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Chris Ison/PA Wire
UK News

Freedom of speech decreasing for Christian students

by Aaron James

Spiked, an online magazine, found in its annual Free Speech University Rankings report that 63 per cent - almost two-thirds - of universities now actively censor speech, something which affects believers among other students.

It also found 30 per cent stifle speech through regulation.

Only six per cent of the 115 universities in Spiked's study had no freedom of speech restrictions at all.

The figures have prompted the magazine to start a campaign against university censorship.

Others would defend universities who have restrictions on what can be said, arguing that it protects students from harm.

The universities Spiked said had no freedom of speech restrictions:

Buckingham

Glasgow Caledonian

Hertfordshire

Loughborough

Robert Gordon

Trinity St David

UWS

Andrea Williams directs the Christian Legal Centre, which has supported Christian students who've come into conflict with their universities because of their beliefs.

She told Premier: "It's extraordinary to think that it was fourteen years ago that the Christian Legal Centre were involved in the Christian Union at Exeter [University] being removed from the campus because Exeter Students' Union said it's policies were discriminatory... Why? Because people... had to sign a statement of faith, and that discriminated against non-believers.

"We need to encourage Christian Unions, we need to keep that ministry alive. Where truth is under attack, where people are being censored, we need to stand with those who're being censored.

"When students like Felix Ngole are removed from their Social Work courses because they believe marriage is between a man and a woman, we need to see more noise about that than we currently do."

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