South African Christian News: Telling the God Stories of Africa
Adcocate Nadene Badenhorst legal counsel to Freedom of Religion South Africa (FOR SA) unpacks the implications for religious speech arising from the recent ‘Qwelane judgment’ in the Constitutional Court On July 30 the Constitutional Court handed down a unanimous judgment in the controversial and long-awaited case of Jon Qwelane versus the SA Human […]
Originally published in CBN News A Christian politician from Finland will be interrogated at police headquarters on Friday in a hate speech investigation for sharing a Bible passage on social media. Päivi Räsänen is a member of the Finnish Parliament, and she’s under investigation for committing a so-called hate crime […]
Pastor gets prison sentence for offensive remarks towards gays On Friday, 18 May 2018 Pastor Oscar Bougardt – who found himself in trouble with the law again after making certain “highly insulting, demeaning and uncharitable” statements regarding the LGBT community – was convicted of contempt of court and sentenced to […]
Originally published in Christian Concern A Christian street preacher has been acquitted of using ‘threatening and abusive language’ whilst preaching in Wood Green, London. Pastor Oluwole Ilesanmi, aged 62, had been charged concerning a sermon that he preached on June 24 2017, when a Muslim and two political activists pressed […]
Columnist Jon Qwelane has applied to the Johannesburg High Court (sitting as Equality Court) for leave to appeal against Judge Moshidi’s judgment on August 18. The judgment declared Qwelane’s statements (in the article that appeared in the Sunday Sun under the heading “Call me names, but gay is not okay”) […]
Originally published in Charisma News Canada passed a law on Thursday making it illegal to use the wrong gender pronouns. Critics say Canadians who do not subscribe to progressive gender theory could be accused of hate crimes, jailed, fined and made to take anti-bias training. Canada’s Senate passed Bill C-16, which […]
Two street preachers have today been convicted of a public order offence, after a public prosecutor claimed that publicly quoting parts of the King James Bible in modern Britain should “be considered to be abusive and is a criminal matter”. Prosecutor Ian Jackson also told the court that “although the […]
In October 2016, the CRL Rights Commission released its Report on the “commercialisation” of religion and abuse of people’s belief systems. The Report recommends the broad-scale regulation of religion in South Africa, including the compulsory registration and licensing (depending on doctrine) of all religious institutions and religious practitioners. The deadline […]
It is a sad day for democracy and the fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression when the State decides to legislate what is (or is not) acceptable speech, and further prescribes criminal sanctions in the form of fines and jail time for those who may be found guilty […]
Freedom of Religion SA (FOR SA) has prepared a sample submission on the Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill which churches and individuals can copy or adapt and submit to government by January 31 2017 which is the deadline for submissions. With its very broad definition of hate speech, FOR […]
