UK Government Introduces Restrictions on Freedom to Worship
26/08/2008 by Liam Clifford
The idea which we all hold as sacred and take for granted is our freedom to worship. This core belief is central to all that makes us British and therefore makes us one of the most tolerant and respected free societies on earth.
However, it seems that this is all about to change; as confirmed today by Liam Clifford Director of www.globalvisas.com, one of the world leading authorities on immigration laws, the UK Government are introducing laws which will make it more difficult for Ministers of Religion from outside the EU to enter the UK to address their congregations and lead UK people in prayer.
Religion transcends national boarders and most including Christian faiths, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism regularly invite learned elders of their religions to join them in the UK for prayer and guidance.
Young religious followers are also invited to extend their understanding of the UK and of its people. With this in mind it is abundantly clear that the new laws to restrict Ministers of Religion coming to the UK will affect every religion in the UK.
For a Minister of Religion to enter the UK currently, they simply require a letter of invitation from the congregation(s) they wish to visit. Yet going forward they will require a pre-approved government sponsor who has paid for their approval.
The new laws will allow the Home Office to refuse the minister of religion the right to come to the UK as they do not have a pre-approved sponsor. Liam Clifford points out the assumption that the government must intend to exercise this new power if they have after all gone to the effort of introducing it.
The only remaining question is that when will they invoke their new right to refuse sponsorship of Minister of Religions? Maybe when Catholics disagree too loudly with abortion laws or Islamic preachers whom disagree with the UK foreign policies find their sponsors unable to invite them to the UK. This is of course an extremely worrying curtailment of our right to worship and one everybody needs to fight.
Our right to believe, worship and discuss any issues should never be infringed upon but should instead be encouraged. Ministers from all religions come to the UK to lead us in prayer but also to travel amongst our many temples, synagogues, mosques and churches.
Our ministers of religion have never had to report to a pre-approved sponsor before, particularly not one whom must be based in the UK, currently holy work whilst in the UK is not overseen by any 'local manager' or sponsor.
The data held by immigration officials on Ministers of Religion whom are in breach of the immigration rules seems extremely small to warrant such a response by the government. One Catholic Priest summed it up when he said "We have one sponsor and one boss. He most certainly is not answerable to the Home Office." Liam Clifford and www.globalvisas.com is now embraced in fighting to have the new requirement for sponsorship removed. Freedom to worship should be encouraged and barriers should not be erected making it more difficult for people to come to our country to worship with us and lead us in prayer.
Liam Clifford said "I go to church each Sunday and just last week we had a priest from Asia standing in for the parish priest while he was on his annual holiday. Under the new laws that priest who led us in prayer may not have been allowed to join us and in time he would also have to find a person to pay for his sponsors fees.
Clifford continued "When and why will the first ministers be refused entry? I only hope the government does not attempt to quote radical extremism as their reasoning behind this action as the only radical extremists are the UK Government themselves who are dragging the UK down to the level of Nazi Germany or even the levels of China, which George Bush recently spoke out against when he said 'Everyone should have the right to worship freely however the choose.' The government must surely wake up and see the damage it is causing before it is too late."
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