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The Commentary

Labour's Golden Compass?

God’s judgments show a profound appropriateness (Proverbs 1.25,26, etc.). And what our society is experiencing currently appears to have a shocking fittingness about it.

For instance, the prevalence of youth violence, and particularly knife crime, on our streets has hit the headlines. The liberal press has tried to dismiss this concern merely as the product of media hype. But the fears are not ill-founded. Though figures for violent crime have fallen, it has been mainly due to a halving of domestic violence. What the broad statistics hide is an increase in ‘stranger’ violence, up 14% since 1997. In London 26 teenagers were murdered in 2007 and 16 have already been murdered this year. The mother of teenager Arsema Dawit stabbed to death in a lift in her block of flats in June said, ‘I came to this country from Eritrea to live in safety. When my daughter was threatened I went to the police seeking protection. Sadly, this did not happen’.

And yet, as we are horrified by knife crime on our streets, our TVs continue to pour out violence (the more realistic the better?) and our MPs have continued to support the tragic violence against the unborn by refusing to lower the time limit for abortions during the passage of the HFE bill in May. Is there no possible connection between these things? I wonder.

Anti-Christian bias

And having ignored the gospel of Christ for so long I also wonder how long there will still be freedom in this country to hear it.

The Church of England has recently produced a report entitled Moral, But No Compass, which accuses the Labour Government of deliberately favouring Islam and disregarding the voices of Christians. The strident critique of the Labour Government is endorsed by both the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York. It says that Government ministers are only paying ‘lip service’ to the Anglican Church while ‘focusing intently’ on other religions, especially Islam.

But, sadly, this should be no big surprise. With the deliberations about being able to detain terrorist suspects for up to 42 days in the background, Jacqui Smith the Home Secretary defended this by saying that the Government was concentrating on Islam in order to combat extremism. Perhaps, but it is much more likely to be all about money. The only ‘moral compass’ that cuts any ice politically is the one where the hand points to a good source of finances.

In June it was reported that the Labour Party is some £20 million in debt and in danger of bankruptcy. Also the country itself is in bad financial shape. Gordon Brown needs friends with money. And Islam (especially given OPEC and the steadily rising price of oil) has plenty of money. (An athletically minded friend of mine jokingly said that these days every time he goes to fill up his car with petrol he scores a new ‘personal best’ at the pumps!)

Already our ports are under the control of Dubai; Travelodge and P&O are owned by Islamic groups. Further there is the Prime Minister’s promotion of shari’a based finance or Islamic banking. As it comes to the fore this could affect all kinds of organisations, including churches, who might be refused financial support because what they stand for conflicts with Islamic principles. I hope it is over the top but some people have spoken of a financial jihad being waged against Britain and that our national sovereignty is under threat. And if the way Islam has made the preaching of the gospel illegal in its homelands, then how long will it be before it is banned here too?

John Benton