News and Views 21st November 2025 

Society and Politics

• SNP proposal to make sex-selective abortion legal up to birth. A review commissioned by former first minister of Scotland, Humza Yousaf, proposes a complete overhaul of abortion laws in Scotland and says that women should be allowed to abort their babies for any reason – even merely because they do not want a daughter or son. Critics have branded the plans 'totally disgusting' and said the changes were being made to appease certain ethnic minority groups ‘that prefer boys over girls'. It is well known that sex-selective abortion is already practised among some ethnic communities in the UK. Tory equalities spokesman Claire Coutinho added: "Killing babies because they are the 'wrong' sex is a dystopian nightmare that would be more suited to Communist China than Britain."

Persecution of Christians

• Over 1,000 churches reputedly destroyed annually in Nigeria. As noted in a recent News and Views, the BBC openly doubts that Islamists are specifically targeting Christians in northern Nigeria, and, like the Nigerian government based in the south, refutes any notion of ‘genocide’. They say the evidence of mass killings was ‘difficult to verify’, while making next to no attempt to investigate the matter themselves. Meanwhile, the evidence of the mass slaughter of Christians in the country continues to mount. It is claimed that since 2009, a staggering 19,100 churches in Nigeria have been destroyed, looted, or violently closed, representing an average of 1,200 churches per year, 100 per month, or more than three per day. The horrific attacks have continued this week.
• BBC accused of under-reporting and mis-framing the tragedy. Nigerian doctor Dr Courage Uhunmwangho, who lectures at the University of Jos and is a consultant at a hospital in the central Nigerian city, has warned the UK government of the "systematic under-reporting and mis-framing by the BBC of violence in North central Nigeria". He warned of the corporation's repeated failure to cover the anti-Christian atrocities in Nigeria and elsewhere, while dismissing those who raise them, has caused significant reputational damage. “No longer is the BBC seen as impartial, upholding its own values, but as an organisation with a deep-seated anti-Christian ideology, which diminishes and dismisses our shared experiences in favour of its own world view.”
• Death threats for daring to acknowledge Nigerian genocide. Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi of Nigeria is another who has emphasised, in a recent interview, that “a specifically targeted genocide against the Church” is certainly taking place. “Even good people are turning bad”, he said, “because they cannot watch their families being shot and slaughtered.” Just this week, the Rev Ezekiel Dachomo from Plateau State testified to facing death threats after speaking out against the attacks on Christians and calling the violence "genocide." “My life is in grave danger. Even as I speak, I am on the lookout for attacks. I no longer sleep with my eyes closed.” Yet the world at large, and not least the BBC, takes little notice. Read also here.
• Terrorists transformed into evangelists. A new movie, Go Africa, also confirms reports of widespread, mass murder of Christians “in greater numbers than in all the nations of the earth combined.” The film, however, also highlights ways in which missionaries are advancing the Kingdom of God in this hostile environment. It features testimonies from many child soldiers who've surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ, along with other inspiring stories. As many as two-thirds of the staff at one YWAM base in Nigeria consists of reformed militants. The movie also honours the wives of pastors killed by beheading in northern Nigeria – YWAM terms them "women of honour". The youth mission has met as many as 6,000 widows whose husbands were pastors at the time of their murder. Up to 150 widows come to the YWAM base every six months to heal from their trauma – many have renewed their faith in Christ.

Broken Britain

As evidence abounds of an increasingly crumbling society, we include a snapshot of recent news stories that strongly point to something being far wrong:

• Sex offenders, drug traffickers and violent thugs are among 14,000 foreign criminals who have been let off without a conviction over the past 3 years because they said sorry for their crimes.
• The number of people claiming universal credit in Britain who are not required to work has risen by more than a million in a year, to four million, new figures show.
• A shop owner in Glasgow has revealed that he has reported over 100 robberies since opening his store a year ago - but no-one has ever been prosecuted. 
• Debt-stricken Blackpool’s Labour council spent £35k on six rainbow road crossings last year to celebrate the “LGBTQ+ history and diversity” of the town.
• Nearly 500 migrants a day are signing up for benefits as claims by foreign nationals hit a record high, official figures show.
• A man who gained over £125,000 after claiming social welfare using a false name and identity has avoided jail. 

Islam

• Most French Muslims put sharia above national laws. A majority of young French Muslims rank sharia above the laws of the Republic, according to a new study which also found that more than a third sympathise with Islamist ideology. “Fundamentalism has won over the minds of more than one in three Muslims,” said François Kraus, the historian who wrote the study. Sharia has provisions that are incompatible with French law, including unequal inheritance for women, corporal punishment for crimes, and strict limits on freedom of expression and sexuality. The report revealed a dramatic increase in Mosque attendance, which rose from 7% of Muslims in 1989 to 40% today. Meanwhile, strict fasting during Ramadan jumped from 51 to 83% and the proportion of young women wearing the veil has nearly tripled. Social habits have also changed: alcohol consumption among Muslims under 25 has fallen from nearly 30% in 2011 to just 12% today. Only 12% of young Muslims now want Islam to adapt to modernity, down from 41% in 1998.

Quiet Revival

• Challenging the claims of a Quiet Revival. Claims of a ‘quiet revival’ underway across the United Kingdom are being seriously questioned. An article by Tim Wyatt in Premier Christianity - the strongest promotor of the 'quiet revival' theory over many months - notes that the Bible Society’s claim that between 2018 and 2024 there had been a hitherto unnoticed explosive growth in churchgoing, is dependent on one sole YouGov poll, but that this contradicts other more recent professional statistical reports, especially from both the Anglican and Catholic Churches. For example, the BS report suggests that 1.9m Anglicans attend church weekly, yet the CofE computed the number to be just 702,000 – a massive difference. Prophecy Today noted this discrepancy way back in April, noting also that nobody we personally spoke to, from varying regions of the country, could quite relate to the church growth quoted by the Bible Society.
• The Bible Society responds. Our article noted, too, the mass of evidence from a wide range of sources across the United Kingdom that indeed suggests an increased interest in Christianity, notably among the young (18-24 yr-olds), and especially among young men. The Bible Society has issued a strong rebuttal of Wyatt's claims, saying he "falls into misrepresentations and cheap shots" and insisting their poll was rigorously undertaken by a globally respected polling agency (YouGov). The Bible Society is in no doubt a quiet revival is indeed occurring across the country.

Antisemitism

Instances of antisemitism or overt anti-Israel expression continue to abound, both in the United Kingdom and around the world. The following cases pertain only to the last week or two:

• University College London has reported guest lecturer Dr. Samar Maqusi to police after she gave a talk promoting an ancient blood libel alleging that Jews murder Christians and bake their blood into bread.
• A group of visibly Orthodox American tourists was brutally attacked at Milan’s bustling Central Station by a 25-year-old unemployed Pakistani man who charged at them screaming “Dirty Jews” and “Allahu akbar.”
• An animal rights group, ‘Farms Not Factories’, claims to fight cruelty to pigs but is spreading vile antisemitic conspiracy theories – blaming “Zionists” for the Holocaust, 9/11 and the war in Ukraine – while boasting celebrity backers.
• Two pro-Palestinian protesters have been accused of mimicking the deaths of Israeli soldiers when they disrupted a speech at the Oxford Union last Sunday.
• Antisemitic graffiti, with the words ‘Jewish whore’ was painted in Spanish alongside a crossed-out Star of David on the doors of the Mexican supreme court, apparently directed toward the country’s Jewish president, Claudia Sheinbaum.
• A new study shows that 20% of opinion columns published by the Palestinian Authority’s official newspaper are antisemitic, denying the existence of the Jewish people and pushing traditional anti-Jewish canards of world domination.
• NHS doctor Dr Ellen Kriesels held up an anti-Semitic sign at a pro-Palestinian protest, with a placard of the Israeli flag surrounded by the words “rape, steal, cry, kill, cheat, lie”, a tribunal heard.
• Another NHS doctor who called to ‘gas the Jews’, called Jews “banker goblins” and claimed the Holocaust was fake, has got off with a warning and can keep his medical license, a tribunal has ruled.
• A member of the Swiss Guard is under investigation after allegedly making an anti-Semitic remark and a spitting gesture to two Jewish women visiting the Vatican.
• A Yorkshire man who converted to Islam plotted to kill local Jews with mustard gas, contemplated the suicide bombing of synagogues and various shooting and stabbing attacks, it has been found.
• The Birmingham district of Aston has been termed ‘a Jew-free zone’ after a mob of Muslims swarmed the area around the Villa Park football stadium where a Jewish team was playing, presenting a serious threat of violence and disorder and staging a thuggish display of hatred of Jews, incitement and intimidation against them.
• British actor and comedian John Cleese cancelled four upcoming performances in Israel due to safety concerns, bowing to pressure from BDS groups. Cleese has recently shared a slew of anti-Israel posts, including content from known conspiracists.