The Shofar is the ancient trumpet which called the people of God to prayer, repentance, sacrifice and war.

What's this all about?

The Co-operative Bank has objected to Christian Voice banking with them.  The ‘ethical’ bank who claim not to discriminate, have discriminated against Christian Voice because our Christian beliefs lead us to oppose homosexual rights and homosexual practice.  Both of those, we now discover, the Co-op support avidly, sponsoring homosexual events and ‘gay pride’ parades.   http://www.cardiffmardigras.co.uk/  (Click on about us - sponsors)

Despite their ‘fair trade’ policies, they are clearly not the bank for Christians, nor for that matter the bank for anyone who does not support ‘gay rights.’

Christians disillusioned with the High Street banks and now the Co-op have the option of the Reliance Bank for ordinary banking.  They are owned by the Salvation Army and 75% of their profits go to the Army’s work among the poor and dispossessed. 
http://www.reliancebankltd.com/reliancebank.nsf/pghome?openpage

For savings, there is also the Kingdom Bank, owned by the Assemblies of God, Britain’s largest Pentecostal denomination.
http://www.kingdombank.co.uk/

What happened?
We had banked with the Co-op for three years.  Then we applied through them to the HSBC for the facility to take credit cards.  It seems that at this point someone from either the Co-op or HSBC read our website and found things they didn’t like.  The Co-op did not allow Christian Voice an opportunity to put our case to them.  Contrary to natural justice, they simply wrote with their unilateral decision on 6th June 2005, giving us an unrealistic deadline of 6th July to move our account.

After setting alternative banking arrangements in train, we sent out a press release on 23rd June 2005.

The Co-op issued a press statement on Friday 24th June, when the story broke, claiming they had been inundated with messages of support.

However, four days later, on 28th June, they sent out a further statement ‘to clarify the Co-operative Bank’s position,” misrepresenting that of Christian Voice and attacking us in the process.

Even that did not stop the flood of protests, so they issued yet a third statement, on 1st July 2005 – the day we were protesting against abuses of human rights in China outside the Chinese Embassy in London.

In a final act of spite, the Co-op did not wait for the normal process of transfer from our new bank, whereby funds, cheques for payment, standing orders and so on are moved across in an orderly fashion, they simply closed our account on 6th July and bounced all cheques written before that date, including those for our staff.

Our beliefs on homosexuality:
Central to our Christian faith is the belief that God has showed His love to mankind in many ways, among which are:

  • Creating the heavens and the earth ‘and all that dwell therein’ (Psalm 19:1-6; Psalm 24:1, Psalm 100:3)
  • Revealing Himself and His character in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures (Psalm 68:11; 2 Tim 3: 15-17; 1 Peter 1:25)
  • Revealing His righteous laws for the benefit of individuals and nations (Psalm 19:7-14, Psalm 33:11-12)
  • Becoming one of us in the form of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (John 1:14)
  • Dying on the cross so that sinners can by forgiven and reconciled back to God (Isaiah 53:1-12; John 12:32; Romans 6:11)
  • Rising from the dead that we might live (John 3:16)

We believe that homosexual activity is sinful and an abomination in the eyes of God (Lev 18:22, 20:13; Romans 1:26-32) and same-sex attraction is an objective disorder which can be healed by the power of Christ (Matt 4:24).  Furthermore, we believe that God created men and women for each other, and that the complementary nature of male and female sexual organs speak of God’s design of an emotional and spiritual complementarily from creation (Mark 10:6-8).

There is more on the Biblical texts and the love of God here:
http://www.true-vision.org/bible.html

In support of God’s institution of marriage and family, we naturally oppose homosexual rights, including ‘gay pride’ parades, civil unions for homosexuals, adoption of children by homosexuals, and forcing employers and business people to employ or cater for those whose lifestyle they object to on grounds of conscience, thought or religion.

The presence of police in full uniform in the London ‘Gay Pride’ parade in 2003 was the catalyst for our publication ‘Homosexuality and the Police’, from which the Co-op have taken and distorted quotations.  We say that actively recruiting (the police advertise in homosexual publications and at ‘gay pride’ rallies) those involved in perverted sexual practices into the police is not in accord with their serving a Christian monarch.
http://www.christianvoice.org.uk/police.html

Clearly, the presence of police in ‘gay pride’ parades is a mark of how deeply support for homosexual rights is now embedded in the British establishment.  We shall continue to oppose homosexual rights.  As our National Director said in our first press statement, standing up for righteousness is what we do.  Calling sinners to repentance and to faith in Christ Jesus is what we do, as well.  
http://www.christianvoice.org.uk/mini.html