UK: Religious freedom petition attracts 1k signatures in first 12 hours

NEARLY 1,000 people – including leading MPs and bishops – signed a petition calling for global religious freedom within 12 hours of its launch.

Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need is behind the initiative calling on governments and international organisations to protect Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – which guarantees the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

So far 1,278 people in the UK have signed the international petition including Lord Alton of Liverpool, chairman of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, Father of the House Sir Edward Leigh MP (Conservative) and Jim Shannon MP (DUP), Chair of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Religious Freedom.

Also supporting the petition are leading clergy including Coptic Orthodox Archbishop Angaelos of London, Anglican Bishop Philip Mounstephen of Winchester, Catholic Bishops John Arnold of Salford and Peter Brignall of Wrexham.

The petition went live shortly before the launch of the charity’s Religious Freedom in the World report at an event in the UK Parliament hosted by Brendan O’Hara MP (SNP).

Bishop John Bakeni from Maiduguri Diocese, Nigeria, who spoke at the launch, backed ACN’s initiative. He said: “In the face of persecution, we cannot remain silent.”

Talking about the situation in his own country, he said: “Over the past few years, violence has intensified – including horrendous massacres in the past year – in many of the attacks, the militants often first target the churches.”

Identifying a number of causes of the violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, including poverty, climate change and competition for land, he stressed that religious extremism also played a key part in many attacks.

Bishop Bakeni said: “Whilst the conflict is not solely about religion, it is equally simplistic not to see the religious dimension as a significantly exacerbating factor especially as churches, priests and other potent symbols of Christianity are attacked, seemingly with impunity.”

The petition calls on government to defend religious liberty, protect at-risk faith communities, and provide emergency and legal aid for those suffering persecution because of their beliefs.

Speaking about the petition at the launch event, Dr Caroline Hull, national director ACN UK, said: “For all people who suffer injustice, discrimination and persecution for the faith they choose to follow, we must take action.

“Religious freedom is a human right – the right to believe what we choose, without hurting ourselves or anyone else, and to live out that faith without fear in public or in private should be a right held dear by all and proclaimed through these august halls, through our streets and in our schools and homes.

“This right is enshrined as Article 18 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but every day humankind – from political and religious leaders to social media influencers to teachers and local politicians to heads of villages and family groups – fails to stand up for what is right”.

Ending with a plea for people to sign, Dr Hull said: “I ask you to respond to this call to action – the religious freedom report is the theory, but now you can put that theory into practice by supporting ACN’s petition.”

Sign the petition here.