American, British religious freedoms on parallel tracks, says barrister (OneNewsNow.com)

American, British religious freedoms on parallel tracks, says barrister

Jim Brown - 1/28/2008 12:00:00 PM

gavel small A British barrister who specializes in religious liberty cases is urging American Christians to work together with their British counterparts to "preserve the civilized world." Paul Diamond says although they would appear to be diametrically opposed, homosexual activists and Muslims are working together to push Christians out of the public square in the United Kingdom.

British barrister Paul Diamond says both homosexual and Islamic lobbies are frightened by Judeo-Christian philosophy because it is "attractive to the common man, used to be in power, and can be in power again."

"So rather than have an open debate and let the British or American people choose, the Christians have to fight by the Marquis of Queensbury rules ... [with] one hand tied behind their back, so to speak," says the attorney. "And very often these groups have hate speech, crime legislation, discrimination law, the vestiges of the state, the use of the police enforcement to harry and harass those groups they disagree with ..." And that, he says, creates an environment "more reminiscent of a country in Eastern Europe than a developed state."

Diamond says British and American believers must unite to fight what he calls "dark and primitive forces" that are spreading the homosexual agenda and radical Islam. British Christians, he argues, need moral and political support from believers in the U.S. -- and in return, he adds, American Christians need to learn from the situation in Europe.

"[Y]ou need to get on to ground zero and know what's happening in Europe. You think it's something far away? It isn't," he warns. "Your judges are following European precedent -- they're taking it onboard. You don't know what's happening in Europe -- you weren't involved on the ground in these cases. And then your judges and attorneys are applying it in your courts here."

Diamond's recent clients include a British Airways employee prohibited from wearing a cross at work, a Christian teenager who was barred from wearing a purity ring at school, and a Christian magistrate desiring to be exempted from cases where he may have to put a child in a same-sex household. The attorney was in Washington, DC, last week to give a speech at the Heritage Foundation on Islam and the threat to free speech.