Lozano lists incidents Christians recently witnessed from the temporary close of the chapel at University of Barcelona due to violence and intolerance to the cancellation of a lecture by Cardenal Rouco Varela because of demonstrations and the lack of security to deter anti-Christians activists.
An uproar in Croatian society on the silencing of a primary school teacher has led to a peaceful manifestation in Zagreb. The protestors were wearing stickers over their mouths to symbolize that Christians are being silenced by court proceedings.
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, permanent representative of the Holy See to the U.N. offices in Geneva, delivered on March 2 at the XVI ordinary session of the Human Rights Council on religious freedom an address in which he urged the UN to protect the right to seek truth.
Premier Christian Media claims that there is an inconsistency in the way the Courts apply and interpret equality laws in relation to Christians. When it comes to competing rights between different groups, the rights of Christians seem to be consistently ‘sacrificed on the altar of political correctness.’
Dr. Massimo Introvigne, OSCE Representative on Combating Racism, Xenophobia, and Intolerance against Christians and Members of Other Religions: "On the level of raising awareness about discrimination against Christians we can do more. ... I have ... suggested to the States that wish to participate the celebration of a Day of Christian Martyrs of our time, to be celebrated not – or not only – in churches, where there are already similar initiatives in place, but in schools, cities, and public institutions because the persecution of Christians does not affect just Christians, but everyone."
Lord Mackay warned that we are “in danger of putting religion in a box only to be brought out on ceremonial occasions. Religion, certainly the Christian faith, is much more than that.” Lord Mackay also argued forcibly for “the right to liberty of conscience, freedom of expression and religious liberty” in the public sphere. He added: “One does not lose them when one steps into the public sphere. Indeed, for the sake of everyone’s liberty it is paramount that such rights are upheld in the public realm.
Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, Chairman of the German Conference of Catholic Bishops, warned that the principle of religious neutrality of states must not evolve into a “policy to prevent religion”. The right to practice one’s religion has to be assured to the full extent by national governments as well as the European Union, the archbishop demanded.
One of Britain’s most senior news broadcasters has accused the BBC of a systemic bias to the left and of bashing Christianity and traditional British values. Peter Sissons, a top anchorman of the BBC’s leading evening news slots, has said that the BBC’s leftist bias is so deeply engrained it is not so much a bias as a “mindset.” “At the core of the BBC, in its very DNA, is a way of thinking that is firmly of the Left,” Sissons said. “The one thing guaranteed to damage your career prospects at the BBC is letting it be known that you are at odds with the prevailing and deep-rooted BBC attitude towards Life, the Universe and Everything.”