News

Published: 14 November 2019

Published: 14 November 2019

A Christian man who was arrested for praying peacefully outside an abortion clinic in the UK has had charges against him dropped.

Christian Hacking, who was confined to a wheelchair after breaking his back from a rock-climbing incident, was arrested in August this year after allegedly breaching a “Public Spaces Protection Order” near an abortion clinic in London.

Christian Concern reported that:

Police warned Christian and his friend that merely being on the green outside of the clinic was a breach of the PSPO.

After this, his friend leaves, but Christian can be heard saying, “I’m going to continue praying. I’m in this place because they’re killing human beings inside this clinic, it is against the law to ban anyone praying anywhere in this land. The PSPO has been built upon false grounds, false harassment, fake news, I don’t respect it. I don’t think you have a constitutional right to stop someone from praying, so I’m going to continue praying here until you remove me, forcibly or whatever, because what’s more important is that God’s law is upheld in this nation and not the law of those who govern this nation and not this ludicrous law that says people can’t pray.”

Christian then asked for clarification from the police officer over whether it was a criminal offence to pray in that location. The officer said: “l’m saying you’re in breach of the court order.” Christian responded: “So it’s a criminal offence to pray, according to the court order, it’s a criminal offence to pray outside of a place where children are being killed?” The officer then merely stated: “I believe that I’ve given you the answer.”

Police requested that Christian stand, but he responded: “I can’t stand up, I’m in a wheelchair. I’m not moving, I’m praying. I’m not going to capitulate to your demands. I am allowed to pray here. This earth was the Lord’s before it was Ealing Council’s.”

Christian Concern reported that four officers then carried Christian by his arms and legs and placed him into a police riot vehicle. Christian was taken to a police station where he was imprisoned for eight hours before being released on bail.

Charges against the 29-year-old were subsequently dropped by the Crown Prosecution Office.

“To be treated like a criminal and imprisoned for eight hours for praying is ludicrous”, said Christian.

“My Christian faith calls me to defend the voiceless and what more peaceful way can I achieve this than through prayer. If abortion providers don’t want me praying outside their clinic they should buy the land and ring fence it. Not arrest people for doing what they don’t like on public property.

“I do not regret what I did, and urge the Church to pray more, not less outside of clinics until the killing stops. Surely we, as a nation, can give women in a crisis something better than abortion. 

“I care deeply about all the families who attend abortion clinics and will continue to do what it takes, no matter what, until this silent genocide of innocent children ends,” he added.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said that it is astonishing that vital police resources have been used to arrest and detain a man in a wheelchair for peacefully praying outside an abortion clinic.

“The alleged purpose of the PSPO legislation was to prevent harassment despite there never having been evidence to show that women have been harassed. The authorities now seem to think that even prayer is harassment. Christian did not harass anybody, and his arrest was just plain wrong.

“The footage of four police officers carrying a disabled man and his wheelchair to a riot van, simply for praying, is deeply disturbing. Its intended effect is to silence any opposition to what is going on in the clinic. Christian’s arrest will have the opposite result.

“Christian took a courageous stand outside of the clinic motivated by God’s love for each and every one of us and especially for women in crisis pregnancies and their children.  What does it say about our society when peaceful compassion for life is treated by arrest and imprisonment?

“We call on Ealing Council to review their policy around the buffer zone and for free speech and free movement to be properly restored to the area.”

Meanwhile in South Australia, upper house MPs have approved legislation to impose a 150 metre restriction around “protected premises”, including abortion clinics.  The proposed measure, which now awaits the verdict of the state’s lower house, will restrict the ability of persons to provide last minute support to women during this difficult time. 

The WA government recently concluded a public consultation on exclusion zone laws, in the hope of imposing them across WA. The submissions to this inquiry have not yet been made public.

There are similar 150m restriction zones in place around abortion clinics in NT, Queensland, NSW, and ACT, and 50m zones in Tasmania.

Published: 12 November 2019

Strong men are not products of mere social constructs, cultural pressures or personality clones. But they’re crucial to happy, healthy relationships, families and societies, writes Caleb Stephen.

“Australia's 'man drought' is real — especially if you're a Christian woman looking for love” was the attention-grabbing ABC headline that caught my eye a few days ago.

The story was about 32-year-old Anna Hitchings who expected to be married with children by now but hasn’t. She attributes this in a large part to there being a lack of men who share her Christian values.

“It seems to be quite a rare thing to meet a man on the same level who also shares our faith,” she lamented.

Ms Hitchings who has dated both Christian and non-Christian men went on to say that she once thought “that if you find someone that you love and get along with, everything will be fine — and that's not true.”

“You do have to sacrifice a lot to make a relationship work.”

It really got my brain cogs turning on this one. You see, this problem is a symptom of a far deeper issue.

When you look at the character of today’s men, it’s really not surprising why so many marriage-ready women are still single and why the breakdown of relationships and marriages are at an all-time high. 

And while it is true, that there are less men than women in Australia – 98.6 males for every 100 females – the growing problem is not just the lack of men alone but a lack of men with solid values. 

Furthermore, the issue is not men being too masculine, but rather men not being masculine enough.  The issue is not men but the very values that shape who today’s men are.

When masculinity is shunned, men by default run away from responsibilities resulting in despair, destruction and depression. 

We are currently in the middle of a manhood crisis. Women of today are crying out for men who can provide in both the realms of affection and basic life necessities but who can also lead them and ride through the storms of life with them.

Women want real men.

Women want men they can count on.

Women want men they can look up to.

Women want men who are brave, intentional, strong and tender.

Whether that is responsibility for their own actions, responsibility for provision, protection and nurturing, more and more men are doing the complete opposite by running away from it.

And the impact is staggering. In the United States, 71% of kids who dropped out of high school are fatherless. This has a direct correlation to alarming rates of teen pregnancy, homelessness and mental health issues. The cycle just repeats itself. Fathers are 100% critical to the early developmental stages of a boy and those actions have a huge bearing on that boy’s progression into manhood. 

Manhood doesn’t begin at puberty. Manhood begins the moment values that will make a positive impact on the lives of those around them are forged.

A boy’s voice can deepen with physical maturity, but a boy does not simply transition into manhood overnight.

Strong men are not products of mere social constructs, cultural pressures or personality clones.

Strong men are needed for happy families, thriving relationships and healthy communities.

And while there is the notion of “toxic masculinity” swirling about in today’s culture, the answer to the reckless and irresponsible actions of men is not less masculinity, but more.

Radical agendas including “gender equality” pushed by various ideologues are also very unhelpful and severely detrimental to this cause. These radicals believe that feminising men will achieve the goal of eliminating sexism, abuse and violence perpetrated by men on women whether that’s in a domestic, workplace or other context.

Masculinity isn’t toxic. It’s actually men who aren’t masculine which brings about toxicity. Feminine, passive men don’t stop evil. It’s strong, resolute men of grit who stop evil. 

Weak, little men who use and abuse women instead of protecting, loving and cherishing them is the cause.

Strong men with Christian values will treat women with respect, provide, protect and make responsible life decisions.

The bottom line is our society is not suffering from a lack of males, but rather a shortage of real masculinity which results in great harm to women and children and society as a whole.

Published: 12 November 2019

Despite daily turmoil and trepidation of living in a shattered and hurting world, Christians everywhere have unshakeable hope, writes Caleb Stephen.

I write this piece as out of control bushfires rage in NSW and QLD meanwhile the hot topic of the day is linking this devastation to climate change.

I am mindful that hundreds upon hundreds of people have been displaced or tragically lost homes. And sadly too, there are families right now grieving the loss of loved ones.

And as if that stuff isn’t heavy enough, this globe continues to turn and for every morning that we wake up, we flick on the TV, scroll through our social media feeds or read through the newspaper and the cold hard reality of the fractured world that we live in hits home hard.

Constant attacks on religious freedom, faith, family values and the sanctity of human life only results in our further disconcertment, disillusionment and depression.

Everywhere we look we see bleakness; we see darkness looming. Hardly a bright and hopeful future ahead… or so it seems.

As an organisation, FamilyVoice Australia is daily at the forefront of repelling attacks from those who seek to undermine the Christian faith - which has been the cornerstone of Western Civilization for the last millennium.

We do what we can as servants of God attempting to fulfil our calling in the Kingdom of God to be loving agents of grace, delivering “salt and light” to the world around us.

And yes, there are definitely times when our efforts feel less than enough. Less than effective. Less than important.

After all, we’re only human and try as we might, cannot solve all the problems of this world. Whether they’re social, political, spiritual or physical, without Jesus, we are ultimately powerless.

“Where is the hope in all of this?” it is only natural to ask.

In trying times like this, I find it comforting to fall back on my faith in God. It’s the one place in which I can find answers when everywhere else I can find none.

In the book of Matthew 8 and in verse 23 we read of Jesus and his disciples entering a boat on the sea of Galilee and a storm arising which caused waves to actually start sweeping over that boat.

Jesus was fast asleep and the disciples who by that point were panicking yelled at Jesus saying: “save us, we’re going to drown!”

And I love this part of the passage. In verse 26 He replied: “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” 

Then He rebuked the raging wind and the crashing waves and ushered in calmness.

I think at times it is so easy to forget the presence and power of God in the moments in life that are really dark. And as I go through life, I realise there are a lot of those.

While the darkness increases and the storm rages around us, we can rest assured that God is ultimately in control and above all these things.

Romans 5 talks about suffering producing important character qualities, one of those being hope.

Verse 5 goes on to say that “And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”

The bottom line is that despite daily turmoil and trepidation of living in a shattered and hurting world, Christians everywhere have unshakeable hope. Living hope. Unashamed hope. Comforting hope.

It doesn’t matter how thick the darkness, how crushing the despair or how agonizing the desperation. Jesus gives Hope. Jesus gives Life. None of these things are too big for Him.

And this is why it is crucial to have faith and that we need to let our faith be strengthened in the hardest moments of life.

So, in the middle of these storms, let me conclude by saying this: lean into Jesus, draw close to Him and find your hope for the future in Him when everywhere else seems to be void of it.