News and Views 

Iran-Israel war; Rape gang review; Assisted suicide Bill; Vote to decriminalise abortion; Ongoing attacks on Nigeria's Christians, and more. 

Iran / Israel War

• US provisionally approves attacks on Iran. Donald Trump has given provisional approval for US military strikes against Iran, according to senior intelligence sources, even as Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that his "nation will never surrender". Trump is understood to be giving Tehran a final chance to abandon its nuclear programme, and will make a decision on whether the US will get involved in the next two weeks. Meanwhile, seven people were lightly wounded in Beersheba early this morning after an Iranian missile crashed in the city for a second day, following a missile strike hitting Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Centre on Thursday. Read also this article and here.

Assisted Dying Bill

• MPs pass assisted suicide Bill. After several hours of emotional debate, MPs have today voted (Fri 20th June), by a narrow 23 vote margin, to back a bill legalising assisted dying in England and Wales. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill allows terminally ill adults who are deemed to have six months or less to live to get medical assistance to end their own lives. The House rejected amendments to protect those struggling with mental illness, financial pressure, or concerns about being a burden from undergoing assisted suicide. Many Christian organisations and charities strongly campaigned against the Bill, particularly in regard to safeguards for the vulnerable. Diane Abbott pertinently pointed out that “if the police can’t spot coercion dealing with domestic violence, why should they spot it in assisted dying?” It will now progress to the House of Lords, where it will face further scrutiny. Read also here and here.

Abortion Bill

• MPs vote to decriminalise abortion. MPs this week voted to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales, meaning that women will no longer face prosecution for aborting their own baby for any reason and at any stage up to birth.  Pushed through by almost 300 Labour MPs, it represents the biggest shake-up in reproductive rights for almost 60 years. Noting their attitude from abortion to assisted dying, Stephen Glover of The Daily Mail asks two pertinent questions: 'Why is it called 'infanticide' to kill a newborn child, yet it will soon be legal to end the life of a baby when it's fully formed in the womb?'; and “why does the Left seem so keen on killing people?” Some claim that the Commons vote serves to “undermine the legitimacy of feminism.” Others that it will lead to the start of a massive pro-life movement, like in the US. Opponents of the decriminalisation of abortion have vowed to fight on to block the proposed legislation in the Lords. Watch also here. But read also here. 

Grooming Gang Scandal

• The long-awaited public audit of grooming gangs by Baroness Louise Casey has found that councils, police forces and the Home Office were consistently in “denial” over the ethnicity of rape gangs, and repeatedly relied on flawed data to dismiss claims about Asian grooming gangs as “sensationalised, biased or untrue”. The report confirms what the public already knew – that Pakistani Muslim men are wildly overrepresented in rape gang crimes all over Britain, particularly in Rochdale, Rotherham, Dewsbury, Huddersfield, Middlesborough, Telford, Leeds and Canterbury. Casey's report found that a 'significant proportion' of current gang-rape suspects are illegal migrants.
• The damning 200-page report has forced Keir Starmer into a U-turn, inducing him to pledge to agree to Casey’s recommendation that a national inquiry should be set up to co-ordinate a series of targeted local investigations, which will be overseen by a new independent commission with full statutory inquiry powers to compel witnesses to attend. The PM had previously persistently resisted a national inquiry, claiming that those calling for one were ‘jumping on the far-Right bandwagon’.
• The Telegraph’s Nick Timothy said “the systematic and racially and religiously aggravated rape of thousands of vulnerable white girls is the worst scandal of our lifetimes.” GB News noted in regard to last summer’s street disorders in Rotherham: "There have now been more convictions for that one day of rioting in Rotherham than there have been for 25 years of grooming gang activity."
• Many fear that Labour’s inquiry will be not be truly independent. The government is yet to confirm whether the proposed inquiry will cover every affected town and city, and the Home Secretary has refused to instruct the National Crime Agency to investigate police officers, social workers and councillors who were complicit in these appalling crimes.
• Meanwhile, there are ongoing claims that the rape gangs are still at large, and the victims are not being believed. Some continue to be in denial about the rape-gang scandal; former Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis angrily hit out at anyone focusing time and attention on tackling Pakistani grooming gangs, terming them “racist”. Earlier this week the Bishop of Manchester rejected a clear link between grooming gangs and race.

Persecution of Christians

• Nigeria: Up to 200 dead in worst ever killing spree. Fulani Militants massacred up to 200 Christians in Nigeria’s Benue State last weekend (13th June), targeting displaced families who had been taking refuge following Fulani attacks on communities across Benue. The militants set fire to their buildings as they lay asleep in their temporary accommodation, macheting any who tried to flee. The death toll from the horrendous three-hour killing spree makes it the single-worst atrocity in a region where there has been a sudden upsurge in attacks. There are increasing signs that a concerted militant assault is underway to force an entire community to leave the region.
• Merely a ‘conflict between herders and farmers’ says BBC. Typically, western TV media has almost entirely ignored the catastrophe. Dramatically downplaying the story, the BBC News website shockingly claimed it was something of an equal “conflict between herders and farmers”, and seemingly accepted the claim from one Fulani spokesman that, “we have never allowed any of our people to attack or kill others”. Meanwhile, a Bishop in Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Yola has defended his decision to build a mosque for Muslims displaced by Boko Haram insurgency, along with a church for Christians and nearly 100 houses to house displaced Christians and Muslims. “I did it from the bottom of my heart”, he said.

Society and Politics

• Scottish drug deaths soar following SNP policy. Drug deaths in Scotland have surged by a third since the SNP’s controversial legalised ‘consumption room’ for heroin addicts opened. Scottish Government figures showed there were 308 drug deaths between January and March, 33% more than in the final three months of last year. They also showed that drug deaths among males rose by 44 per cent over the same period, with Glasgow having by far the highest number of cases. The pilot scheme, allows drug users to inject heroin under the supervision of clinical staff at the facility 365 days a year. The SNP hoped addicts might be directed into rehabilitation, but this hasn’t happened. Critics claim the facility is feeding, rather than helping to treat, addiction Scotland remains the drugs death capital of Europe.
• Labour Minister makes patently false claim on Question Time.  On last week’s BBC Question Time Labour minister Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, 'outrageously' claimed that most small boat migrants are women and children. Home Office figures show 73% per cent of small boat arrivals in 2024 were adult males – many more were males under 18 (only 9% were women). Despite Jones’ claim being patently untrue, the BBC failed to provide a factual correction. For some time, Jones defended his ‘clueless’ assertion, before being forced to retract it.

Church Issues

• Iranian Christians find welcome in UK churches. People whose first language is Farsi have been attending churches around the UK in increasing numbers in recent years. Most are from Iran, and many of them arrived seeking asylum. In Christ Church, Gipsy Hill in south London, around 250 Iranians have come through the doors in the last 3 ½ years. A weekly Farsi Bible study is attended by 30 people on average, and the church regularly runs the Alpha course in the Persian language. Several are part of the newly formed World Iranian Christian Alliance, which brings together more than 200 Iranian Christian leaders from around the world in an official fellowship.
• Christian refugees seeking asylum. Some join the Anglican Church to give a sense of belonging and to maintain a spiritual link with the Anglican diocese in Iran. Even in British churches, Iranian agents have been known to turn up and harass people – anyone they view as a threat to the regime back home. Tim Dieppe of Christian Concern claims the UK asylum system is biased against Christians. One Iranian who falsely sought asylum in the UK as a persecuted Christian – even though he was a Muslim – went on to have an encounter with God that totally changed his life. Iranian Christian converts seeking asylum in America have not always been so fortunate. Read also here.

Archaeology

• Colossal statues at ancient temple fuel biblical giant theories. Archaeologists have unearthed a “spectacular” ancient temple housing hundreds of “colossal male limestone” statues dedicated to the Greek God Apollo in a remote valley in Cyprus. The uncovered artifacts are believed to date back 2,700 years. Some see these “larger-than-life” figures as lending physical credibility to biblical texts such as Genesis 6:4, which refer to Nephilim, the giant breed of the offspring of fallen angels and human women who lived on Earth in ancient times.