Danny Webster
Danny joined the Evangelical Alliance in 2008 and has held a range of roles in the advocacy team. He currently leads the advocacy team's work across the UK including public policy work an engagement with the parliaments and assemblies, and respective governments. Before working for the Evangelical Alliance, Danny, who has degrees in politics and political philosophy, worked in parliament for an MP. Danny is passionate about encouraging Christians to integrate their faith with all areas of their life, especially when it comes to helping them take on leadership outside the church, and helped initiate the Evangelical Alliance's Public Leadership programme. He frequently provides comment on current political issues, both in Evangelical Alliance publications and to the press.
England: Legal restrictions on church gatherings set to end
14 July 2021The Prime Minister has set out how England would proceed to step 4 (the removal of all legal limits on social contact) from 19 July. Advice will replace most legal restrictions and decisions on whether to uphold certain measures will be left to personal conscience. Despite case numbers continuing to climb, possibly reaching levels seen in January over the next two weeks, the relaxation is based on the vaccination programme significantly weakening the link between infections, hospitalisations…
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Campaigners push to remove all safeguards on abortion
1 July 2021The impact of this move, if passed, could potentially allow abortion without restriction up to birth and for any reason including on the basis of the unborn child’s sex. Abortion is currently regulated through the 1967 Abortion Act which created a set of exemptions to a much older piece of legislation that had categorised all abortions as illegal. The 1861 Offences Against the Person Act is still the primary law that regulates abortion and the current effort to amend it would have far-reaching…
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Counting the cost of being counter-cultural
28 June 2021Christian leader John Stott, whose legacy was recently commemorated on the centenary of his birth, spoke frequently of double listening, of holding the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. Our commitment to follow what the Bible teaches does not negate the need to listen and to understand the culture and society around us. But our understanding of the world we live in never undermines what we learn from the Bible about how we respond and what we say. This means, as we speak up and…
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Why 'Freedom Day' misses the point of freedom
21 June 2021Throughout out the coronavirus crisis I have been broadly supportive of the Government taking action to suppress the virus and restrict its spread. I’m no epidemiologist but it has seemed necessary medically, unless we were willing to pay a scandalously high price in loss of life when we could have done more. Closer to my expertise, lockdown measures have been politically unavoidable. Every decision has a counterpoint, but when faced with opposition politicians who will respond to any decisions…
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Churches muted by government inconsistency and intransigence
19 June 2021When churches were allowed to resume meeting in July last year a number of restrictions were put in place through both law and guidance to ensure they could operate safely and limit the spread of coronavirus. Churches have diligently followed these rules and advice, from limiting numbers, tracking attendance, creating one-way systems and altering practices. This has also all happened within the context of wider restrictions on interaction indoors. There have been some rather odd guidelines…
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Why creating jobs should matter to Christians
10 June 2021The latest statistics show that across the globe young adults have been the worst hit by job losses, with those under 25 twice as likely to be economically inactive. In the UK, people under 35 accounted for 80 per cent of job losses (635,000) in the year to March 2021. While some sectors have record vacancies and are struggling to fill posts, other employers have either made workers redundant or continue to rely on state-support schemes. As leaders of the G7 member states meet in Cornwall on…
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New plans to allow assisted dying must be strongly opposed
27 May 2021This week parliament is being asked to consider the issue again as Baroness Meacher, who also serves as chair of campaign group Dignity in Dying, formerly the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, brings a private members’ bill in the House of Lords. The Sunday Times wrote in its editorial last weekend that this isn’t an issue that can be swept under the carpet. But that certainly is not what has happened to this topic. It is unlikely that a full debate on the proposals will take place before the…
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Why our elected representatives need connection
14 May 2021It wasn’t that I was one of the few in Great Britain that missed out on the great tapestry of different polls, nor was it utter indifference to the impact my cross would make. I knew the elections were taking place (in my case, being London based, for Mayor of London and the London Assembly), and I also knew I’d booked a week’s holiday in a countryside cottage almost as soon as it was announced that they would be allowed. What I didn’t know until it was too late to get a postal vote was that…
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Emerging from lockdown: changes for churches from 17 May
12 May 2021UPDATED 17 MAY 2021
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Are COVID-status certificates a passport to restricted religious freedom?
22 April 2021New regulations have been frequently published hours before they come into force, subject only to a simple vote for subsequent approval without any scope for amendments or meaningful debate. All of this could fade into comparative insignificance if vaccine passports are used and required in some of the ways discussed. The introduction of vaccine passports for use in a domestic context, for access to everyday activities such as going to the pub, the gym or to church, would be without precedent.…
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Exclusion in the name of inclusion
8 April 2021“We don’t do God” as Alistair Campbell put it was for several years the go-to reference point for any such discussion. Then Tim Farron resigned as leader of the Liberal Democrats because he felt unable to reconcile his faith with leading the party. And now, Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, after praising a church on Good Friday for its work on the vaccination rollout and food poverty alleviation, three days later, with the accompanying unholy imagery, denounced the church,…
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