Theresa May has made a plea for religious tolerance in her first Easter message as Prime Minister.
In a video message released just two days before she called a general election, May said: “We should be confident about the role that Christianity has to play in the lives of people in our country, and we should treasure the strong tradition that we have in this country of religious tolerance and freedom of speech.”
May said that Christians and others around the world were sometimes forced to “practise their religion in secret and often in fear”. She also implied that freedom of religion in Britain might not be entirely secure, saying: “We must continue to ensure that people feel able to speak about their faith, and that absolutely includes their faith in Christ.”
The Prime Minister appealed to Britain’s shared values of “compassion, community, citizenship”, which she said she had learnt “growing up in a vicarage”. May’s father was an Anglican clergyman.
She said these shared values could unite Britain as it faces “the opportunities that stem from our decision to leave the European Union”.
In November, May said that the ability to speak about one’s religion is “an important issue”.
Tony Blair’s former spin doctor Alastair Campbell criticised May, saying: “I think even vicars’ daughters should be a little wary of allying their politics to their faith.” He added: “She does not exactly say if God had a vote he would have voted Leave, but she gets closer to it than she should.
“If she really thinks she is leading a united country full of hope … I suggest she gets out more.”
Pro-abortion academic given grant of half a million
A pro-abortion academic has been given £512,000 to study the history of abortion since 1967.
Professor Sally Sheldon was given the grant by the taxpayer-funded Arts and Humanities Research Council. Professor Sheldon, a law professor at the University of Kent, is also a trustee of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, Britain’s largest abortion provider. She has supported the decriminalisation of abortion.
In a 2012 article for the Guardian, she conceded that “embryonic human life is of moral significance”, but said that this does not “provide a good basis for denying female autonomy in this most personal of decisions and maintaining the current legal regulation of abortion”.
The two-year project will include the writing of a “biographical study”, teaching packs for schools and a website for children.
Robert Flello, Labour MP and co-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-life Group, told the Daily Mail that it would be an “utterly outrageous use of public money” if the materials for schools ended up supporting pro-abortion propaganda.
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.