IS documents identify 22,000 jihadis
11 Mar 2016
Thousands of IS registration forms detailing phone numbers and family contacts of 22,000 jihadis were handed to Sky News by a disillusioned convert to the group entrusted with keeping the organisation's core secrets on a memory stick that he rarely parted with. The forms identify nationals from the UK and fifty other countries who gave their personal information to IS. Only when the 23-question form was filled in were they allowed to join. Some names and their new IS names are well-known, such as Londoner Abdel Bary, better known in the UK as a rap artist. The key breakthrough is the revelation of the identities of previously unknown jihadis in the UK, across northern Europe, and in other countries. Knowledge of their whereabouts is crucial to breaking the organisation and preventing further terror attacks. The defector claimed that IS, the YPG (Kurdish militia), and Bashar al-Assad’s government work together against moderate Syrian opposition. For details of Britons in the IS files go to
Germany: a split of opinion
11 Mar 2016
A German intercessor says: ‘Germany is divided into those for and those against taking in refugees. Ideological condemnation is common between ‘blue-eyed do-gooders’ and ‘small-minded backwoods people’. Hatred flares, violence spreads, and our citizens are committing criminal acts such as arson. The police are increasingly under attack, and a storm of anarchy is brewing. The refugee issue is leading to a political crisis and across the parties the right-wingers are gaining ground. With the potential entry of the ‘Alternativ fur Deutschland’ group into federal state parliaments, a ruling majority may only be possible with a grand coalition which will only increase frustration, ineffectiveness and lack of resolve in the government of the state. 2016 will be decisive. If there is a reduction of refugees due to government action the agitation could die down, the popularity of the Chancellor could rise, and the protesting parties diminish. If not, the country faces the risk of social unrest to the point of a state of anarchy.’
Christianity pushed to the margins in UK
11 Mar 2016
Many people seem to be looking out for themselves; too many people have to be paid to care. Half a generation of children are growing up without a father. Some children are lured into promiscuity. The Christian faith is under attack from the media and homosexual activists. Our politicians feed us propaganda. Family breakdown, crime, immorality, debt, gambling, drink and drugs are more than just statistics. They affect and ruin the lives of real people. The Church needs to develop a prophetic voice, to speak out to our leaders and our nation just as the Biblical prophets were unafraid to do. We Christians need to pray for our nation and its people, out of our love for our Saviour and the victims of injustice. Our prayer needs to be not just, ‘Lord, do something!’; it needs to be, ‘Lord, what can I do?’ When we work, we work. When we pray, God works. When we do both, God works miracles.
Pray for Christians in the media
11 Mar 2016
Many journalists don’t have much time for Christians and vice versa. The media subculture and church communities hardly intersect. It can be tough for Christians in the media. Shift work makes any sort of regular commitment to church or Bible study very difficult. The media in general is an extremely cynical industry. This means evangelism is very difficult and the people around a Christian may be constantly throwing up issues causing a believer to doubt their faith. Media people tend to be stylish, arty and creative. Churches that have an emphasis on strong Bible teaching are sometimes weak in this area of style, with some almost explicitly anti-creativity. Other churches which may have more style are sometimes lightweight in their Bible teaching. They tend not to have enough intellectual fibre to arm the young Christian in the media effectively for the cynical attacks they will encounter.
Christian magistrate removed from office
11 Mar 2016
Christian magistrate Richard Page was removed from office by Michael Gove, the Lord Chancellor, after sharing his personal convictions in a BBC interview on 12 March 2015. Richard Page said, ‘My responsibility as a magistrate, as I saw it, was to do what I considered best for the child, and my feeling was therefore that it would be better if it was a man and woman who were the adopted parents.’ For fifteen years he has been a magistrate, sitting on the family panel of Kent’s Central Magistrates Court. Then, when he had less than a month to run as a Justice of the Peace, Michael Gove has used his case to make a political statement. Ironically, the interview for which Richard has been dismissed was part of a TV debate about Christians being squeezed out of public life, following the Equality and Human Rights Commission research about challenges to freedom of religion and belief in the UK.
Canon David Porter will take up the new role at Lambeth Palace in early May. He takes over from Kay Brock who retires this month after four years in the job . David is currently in the Lambeth Palace leadership group working as the Archbishops’ Director for Reconciliation. Originally from Belfast, David comes with experience in several Christian organisations at senior staff, CEO and board levels. He has long experience in public affairs, and was a member of the Northern Ireland Civic Forum and Community Relations Council. Before joining the Lambeth Palace team in 2013, he was the Canon Director for Reconciliation Ministry at Coventry Cathedral.
A bomb exploded earlier this week underneath a van being driven by a prison officer in Belfast. Police Service of Northern Ireland Superintendent Darrin Jones said, ‘This could have been a fatal attack and we condemn it in the utmost circumstances. The people who did this set out to kill. Thankfully, on this occasion they weren't successful, but they may be next time. There is a severe threat in Northern Ireland, which means that an attack is highly likely. We believe that in the runup to Easter, there are people in dissident Republican groupings who want to try and kill police officers, prison officers or soldiers.’ This Easter is the one hundredth anniversary of the Easter Rising, when Irish Republicans enacted an armed rebellion against British rule. It was one of the most significant events historically in the establishing of an independent Irish Republic.
Kenny left school with no understanding of politics, but politics affects his life: the cost of transport, his chances of getting a mortgage, and how much he would be taxed when starting work. Like other teenagers he doesn’t understand how, as a citizen, he could shape the country in which he lives. He says, ‘So many people have left school without knowing they must be on the electoral roll to be able to vote, improve their credit rating, be called for jury service, and become a vote worth winning by decision-makers. Despite citizenship education being on the national curriculum since 2002, not much has changed for young people leaving school. I regularly visit schools and colleges across the country, and I am shocked by the number of young people who are disillusioned with politics and who complain that their citizenship education classes are squeezed into registration time. It’s just not taken seriously as a school subject, therefore students struggle to take politics seriously themselves.’