The government has withdrawn its funding for a charity whose chair’s comments about Islam were labelled “abhorrent”.
A video of Zion Projects chair and trustee, Danny Stupple, calling Islam “a very strong force of spiritual wickedness” and adding that the Islamic system of belief “is truly demonic”, was reported to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) earlier this year.
DLUHC had awarded Zion Projects £43,220 last year as part of the government's Faith New Deal fund exclusively for religious groups to deliver public services.
In a letter this week, Baroness Scott, parliamentary under-secretary of state at DLUHC, said the department had investigated the issue and the Faith New Deal grant funding agreement with the charity has been terminated.
‘These comments are abhorrent’
A DLUHC spokesperson said: “These comments are abhorrent and we strongly condemn them. We take hate speech against any group or individual extremely seriously.
“We urgently investigated this issue as soon as it came to our attention and have since terminated our funding agreement with the Zion Project.”
The National Secular Society (NSS), which reported the video to DLUHC, welcomed its decision to cut funding to the charity.
NSS head of campaigns Megan Manson said: “We welcome the government's decision to terminate its 'faith new deal' funding of Zion Projects. It is completely inappropriate for the government to fund an organisation whose chair makes such divisive and hostile comments.”
Civil Society has contacted Zion Projects charity for comment.
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