The Equalities Commission will not have its cake, nor will it eat it.

In a rare win for freedom of expression, Belfast bakers Daniel and Amy McArthur have been exonerated by the UK Supreme Court of any liability, after refusing to bake a cake promoting gay marriage.

Four years of this high-profile legal battle have exposed the gross injustices of Britain’s ‘hate laws’. Well done to these two steadfast Christians for refusing to give in to the state bullies who have wrongly accused them. This is a real victory!

It is frightening that this case had to go all the way to the Supreme Court to get a verdict that plain common sense should have delivered instantly. It has also exposed the bias of the so-called ‘Equality Commission’ in Northern Ireland (ECNI) – a supposedly ‘independent’, publicly-funded body dedicated to promoting ‘equality’ and ‘human rights’. Here, effectively, is an arm of the state colluding with the LGBTQ+ lobby to punish ordinary citizens and small businesses for failing to affirm LGBTQ+ ideology, wasting £250,000 of tax-payers’ money in the process.¹

But despite these things, the verdict should still be a real cause for celebration. It is not an ‘offensive’ win, taking legal ground back for ‘Christendom’, but it is a landmark ‘defensive’ win, ensuring Christians’ continued freedom to refuse to partake in and affirm the sinful beliefs and practices of this generation.

Freedom for Conscience

Had it gone the other way, it would effectively have spelled the end of freedom of conscience, especially in the sphere of trade, setting a legal precedent for the state to enforce independent businesses to affirm values with which they disagree profoundly. It is therefore a win that should benefit everyone, not just Christians, as Daniel McArthur emphasised to the press after the judgment was given:

The judges have given a clear signal today. In fact, it couldn’t be clearer. Family businesses like ours are free to focus on giving all their customers the best service they can – without being forced to promote other people’s campaigns.

I know a lot of people will be very glad of this ruling today, because this ruling protects freedom of speech and freedom of conscience for everyone.²

By contrast, the ECNI revealed its contempt for the idea of individual freedom of conscience in its post-judgment statement, saying “There is a concern…that the beliefs of business owners may take precedence over a customer’s equality rights, which in our view is contrary to what the legislature intended”.³ Those in charge of equality law enforcement obviously consider their own brand of morality to be incontrovertible; they brook no dissent- and they don’t think that the courts should, either.

Had the judgment gone the other way, it would effectively have spelled the end of freedom of conscience, especially in the sphere of trade.

The Battle Underneath

Underlying the Ashers case is a deep conflict between the freedoms brought about by Judeo-Christian values – the vestiges of which still linger in Britain’s institutions and culture - and the secular humanist values of equality law, which promise freedom but tend towards tyranny.

This latter worldview has been encroaching on Britain for decades, helped along by the commandeering of positive-sounding words like ‘justice’, ‘freedom’ and ‘equality’. Instead of ‘equality’ meaning the dignity that should be afforded to all humans because they are made in God’s image, regardless of their personal beliefs, ‘equality’ has been co-opted to mean enforced compliance with an atheistic, sexually licentious worldview.

This kind of ‘equality’ is grounded in a rejection of the God of the Bible and his created order, and a devaluation of individual freedoms for the ‘greater good’.

Behind this again are spiritual forces of darkness aiming to thwart the salvation of millions by (a) promoting and seeking to compel ungodly beliefs and behaviours, and (b) working to shut down and punish godly behaviours and responses. In the Ashers case, both of these spiritual strategies have been in play. The McArthurs have come under enormous pressure to compromise their own convictions and bow to the spirit of the age.

But – praise the Lord – this time, the attempt to shut down Christian witness has backfired spectacularly. The Supreme Court’s verdict shows that there may yet be hope for our institutions. Even more deliciously, the case has afforded Daniel and Amy many opportunities to testify in front of national reporters and TV cameras to God’s goodness and truth, which they have done with grace, dignity and evident faith:

Victoria Jones/PA Wire/PA ImagesI want to start by thanking God. He has been with us during the challenges of the last four years. Through the Bible and the support of Christians, He has comforted us and sustained us. "He is our rock and all His ways are just.”

We're delighted and relieved at today's ruling. We always knew we hadn't done anything wrong in turning down this order. After more than four years, the Supreme Court has now recognised that and we're very grateful. Grateful to the judges and especially grateful to God.⁴

Praise the Lord – this time, the attempt to shut down Christian witness has backfired spectacularly.

The Light Shines

The victory and the witness are both enormously refreshing. The McArthurs have tasted the truth of Isaiah 54:17: “’no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,’ declares the Lord.”

But just as heartening is the amount of public support the couple has received, including from surprising quarters such as gay activist Peter Tatchell. Tatchell does not agree with the McArthurs’ beliefs, but vehemently defends their right to hold them without fear of punishment, understanding that vital freedoms are at stake. Tatchell joins a growing crowd - like the lesbians protesting trans ideology, and the students rejecting an inherited university culture of alcoholic excess (see last week’s editorial) - who seem to be realising that Britain’s culture change has gone too far. Though they may not understand fully, they can see that society is risking self-destruction and the loss of many hard-fought, hard-won freedoms.

Perhaps (I certainly hope) we are seeing the beginnings of a backlash against the seemingly relentless erosion of Judeo-Christian values in Britain. The war is certainly not over - God apparently still stands ready to intervene for his precious saints, granting continued freedom to the whole nation in the process. Who knows, we may yet see some unlikely characters joining the fight for freedom before long.

Meanwhile, we can pray that the McArthurs’ testimony bears abundant spiritual fruit. When believers stand their ground, graciously but firmly, against the attacks of the enemy, sometimes they are granted worldly victory and vindication - sometimes not. But God will never let their witness go to waste:

Look, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. But beware of men; for they will hand you over to their councils and flog you in their synagogues…But when they hand you over, do not worry about how to respond or what to say. In that hour you will be given what to say. For it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you…

…Therefore, everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven. (Matthew 10:16-33)

Notes

1 DUP MP Ian Paisley has written to the secretary of state for Northern Ireland in the aftermath of the Ashers ruling, calling for a review into the ECNI’s funding.

2 Watch Daniel’s full statement here (1 min 50).

3 Read the full ECNI statement here.

4 See note 3.

Greg Stevenson reviews Magna Carta Unlocked (DVD, 2015).

This time two years ago, we were celebrating a major anniversary of the Magna Carta, the document which founded so many of Britain’s Christian legal principles and freedoms. In view of the election, this week we are highlighting a resource released then which is still extremely pertinent now to Christians wanting to better understand the Judeo-Christian foundations of our nation.

This DVD set is a five-part documentary released by Sceptred Isle Productions. It examines the politics, science, society, law and warfare related to the Magna Carta, especially in areas of freedom, democracy and the rule of law. It is written and presented by Philip Quenby, who was a partner in an international law firm.¹

The DVD was issued to mark the 800^th anniversary of this powerful document of democracy, sealed on 15 June 1215 at Runnymede. Magna Carta established the basis for no man being above the law, for limiting the power of the king, for laying down the principle that punishment should be in accordance with the law and for assuring access to justice for all accused.

The document to which King John attached his Great Seal was the 48 paragraphs of the 'Articles of the Barons', later re-issued as 63 clauses by Henry III in 1217 and named 'Magna Carta'. Although the Charter focused narrowly on the concerns of a small elite, it established free men's rights to justice above the will of the king, and was a bulwark against oppression.

The English Battles for Freedom

The DVD throws us in at the deep end - in 1643, the middle of the battles of the English Civil War. This was the only English 'revolution' that re-affirmed the primary aims of the Charter, and established that the king (Charles I) could not rule by divine right with no opposition. It defined the limits of feudal rights of the Crown, brought an end to the sale of justice, protected the privileges of the church, and addressed due process of law.

As 'native rights' there was to be freedom of conscience, freedom from conscription into the armed forces, and equality for all before the law. Authority was to be vested in the House of Commons rather than the King and the Lords. The cost was the lives of 5% of the population (equivalent to 3 million of today's population).

Magna Carta established free men's rights to justice above the will of the king, and was a bulwark against oppression.

The freedom for which men fought was enshrined in the 'Agreement of the People' argued out by Cromwell's men in 1647 at St Mary's Church, Putney Bridge. When President Adams (USA) visited the site in 1786, he said: “Do Englishmen so soon forget the ground where liberty was fought for? Tell your neighbours and your children that this is holy ground; much holier than that on which your churches stand”.

But the battle for freedom was not over. The DVD moves through James II’s attempt to suspend laws against Roman Catholics, the transfer of the Crown to the Dutch Protestant Prince William of Orange, the Bill of Rights (1689) which further confirmed free elections and the rights of Parliament, and the impacts of these developments on the most famous written constitution of all, drafted in Philadelphia in 1787.

Two Different Champions for Liberty

Finally, the DVD gives examples of two champions of liberty, both fighting against the Establishment of their day, but with very different results: Wilkes and Rousseau.

John Wilkes, born in London in 1727, argued for religious tolerance and scorned the vested interests, bribery, and corruption he saw in England. In spite of a scurrilous lifestyle, he succeeded in removing the Crown's unfettered control over judicial appointments. Thus the freedom which Magna Carta sought was fought for in the courts.

In a Wilkes trial for outlawing, he prompted the famous comment by Lord Chief Justice William Murray (Lord Mansfield): 'Fiat justitia ruat caelum' - 'Let justice be done, though the heavens fall' (regardless of the consequences). This sentence was inscribed in American courts, though many are being removed in these present secular humanist times.

The Foundation for These Freedoms

Unlike the American Declaration of Independence, English political settlement did not rest on 'In the Name, and by the Authority of the (good) people of these colonies…' but acknowledged a higher, Divine, authority.

This principle goes back even earlier than Magna Carta, to the Legal Code compiled by King Alfred the Great (the Doom Code, c.893 AD), to which he prefixed the Ten Commandments, together with rules of life from the Judeo-Christian code of ethics. This is the connection between English law and God's laws; Christian values have thus a key role in English law.

Christian values have a key role in English law.

As we have seen in America, the idea of law having an objective standard derived from the Bible was not to everyone's taste, however. In Europe, Jean-Jaques Rousseau believed that Man had been corrupted by civilisation, and published his 'social contract',² arguing that man has only one authority to which he should submit – 'the General Will of the people'. Contempt for convention in France led quickly to rebellion and revolution (1789) and a new humanist constitution, to which Edmund Burke commented that the moral code of the law was then irrelevant.³

Thus law can override personal opinion, if the general will decides that it disturbs public order, and there is no freedom of conscience (as we have recently seen in Northern Ireland). All supposed protection of the law is thus worthless. Rousseau's brave new world was soon seen in the 'New Republic' (1793) and led to brute force, terror and totalitarian revolution, with no restraint or accountability. Even though in England there was loss of life, at least Cromwell prevented this tyrannical result in our sceptred isle, for which we must be thankful.

Rights, Justice and Security Based on God's Law

The DVD's conclusion is that Magna Carta set up some principles for a sense of law based on right and justice (albeit at that time for a very limited section of the populace) and was in accordance not with royal or parliamentary prerogative, nor with ‘the general will of the people’ who espouse their own sense of right (or none), but with God's laws (cf. Deut 12:8; Jud 12:15).

Overall, it gives a well-presented, balanced view of the fight for justice, although this struggle is far from over, for the world is not clear of revolutions or totalitarian governments. But God's word will stand (Isa 40:8). With no vision, the people will (and do) cast off restraint (Heb. let loose, perish); happiness is found in keeping the law (Torah means teaching/instruction for life) – Proverbs 29:18.

In areas of right and justice, God's word is our yardstick and our security, and Philip Quenby's presentation in this double DVD set underpins this truth.

Magna Carta Unlocked is available from the publisher to stream for £5 or to buy on DVD for £12.50 (also available from Amazon). Rated 12. Click here for more details.

References

1 Philip Quenby. Magna Carta: The missing link in the EU debate. Heart of Sussex and Surrey, June/July 2016, p15.

2 Jean-Jaques Rousseau. Principes du droit politique, 1762.

3 Edmund Burke. Reflections on the French Revolution, 1790.

What is the significance of the High Court Judges' decision that Brexit cannot be implemented without the approval of Parliament?

Clearly this could result in long delays, with both Houses of Parliament locked in debate over the minutiae of each detail of the negotiations. It creates another element of uncertainty which is damaging both for the economy and for Britain's future standing in the world.

Is this just another tactic by those who, like Tony Blair and many others, want to reverse the 23 June Referendum decision of the British public and keep us shackled to the European Union? In this magazine our primary purpose is not simply to join in a political debate but to ask the fundamental question: does God have something to say about this situation?

Britain's Divine Purpose?

The biblical position is that God has a purpose for each nation within his overall international purposes of bringing his truth to the whole of humanity. Paul referred to this when addressing the Areopagus, the Council of Philosophers in Athens. He said:

From one man he has made every nation of men – that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him. (Acts 17.26-37)

Of course, Paul had seen geographical boundaries change as the Roman Empire expanded, so what was the truth he was seeking to convey? It was surely about national identity and the unique purpose that God has for each community of people.

God has a purpose for each nation, within his overall purpose of bringing his truth to all humanity.

43 years ago, Britain moved its God-given boundary stones and joined a man-made institution specifically designed with the humanist intention of removing national sovereignty and borders to prepare the way for global rule by a political elite with one currency, one army, one set of regulations and values, and one religion. It was the outcome of their man-made solution to the problem of squabbles between the nations of Europe that had resulted in the two world wars of the 20^th Century.

On 23 June, God gave Britain the opportunity of rediscovering its national identity, uniqueness and place within the purposes of God. Of course, as was to be expected by all those who have spiritual understanding, this decision was going to provoke a furious backlash. Today, there is a great spiritual battle raging in the heavenlies over this nation and it is going to become increasingly intense.

Brexit is by No Means Won

I referred to this in a speech on 29 October at a celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles in the Emmanuel Centre Westminster, which was full for the occasion. It was led by Barry and Batya Segal who have a great ministry in Israel through the Joseph Storehouse that serves both Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs.

During the meeting, I said that the battle of Brexit is by no means won. This was clearly endorsed by those present. When I was speaking, I had a strong sense of a word from the Lord and I wrote it down after the meeting.

This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of Brexit, the battle is not yours but mine. I guided the vote to leave the European Union - the Union that denies its heritage of truth that your forefathers fought and gave their lives to maintain. It is a union that has brought darkness to the people and now it is a Continent that is walking in darkness. But you my people are the ones who have seen a great light and yours is the task to open eyes that are blind and ears that are deaf to the truth.

Those who have seen the light will witness to those who walk in darkness and are bound by the power of Satan, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and be set free from the powers of darkness. It is not the politicians who will set the people free but it is those who have seen the light. They will be used as a mighty army of prayer warriors to support and direct the way of those who hold political power so that when the great shaking of Europe begins and the towers of mammon fall, Britain will stand firm and will be a witness to the world.

I believe that God is not only looking for his people to pray, but also actively to be his witnesses. This means every Christian speaking the word of the Lord in their family and among their friends and neighbours – boldly but lovingly speaking truth into our nation where there has been so much compromise and distortion of the truth.

There is a great spiritual battle raging in the heavenlies over this nation and it is going to become increasingly intense.

Arise, Church!

I believe God is saying that the time has come for Christians to confront the forces of darkness that have been destroying family life, promoting secular humanism and allowing the spiritual forces of evil to corrupt our children.

The Church has been silent for far too long, compromising with the world. If the Lord is to use Britain as a witness to the world at the time when the European Union collapses and all the institutions of power crumble, there has to be repentance in the Church and a new openness to the Spirit of God. Then he will be able to bless the nation, giving protection and prosperity in the time of great shaking that is soon to encompass all nations.

Each of us has a specific and vital part to play in this. Will you join us in praying for our nation and seeking the Lord for guidance, conviction and courage in the days ahead, that each of us might respond in the way he desires?

On this day 70 years ago, 20 of Germany's Nazi leaders went on trial before an International Military Tribunal, to be held to account for their war crimes. To mark this occasion, we are publishing a personal memoir of the Nuremberg Trials written by Patricia Vander Elst, who was present as an interpreter.

Introduction

In her article below, written not long before her death in July 2005 and published originally by the International Association of Conference Interpreters, my mother, Patricia Vander Elst, describes how, at the tender age of 21, she began her lifelong career as a freelance interpreter, working in the interpreters' booth at the famous 1945-1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial. She worked then under her maiden name of Patricia Jordan, and together with her other interpreter colleagues present at that Trial, pioneered the then novel system of simultaneous interpretation that has been in general use throughout the world ever since.

After the Nuremberg Trial, my mother continued working as a freelance interpreter for a variety of private and international organisations, including UNESCO, the Council of Europe, and the various institutions of the European Union. By the time she died at the age of 80, still working, she had become a widely respected and legendary veteran of the interpreting profession. But what was even more interesting about her was the fact that she spent the first 14 years of her life growing up in first Weimar and then Nazi Germany. Her many vivid memories of that fascinating era included attending the same primary school as Field Marshall Von Hindenberg's grandchildren, and witnessing the terrible aftermath of 'Kristallnacht' in November 1938.

As she told me on more than one occasion, her observation of life in pre-war Nazi Germany, which included her own personal conflict with one Nazi teacher, innoculated her for life against anti-Semitism, taught her an enduring lesson about the need to think for oneself and resist indoctrination, and made her a passionate supporter of Israel. I was and will always remain immensely proud of her.

Philip Vander Elst

The Nuremberg trial

The War was over. An International Military Tribunal had been set up in Nuremberg to try the leading Nazi war criminals. The Main Trial lasted from November 1945 until the verdicts on 30th September 1946 - and I was present during the last four months.

After going to school in Berlin where I lived with my English parents until a few days before the German attack on Poland, I ended up in Switzerland where I saw out the war and spent my last six years of formal education at French-speaking schools and universities.

In Nuremberg, the Trial was being conducted in English, French, Russian and German and was using the novel and largely untried system of simultaneous interpretation. Due to the length of the trial, some interpreters were leaving and had to be replaced. Monitors were dispatched to look for new talent. A test was organised at the Geneva University School of Interpreters which, to my surprise, I passed. We had learnt consecutive interpretation only and to find myself speaking into a microphone at the same time that I was listening to a disembodied voice through earphones was thoroughly disconcerting.

With the ink of my degree scarcely dry, I set out for Nuremberg. It was my first job and, though I did not know it at the time, also my biggest. I went into it with the innocent enthusiasm of my 21 years, looking forward to the freedom from home, the glamour of a foreign assignment and the lure of the unknown. Four months later, the Trial over, I left: ten years older, a great deal wiser, and, indeed, an interpreter.

It was my first job – and my biggest. I went into it with innocent enthusiasm and left a great deal wiser.

Nuremberg Courthouse, see Photo Credits.En-route, I got lost near Frankfurt in a muddle of travel vouchers, curfews and non-existent trains. When I did reach Nuremberg, I was billeted at the Grand Hotel where I was allowed to remain for the duration. I spent a week in the public gallery listening to the proceedings in the Court Room. Then, after a brief test in the booth during a lunch-break, I was told I would be starting in earnest the following day. I felt it was a matter of sink or swim. I swam.

In the Court Room

The lay-out of the Court Room was simple and compact. The accused faced the judges, with assorted German counsel and court reporters in between. Our four booths were at right angles and in very close proximity to the defendants. We could watch them and they often watched us. Facing the interpreters were three sets of Prosecution tables which made up the fourth side of the Court, with the Press and public beyond.

By today's sophisticated technical standards, the booths and the equipment were primitive. We sat in three-sided glass boxes open at the top. Because of the tight fit, it was impossible to leave the booths except during breaks when we would shuffle out in reverse order to the way we had shuffled in. The earphones were clumsy things and each booth of three interpreters had to share one hand-held microphone which was passed to whoever was working from the language just being spoken.

Learning Fast

The system broke down quite frequently and the sound could be bad, but we learned to improvise. Looking back, I am amazed how well we coped and how quickly we acquired the new skills. One of the things we learnt to do fast and well was sight-reading. By the time I got to Nuremberg, it was usual for untranslated prepared speeches to be given to us in writing, which was enormously helpful.

Any misgivings I had about my ability to meet the challenge would vanish as soon as I walked into the booth, much like an actor shedding stage-fright when setting foot on the boards. The monitors would keep a constant close watch on our performance and would tell us where we went wrong or how to improve our delivery. I was told to pitch my voice lower, which I did. Ever since, I have been much aware of the quality of an interpreter's voice and wonder why our occasional screech-owls or excessive regional accents have not been brought to task.

Any misgivings I had about my ability would vanish as soon as I walked into the booth, like an actor shedding stage-fright when setting foot on the boards.

Interpreters at the Nuremberg Trials. See Photo Credits.

We worked two days in a row and had the third day off. One team was on for 1 1/2 hours in the morning and again for 1 1/2 hours in the afternoon. While a second team took over for the other half of the morning and afternoon, we would sit in a nearby room which was equipped with ear-phones and where we could follow the proceedings in the Court. There it was that I listened to Lord Justice Lawrence handing down the sentences. The room was packed then, the atmosphere quite as tense and as solemn as in the Court Room itself.

Team Spirit

The interpreters were, I think, quite a pleasant cosmopolitan lot; a mixture of ages and nationalities, professions and opinions - including several refugees and Jews. Living amidst a sullen native population, in a town that was just a heap of rubble, was stressful, as indeed was the never-ending recital of horrors in the Court Room. I learnt to ignore the first and overcame the strain in Court by concentrating on the work itself.

I was greatly helped in this by the remarkable team spirit among the interpreters and by the close and, as it turned out, life-long friendship with some of them. We let off steam dancing the night away in the Marble Room of the Grand Hotel. We had a lot of fun, an indispensable antidote to the Court Room blues.

The Trials

In Court, whatever our private thoughts, it was necessary to remain neutral when working. From being a blur of concentrated human malice the defendants, little by little, emerged as individuals. One could even admire Goering for his intelligence and dignity and share his open contempt for the slimy Streicher. Kaltenbrunner scared me, he was so palpably evil. The closing speech Hess made left me in no doubt that he was completely mad. We all liked Fritzsche who was only there as a substitute for his dead master Goebbels, and we were glad he was acquitted.

From being a blur of concentrated human malice the defendants, little by little, emerged as individuals.

After the verdicts and the ensuing release of tension, I had had enough of Nuremberg. Whereas I had been working from French into English at the Main Trial, I was supposed to transfer to the German booth for the Subsequent Proceedings. I was rescued by the Chief Interpreter of UNESCO who selected me, along with a few others, to work at the First General Conference in Paris (English/French consecutive). I was released from my Nuremberg contract and left.

Passing into History

I returned to Nuremberg recently. The town has been rebuilt, the scars of war no longer visible. The Court Room, after 54 years, seems smaller. A wall now partitions it where the front of the public gallery had been. The large dock has been rebuilt for fewer defendants. The oppressive dark wood panelling and heavy marble door frames remain, though, as does the small lift door at the back of the dock through which the Nazi leaders were daily brought to account. But I had no feeling of past personal involvement. The Nuremberg Trial had become history.

Patricia Vander Elst

Our thanks go to Patricia's son, Philip, for providing us with her account, as well as to the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC), through which it was first published (see here).