Charity Zion Projects were awarded £43K as part of the government's 'Faith New Deal' fund.

The government has ended its funding agreement with a charity whose chair called Islam “demonic” after concerns were raised by the National Secular Society.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) 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. 

Sixteen organisations out of 351 applicants were awarded grants.

Baroness Scott of Bybrook, parliamentary under-secretary of state at the DLUHC, was contacted after a video emerged of Zion Projects chair and trustee Danny Stupple calling Islam “a very strong force of spiritual wickedness”.

In a now-removed video on Vimeo, which opened with the Zion Projects logo, Stupple responded to a question about Islamic “calls to prayer” being broadcast during lockdown by saying "a very strong force of spiritual wickedness known as Islam is engaging in warfare against the Lord with its open air prayers".

He said that Islamic prayers are "one example" of "the enemy" trying to use the Covid-19 pandemic, adding that the Islamic system of belief "is truly demonic".

In the same video, Stupple also suggested God used the pandemic to "make the point of the value of life" because he anticipated "the same amount of babies being saved as the number of people who die" as a result of women being unable to get abortions during lockdown.

Following the concerns, raised by the National Secular Society (NSS), Baroness Scott wrote in response that the comments made by Stupple were “abhorrent”.

She said: “I strongly condemn them. The Government takes hate speech against any group or individual extremely seriously.”

She said the DLUHC had investigated the issue, and the Faith New Deal Grant Funding Agreement with the charity has been terminated.

Last month Hampshire County Council also told the NSS it was conducting an “urgent review” into its relationship with Zion Projects, which it gave £19,750 last year.

The government's Faith New Deal pilot scheme was launched in 2021 for faith-based organisations that provide community services to "tackle issues affecting the most vulnerable".

The NSS has criticised the scheme from the outset as discriminatory, because groups with no religious ethos were ineligible for funding. Several of the groups funded by the Faith New Deal require workers and volunteers to be Christians.

It has also raised concerns about groups proselytising to vulnerable people.

The NSS has replied to Baroness Scott asking if the DLUHC will “review the viability of the ‘faith new deal’ and ‘faith compact’ schemes, and any other related projects, and ensure all future funding projects for community services are not based on faith affiliation”.

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.

"The whole sorry affair reveals why the government should never have launched a discriminatory fund exclusively for faith groups to deliver public services in the first place.

"The government should cease its 'faith new deal' project and instead award funds to community groups based on the quality of their provision and their commitment to the values of equality and human rights – not which gods, if any, they believe in."

Zion Projects and Mr Stupple were approached for comment.