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Letter – Relationship and Sexuality Education – RSE

The following letter by Mr Samuel Morrison, Press Officer with the Traditional Unionist Voice party, appeared in today’s ‘Belfast Newsletter’.

I know it will be of interest to our readers.

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster

The Relationship and Sexuality Education curriculum

Mr Samuel Morrison
Press Officer
Traditional Unionist Voice

Back in June the Secretary of State announced that he was bringing in changes to the Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) curriculum in Northern Ireland. These changes did not come out of the blue. They are a direct consequence of Section 9 of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019. Section 9 is of course the same piece of legislation which stripped Northern Ireland’s unborn of the protection of the law and created one of the most permissive abortion regimes in Europe. Another consequence of the 2019 Act was the redefinition of marriage.

As the title of the legislation suggests, it also provided for the formation of an executive. Anyone who went into government on the basis of the 2019 Act did so on the basis of legislation which redefined marriage, introduced abortion and paved the way for the changes to RSE. That may be a fact which makes some in the DUP rather uncomfortable – particularly when one remembers just how long the Executive formed on the basis of the Act lasted – but fact it is nonetheless.

The changes in relation to our abortion law has already had radical consequences. Up until October last year, 4,136 were performed in Northern Ireland since the law changed at the end of March 2020. Contrast that with the situation between 2014 and 2019 when a total of 65 abortions were performed across Northern Ireland and it cannot be denied that the increase in the number of abortions is astronomical. One would be hard pressed to maintain an argument that there is a lack of information on how to access an abortion.

Yet information on how to access abortions is exactly what the Secretary of State is bringing into our schools. The Relationships and Sexuality Education (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 state that secondary schools will have to teach “age-appropriate, comprehensive and scientifically accurate education on sexual and reproductive health and rights covering prevention of early pregnancy and access to abortion”.

Tellingly, there is no provision for the ethos of schools in the regulations – something which will set schools in Northern Ireland apart from their counterparts in the rest of the U.K.

Furthermore, suggestions that those who are concerned about these matters will have opportunity to feed into a consultation are at best being disingenuous. Any curriculum must be faithful to the legislative framework which frames abortion in terms of a “right”.

Simply put, the regulations lay the groundwork for secondary schools in Northern Ireland to be required to teach a moral wrong is actually a civil right. It will do so without any regard for the conscience of the teacher or the ethos of the school.

While the Department of Education has been quick to seize on salacious and inaccurate information spread by one group which suggested the changes were much more radical and would impact primary schools (they will not) there has been little serious debate in Northern Ireland about the changes which are coming.

It is also noteworthy that the changes have knock on consequences for devolution. Many Unionists who held their noses when it came to accepting Sinn Fein in government did so on the basis at least Stormont would permit Unionists to exercise a degree of control. Some argued that the parallel consent mechanisms of the Belfast Agreement could be used to stop the redefinition of marriage and abortion and would prevent Westminster imposing things over the heads of Unionists.

London has, however, not only repeatedly meddled in devolved matters but, due to the Protocol, has even trashed Northern Ireland’s constitutional position as a full and equal member of the U.K.

With little prospect of things improving if devolution was to return – there is a majority in the Assembly which is even more radical than Westminster on a range of issues such as “conversion therapy”, transgenderism and exclusion zones – those concerned about the changes to RSE in Northern Ireland are unlikely to see any improvement under a Stormont executive.

Mr Samuel Morrison
Press Officer
Traditional Unionist Voice

31 August 2023

Shifting attitudes of the C of E!

This report on the state of the Church of England is of interest to all who love the truth of God, irrespective of our view of that particular religious body.

The ‘Church of England’ emerged from the mists of religious and political controversy in the 16th century, trailing with it much of the ways, the language, the costumes and the errors of popish trumpery!

There were many very brave men and women who did their best to further reform the new ecclesiastical body, many of whom paid with their lives their faithfulness to God and His Word.

In the seventeenth century, under Charles II, the ‘Church’ was purged of virtually all who desired a greater reforming and a closer alignment in faith and practice with the Word of God. They were literally cast out into the street at the King’s command in what became known last the ‘Great Ejection’.

The ‘Act of Uniformity’ of Charles II prescribed that any minister who refused to conform to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer by St Bartholomew’s Day (24 August) 1662 should be ejected from the Church of England. This date became known as “Black Bartholomew’s Day” among Dissenters, a reference to the fact that it occurred on the same day as the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre of 1572.

Oliver Heywood estimated the number of ministers ejected at 2,500. This group included Richard Baxter, Edmund Calamy the Elder, Simeon Ashe, Thomas Case, John Flavel, William Jenkyn, Joseph Caryl, Benjamin Needler, Thomas Brooks, Thomas Manton, William Sclater, Thomas Doolittle, and Thomas Watson. Biographical details of ejected ministers and their fates were later collected by the historian Edmund Calamy, grandson of Calamy the elder.

In many ways, this was a mortal blow for the Church of England has ever since been an avenue by which false teaching and heresy has been introduced in ‘the name of the Lord’ and corrupt practices have been sanctioned by it.

It has been slowly dying as an institution ever since. This article gives further evidence of the corrupting process known as DEATH, being at an advanced stage in its ranks! (more…)

Prominent US priest took umbrage at being linked to the IRA

Prominent Irish-American priest ‘Fr‘ Sean McManus

The following article is from the ‘Belfast Telegraph, Monday 28th August.

It relates the attempts of a priest who came from our part of the world, for he was born in Co. Fermanagh, my native county.

He comes from a strongly republican family with very obvious ties to the IRA. His brother, Patrick, was a member of the IRA and was killed in an explosion in 1958 during the IRA’s “Border Campaign”.

The Word of God tells us that Christ forbids the use of the spiritual title ‘Father’ to any man. “‭And‭ call‭‭ no‭ ‭man‭ your‭ father‭ upon‭ the earth‭: for‭ one‭ is‭‭ your‭ Father‭, which‭ is in‭ heaven‭,‭”‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Matthew 23:9. McManus, like all Roman Catholic priests, displays his defiance of Christ by the use of such a title. It is for this reason I try ever to place quotation marks around its use!

McManus took umbrage at a BBC reporter, Seamus McKee, who alleged claimed he had links to the IRA.

This priest, like others who have made no secret of their ties to the terrorists of the IRA, had indeed links with the terror group. He had family links as his brother’s membership of the IRA indicates. Furthermore, he had moral links for his whole public witness was but a reiteration largely of the usual Sinn Fein/IRA propaganda.

In the end, he abandoned his attempts for one reason or another.

But the case is not over, for like all such matters, there is a day when the Lord will publicly reveal the truth concerning such matters men have attempted to conceal.

“‭For God‭ shall bring‭‭ every work‭ into judgment‭, with every secret thing‭‭, whether ‭it be‭ good‭, or whether ‭it be‭ evil‭,‭”‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Ecclesiastes 12:14.

“‭In‭ the day‭ when‭ God‭ shall judge‭‭‭ the secrets‭ of men‭ by‭ Jesus‭ Christ‭ according‭ to my‭ gospel‭,‭”‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Romans 2:16.

“‭Therefore‭ judge‭‭ nothing‭‭ before‭ the time‭, until‭‭ the Lord‭ come‭‭, who‭ both‭ will bring to light‭‭ the hidden things‭ of darkness‭, and‭ will make manifest‭‭ the counsels‭ of the heart,‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭”‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ 1 Corinthians 4:5.

In the light of that day, the Christian is able to bear with the vexation and the anger that the arrogant and deceitful claims of the likes of McManus, knowing that one day, the God of all truth, will declare the authentic story of the life of such men!

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster

Prominent US priest tried to sue BBC’s Seamus McKee after claiming he’d linked him to the IRA

‘Fr’ Sean McManus began the action in the late 1980s — but a decade later government officials were still dealing with the consequences

Sam McBride

Yesterday at 14:30

A high-profile Irish American priest launched a libel action against BBC journalist Seamus McKee and others after being linked to the IRA — but abandoned it after several years, declassified files show.

A file on the matter was drawn up by Stormont’s Department of Economic Development because it had been named as one of the defendants in the action, along with the senior BBC figure, the BBC itself and former Alliance leader John Cushnahan. (more…)