Bible Gateway is an extremely useful site and offers a helpful app. I used it while in grad school to find verses and citations for papers and message board assignments. On those few occasions when I used to preach, it was a valuable resource that saved me hours of work in sermon preparation. Even if one is not a “scholar,” the site is a “go-to” for anyone studying the Bible.
According to ADF International, the site, along with the Charlie Kirk podcast, is unavailable in the United Kingdom and the European Union. On Tuesday, the organization posted:
Just the News reported that UK and EU users could still access Bible Gateway through a VPN. The outlet added:
U.K.-based ancient-texts enthusiast Roger Pearse suspects a U.K. age-verification law or EU's General Data Protection Regulation are to blame, since "there seems to be a pattern here of petty bureaucrats trying to do a power grab over the internet."
Alex Jones (who, in this case, is the founder of the Hallow app) commented back in January:
Just the News could not confirm why the UK and the EU are blocking Kirk’s podcast and Bible Gateway, or why the Hallow app is running into issues. However, as noted above, the common theory is that the UK and EU’s “safety features” are at the heart of the matter. During an appearance on Just the News, No Noise, Arizona Representative Andy Briggs remarked. “You're seeing center-right movements in virtually every nation in Western Europe… demanding freer speech, and for that, some people are going to jail.”
And who knows? If people bring enough attention to this, the powers-that-be across the pond may respond with an “Oops. Sorry. We just need to tweak that algorithm a little. It won’t happen again.” Right.
While some may say that the evidence is circumstantial and that we are dealing with conjecture, it is hard not to ignore the fact that both the governments of the EU and UK seem to be working overtime to become Oceania and Airstrip One, respectively. That evidence is overwhelming.
For example, in the wake of Donald Trump’s speech to the UN, London mayor Sadiq Khan labeled the president sexist, racist, misogynistic, and Islamophobic. You know, the usual Leftist compliments.
The Telegraph reports that in London, Moussa Kadri recently slashed at Hamit Coskun with a bread knife. Coskun was standing outside the Turkish embassy, holding a burning Koran while shouting “F**k Islam!” and “Islam is a religion of terror!” Coskun’s display may have been crude and crass, but on Tuesday, Kadri was given a suspended 18-month sentence, 150 hours of community service, 10 days of rehabilitation, and £150 in court costs.
This is happening while British citizens are going to jail for X and Facebook posts.
Coskun, a Turkish refugee, was sentenced to pay a £240 fine and a statutory surcharge of £96.
The Telegraph noted, "Coskun, 51, from Derby, was convicted in June of a racially aggravated public order offence after he was filmed burning the book (Koran) in Rutland Gardens, Knightsbridge."
Coskun commented:
Christian blasphemy laws were repealed in this country more than 15 years ago, and it cannot be right to prosecute someone for blaspheming against Islam. Would I have been prosecuted if I’d set fire to a copy of the Bible outside Westminster Abbey? I doubt it.
So why the double standard? It may be nothing more than a coincidence that Kirk’s podcast and Bible Gateway are unavailable overseas and that the Hallow app is struggling in the EU and UK. But I doubt it. Under the guise of equity and safety, those who seek to control speech and thought will ultimately fail to provide either.
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