Report comment

Dear Sir,

Sir James Munby’s comments about the secular character of the judge’s work must be challenged (DM 31/10/13). 

He has said, “The judicial task is to assess matters by the standards of reasonable men and women in 2013”. As a Christian pastor, I respond that the transient values of one generation can never reflect the absolute principles of right and wrong, which are God-given.

‘Reasonable men and women’ have produced the Human Rights Act, which prevents Britain from deporting foreign criminals, but is this an expression of true justice? 

Since 1967 ‘reasonable men and women’ have thought it right to end the life of heart-beating infants in the womb by means of abortion; yet this is clearly contrary to Biblical teaching (e.g. Jeremiah 1:5). 

In contrast to contemporary human rights philosophies, Biblical law establishes the principle that a criminal in the execution of unlawful activity loses his normal civic rights. A householder, for example, has a right to defend himself against a burglar (Exodus 22:2).

Sir James states, “We live in this country in a democratic and pluralist society in a secular state”. Britain, however, is not a secular state, but a Christian monarchy whose Head of State promised at her coronation “to maintain the laws of God”, doing so whilst holding a Bible in her hand. 

Sir James has said that the starting point of the common law is “an essentially neutral” view of religious beliefs. However, Article 1 of Magna Carta does not uphold such neutrality, but makes identification with the Trinitarian God, using the words “We grant unto God and by this our present charter we have confirmed for us”. 

If a nation abandons Biblical teaching as the foundation for its law-making, it loses a true understanding of right and wrong. The word of God, for example, unequivocally emphasises the absolute evil of premeditated murder, of destroying another life made in God’s image. 

Our judges must realise that they are God’s servants and that they are ultimately answerable to Him. God overrules in the affairs of the nations, and Britain will never again be exalted, if it abandons its Christian inheritance. 

Yours faithfully, 
Rev. Peter Simpson, Penn Free Methodist Church.