On 30th October, in an interview with Laurie Oakes, the Hon. Prime Minister John Howard stated the following, “I do not think religious and racial vilification laws work and we as a party have opposed them in the past and I’d be surprised if our attitude changed.” A segment from interview www.sunday.ninemsn.com.au

On the same day, Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley addressing the ACL Conference stated, “Victoria’s Racial and Religious Vilification Laws should be scrapped because they do not protect peaceful religious preaching.” www.acl.org.au

If you still have any doubts over whether the House of Lords was wise to re-write the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill this week, just look at the chaos that resulted when a similar law was introduced in Australia.

As originally drafted, the Government's Bill would have made it an offence in England and Wales for a person to use threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour if this was likely to stir up religious hatred.

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Please see articles below:

• Israel Government Representatives Commission Christians to be Watchmen over the Holy Land
  
  
• RACIAL AND RELIGIOUS HATRED BILL - House of Lords takes a strong stand for freedom of speech
  
  
• Muslim Council of Britain Asks for Qur’an to be Exempt from Religious Hatred Law
  
  
• Anne Rice "Queen of the Occult" Finds Christ - Will Only Write for the Lord From Now On
  
  

On Thursday of this week, Lord Lester of Herne Hill (for the liberal democrats) and Lord Hunt (for the conservatives) tabled a cross-party amendment to the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill. There will be a vote on the amendment in the House of Lords on Tuesday 25 October. Many in the Lords are rallying around these amendments and we should pray their opposition succeeds so that the Bill will return to the Commons and we will be in a position to continue our opposition to the Bill in its entirety.

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Dear friends and supporters
First of all I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your hard work in seeking to oppose this Bill in the last few weeks I believe we have begun to see the church awakening in this country and seeking to take a stand for Christ at the heart of many vital issues. The House of Lords did not vote on the matter on Tuesday but the majority was firmly opposed to the Bill. The next stage is 24 October - the Committee Stage of the whole house. Amendments to the Bill will be put down. The LCF remains firmly opposed to this unnecessary Bill. However, amendments could improve the Bill by seeking to provide freedom to preach on the face of the bill, by requiring 'intention' to stir up religious hatred and by adding specific defences. After the committee stage in the House of Lords there will be a Report stage and then third reading. A vote will be taken at this stage. We need to watch and see who brings forward amendments and around which amendments the House of Lords will rally. I will keep you posted.

The Bill will then return to the House of Commons. The government may well find the proposed amendments to the Bill unacceptable and reject them.
This is why it is critical to seek to influence our MPs now. The most effective way to do so is by meeting them in their surgeries. We have created momentum in our opposition to this Bill. Only 30 labour MPs need to change their mind. They will be heavily 'whipped' but if we seek to continue to point out the flaws in the Bill a miracle could still happen by God's grace.

Let us continue to pray, fast and act. Latest information will continue to be posted on www.lawcf.org and www.christianconcernforournation.co.uk

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An estimated 5,000 Christians came together in Hyde Park on Saturday to unite in their opposition to the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill. With the Lords due to debate the Second Reading of the bill on Tuesday, Christians from hundreds of churches across all denominations gathered together to pray.

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Prof Patrick Parkinson re Vilification | Quotes & Extracts - R&RT Act

Professor Patrick Parkinson is one of the most renowned legal academics and practitioners in Australia. He is the Head of School at the Faculty of Law at Sydney University and well respected in Government for his contributions to family law in particular. In late 2004 he produced a paper for presentation at an international legal conference examining the Victorian law in detail, and registering all the concerns for it that we hold. (You can find this paper, ‘Enforcing Tolerance’, at www.acl.org.au)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I have a deep concern emerging regarding the future of our nation of Australia. I wonder whether you may share this. I’m sure many may have sensed a prophetic burden very strongly in their spirits.

In recent days we have experienced a very big push to make Australia a tolerant, politically correct society. I am not against this as such, but when it begins to erode our Christian heritage we must surely look carefully to discover if there is a hidden agenda.

Currently in many parts of the world it is common place for interfaith communities to be set up. This is happening so quickly and with such purpose that many governments and even Christian leaders are entering into it. To many it seems to be very politically correct to do so. But the question needs to be asked, who are the main “pushers” of interfaith and do they have the best interest for Australia at heart or are they merely “pushing the barrel” to de-Christianize our nation?

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THE Bracks Government will back down on its contentious religious vilification laws because of community outcry.

Premier Steve Bracks flagged his proposed changes to the laws at a meeting of the state's religious leaders behind closed doors yesterday.

The intended changes would stop actions such as that of jailed witch Robin Fletcher ever reaching the tribunal.

They would also restrict the operation of the law to apply to the offensive statements made in public but not those done in private. Fletcher's attempt to sue his prison Bible course using Victoria's unique laws embarrassed the Government.

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Rise Up Australia celebrated its 5th Anniversary on the 1st Friday of Sept (2nd) with more than 300 people gathered together in unity. Our guest speaker for the night was the Hon. Reverend Fred Nile MP, from NSW.

This night brought many pastors with their people from the Body of Christ together and was filled with extravagant Worship, joyful Praise and fervent Prayer. Through the mighty presence of the Holy Spirit many passionate Aussie’s were storming heaven for our nation’s transformation.

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Fathers standing in the gap, shoulder to shoulder, united in prayer	CTFM team ministering in prophetic worship dance	Hon MP Rev. Fred Nile speaking on protecting Australia’s Christian Heritage

I thank God for the strategic timing of my trip to the UK which meant that I arrived in London two days after the terrorist bombings. Amazingly the entire city of London appeared to be under siege, with special police forces at every street corner; it looked some-what like a real war zone!

The next day on the Sunday (July 10th) I was ministering in Northampton when I received a call from the Christian Lawyers’ Association to be a part of a delegation to visit No.10 Downing Street (Prime Minister Tony Blair’s residence). This was to officially present a petition signed by 1000 church leaders from vast denominations, representing nearly 400,000 people, calling for the vilification laws to be dropped by the British government.

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Pastor Danny (2nd from right) with delegation of Christian lawyers and ministers at No 10 Downing Street, London	Christian demonstration for freedom of speech outside of UK Parliament	Pastor Danny with Caroline Cox from the House of Lords

On Friday 19 August 2005 the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria granted Catch the Fire Ministries and Pastors Danny Nalliah and Daniel Scot leave to appeal against the decision of Judge Higgins made in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal finding that they had breached the provisions of the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act (Victoria).

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CTFM Team in Sri Lanka	Cargo from Australia being loaded into trucks in Sri Lanka for distribution	At a refugee camp

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Catch the Fire Fighting Fund Launched!

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Please see attached articles below

free speech farce | making martyrs and mischief
pastors vow to go to jail on hate case
gagging won't work | cns - patrick goodenough | all fired up about faith

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..: freedom of speech, gone:..
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..: vilification update - religious vilification - ctfm, daniel scot and danny nalliah :..

Worship Under the Sword Book- Revised Edition