Benjamin John

This is truly remarkable. SNL airs a sketch about the 16th century practice of castrating young male singers to block their natural puberty and preserve their high voices. And yet this is precisely what “gender-affirming care” clinicians are doing to young boys today: chemically castrating them with puberty blockers and estrogen, and then surgically castrating them when they’re in their late teens. And they’re applying the exact same reasoning! Block their puberty —> keep them feminine. How did staff members at @glaad and @hrc react to this sketch? Did they think it was funny? Or did they turn the channel, because deep down they know that they’re advocating for the same practices today? How about @SecretaryLevine? Did Levine laugh? How anyone at @nbcsnl could put this together without thinking about the blatantly obvious and horrifying connection to today is beyond me.

The Canadian doctor Liz Carr interviews in this is one of the most frightening people I have ever seen.

Kristie Higgs: Landmark Free Speech case to be decided in Court of Appeal. This week, the second highest court in the UK will hear the high-profile and seminal legal case, backed by the Christian Legal Centre from the beginning, of sacked Christian school assistant, Kristie Higgs. The outcome of the hearing, which begins at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday 2 October, will be determinative of the law on free speech and freedom to express faith in the UK for many years to come, if not decades." Ahead of the hearing, Kristie said: "I wouldn't want any parent to go through what I have over the past five years. Nobody should be sacked for raising the concerns that I did in the way that I did." There are now five interveners in the case including @EHRC @SpeechUnion @SexMattersOrg @Assoc_C_Teach Find out more: christianconcern.com/ccpress… @A_Minichiello on why her case matters: christianconcern.com/comment…

Christians are sometimes accused of being hypocrites for endorsing what the Bible says about homosexuality, but not advocating what it says about not eating shrimp and shellfish. @benjamin_john tells us how to answer to the weak 'shellfish' argument: christianconcern.com/comment…

VINDICATED BUT STILL BLACKLISTED: The Archbishop of Canterbury, @JustinWelby ‘misunderstood the scope of his powers’, a senior Church legal officer for clergy discipline has found, after he repeatedly tried to block a serious complaint of misconduct being investigated over a bishop blacklisting an ordained @churchofengland chaplain. The story exposes how Justin Welby and the Bishop of Derby, Rt. Rev Libby Lane have repeatedly misused safeguarding processes to uphold an illegitimate ban on Dr Bernard Randall’s ministry. After giving a sermon in a CofE chapel in a school with a CofE ethos which reflected the CofE's teaching on marriage, Dr Randall was reported to Prevent and eventually sacked. Worse was to follow, however, when the Derby diocese’s safeguarding team, under the watch of the bishop, blacklisted him as a safeguarding risk to children because of his orthodox Christian beliefs. No evidence has ever been produced that Bernard is a risk or that he has done anything wrong. It has been revealed that the diocese departed from official guidance without explaining why and even concluded that the Bible's teaching itself is a 'risk-factor.' Bernard has not given a sermon or worked in church ministry since. Now it’s been revealed that Gregory Jones KC, acting on behalf of the President of Tribunals, has said that the Archbishop of Canterbury was ‘plainly wrong’ to dismiss Bernard’s subsequent complaint over how the safeguarding process was handled. The President of Tribunals, Dame Sarah Asplin then said that the safeguarding procedure used against Bernard was "flawed" and “highly unsatisfactory”. Six months later, Bernard has still not been contacted by the Bishop of Derby and there is no sign of him being given his licence back. This has made it impossible for Bernard to continue working as a chaplain or in other Christian ministry and he has been unfairly forced into finding other work to support his family. It’s time for the Church of England to give Bernard his life back. He’s been punished for nothing more than upholding his Christian beliefs, which are fully in accordance with Church of England doctrine. Find out more christianconcern.com/ccpress…

Wonderful news. Another baby (a beautiful boy) was born yesterday 31st July to a beautiful courageous mother in the East of England who sought help with abortion pill reversal treatment in early pregnancy after regretting taking Mifepristone at 7 weeks gestation. 62+ babies now.

BREAKING: In a landmark ruling today, the Court of Appeal has overturned a judgment which declared 19-year-old, Sudiksha Thirumalesh, mentally incompetent only because she disagreed with her doctors’ advice to stop life-saving treatment. Sudiksha, an A-level student who remained fully conscious, disagreed with her doctors’ opinion that her condition was incurable and that she should therefore have all life-sustaining treatment ended and move to a palliative care pathway. Sudiksha said she wanted 'to die trying to live.' In August 2023, however, the Court of Protection declared that this showed Sudiksha lacked mental capacity, and decisions about her treatment could be made without her consent based on an assessment of her best interests. Tragically, Sudiksha died in September 2023. Sudiksha's family had the rare opportunity, however, to appeal the ruling which said she lacked capacity. Responding to the ruling today, her family has said: “We are grateful to the Court of Appeal for an opportunity to challenge the frightening and unfair judgment made against Sudiksha even after her death, and for setting the law straight. A patient’s right to disagree with her doctors, not to relinquish hope, and still to have her decisions respected, will now be part of Sudiksha’s legacy. “This case should have never been taken to the courts. Sudiksha clearly had capacity to make her own decisions, and it was only the toxic paternalism of the Trust which caused them seek to overrule Sudiksha’s wishes in the Courts. We did not want this legal battle, which ruined our lives and deprived Sudiksha of her chance to raise funds and see if nucleoside treatment could save her. Alas, the belated recognition of some of the errors made in her case cannot bring her back. “The irrational and cruel judgment of the Court of Protection had a devastating impact on how Sudiksha and her family were treated by Queen Elizabeth Hospital on a daily basis. From the moment the judgment was made, it gave the clinicians the power to do whatever they liked, with no respect for Sudiksha’s own wishes and treating her family with hostility and contempt. No real effort was made to secure a clinical trial of nucleoside therapy, which might yet have saved Sudiksha’s life. May God forgive all those who have done this to her.” Find out more on this case on our website. christianconcern.com/ccpress…

The Church of England have voted to proceed with standalone services to bless same-sex couples which could look very much like weddings, and to explore allowing clergy to enter same-sex civil marriages and engage in homosexual sexual activity. In the midst of this perversion of the canons and Holy Scripture, The Alliance has come together to establish a 'parallel province' within the Anglican church. As the CofE, its leadership and doctrines shape Christian life in the UK, we need to pray, practise wisdom and courageously hold fast to what the bible and current CofE doctrine say: marriage in God's eyes is between one man and one woman, and the rightful place of sexual intimacy is within marriage. @benjamin_john

The King has said in his speech today that a draft bill will be brought forward by the Labour government to ban 'conversion practices'. @HuxTweets shares more about how we got here and what a ban means for the freedom of people seeking to turn away from a homosexual lifestyle.

"I don’t want to be panicking and looking over my shoulder while getting ready to work in a hospital caring for patients." Nurses are taking legal action against an NHS Trust after being forced to share a female changing room with a sexually active male identifying as a woman. Find out what they have to say. christianconcern.com/ccpress…

Liberal Democrats' Manifesto - a Christian assessment Our Head of Public Policy @TDieppe reacts to the Liberal Democrats' manifesto.