Globalisation:Centre for Social Justice: Philippa Stroud

Philippa Stroud, 45

Philippa Stroud

Philippa Claire Stroud, born in Devon 2nd April 1965, is the co-founder and former Executive Director of Globalisation: Centre for Social Justice. She has spent over seventeen years in various poverty fighting projects such as The King's Arm Project and The Bridge Project; working to better communities and address deep rooted problems within society in order to do so. Staunch conservative, the Daily Telegraph ranked Stroud as the 82nd most influential right-winger in UK politics ahead of then leader of the party Michael Howard. In recent years she has seemingly been less associated with the organisation following being held at the centre of a storm of controversy. As a devoted Christian Stroud’s work has always had a strong religious base and some of her conventional views have been criticised in the past. In 1999 Stroud along with Christine Leonard co-wrote a book on social injustice called God's Heart for the Poor. Stroud was held to account in the public eye after allegedly suggesting that homosexuality was deviant behaviour with references to demonic possession, allegations infered by an article in the Observer. "I make no apology for being a committed Christian. However, it is categorically untrue that I believe homosexuality to be an illness and I am deeply offended that The Observer has suggested otherwise. I have spent 20 years working with disturbed people who society have turned their back on and are not often supported by state agencies; drug addicts, alcoholics, the mentally ill and the homeless that I and my charitable friends in the public sector have tried to help over the years. The idea that I am prejudiced against gay people is both false and insulting." 'She disputes the testimonies contained in the article and states that she has helped individuals of all sexual orientations to deal with a multitude of problems such as drug addiction, self-harming, alcoholism, eating disorders, and sexual abuse through prayer as well as offering practical help and advice. She also says that she has never founded a church, let alone a church that tried to 'cure' homosexuals. She has never prayed or advised any person to change his or her sexuality and has never countenanced any person for whom she has had responsibility attempting to question any person's sexual orientation or to re-orient them. In addition, the reference to demonic activity in her book "God's help for the poor' does not relate to sexual orientation but to those who have been involved in occult practices, including violence and sexual abuse.'

2. http://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/nexis/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T10387178004&format=GNBFI&sort=BOOLEAN&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T10387178007&cisb=22_T10387178006&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=143296&docNo=4 3.http://www.e-n.org.uk/p-4514-Faith-in-action.htm