Thousands of Muslims have attended a peace conference in London which has condemned terrorism.
About 12,000 Muslims gathered at Wembley Arena for Islamic group Minhaj-ul-Quran's Peace for Humanity Conference. The conference launched a campaign to get one million people to sign an online declaration of peace by 2012.
Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri said the conference would send a message that 10 years of extremist activity should end. Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri is the founder of Minhaj-ul-Quran and gave the keynote speech at the event, despite having received death threats after issuing a fatwa - or religious ruling - against terrorism last year. The cleric was repeatedly applauded during his address in which he said the "terrible" 9/11 attacks in the US had distorted perceptions of Islam over the past decade.
He told the audience: "In spite of statements and memorandum and condemnation of the terror, the voices of the 99% true, peace-loving Muslims have not been heard, they have been drowned out by the clamour and the noise of extremists. Islam has nothing to do with any act of terrorism. We reject every act of extremism and terrorism unconditionally."
The event, which took one year to organise, was attended by people from across the UK, many of whom arrived in coaches. Those who attended heard a series of lengthy and impassioned speeches, some in Arabic, from Islamic scholars denouncing terrorism and extremism.
Ghazala Hassan al-Qadri, president of the MQI Women's League, told attendees: "Islam teaches love, it teaches compassion, it teaches tolerance, it teaches mercy."
Another speaker - Egypt-based Islamic scholar Shaykh Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri - told the conference: "Islam is a religion of justice, not a religion of injustice...is a religion of manners and co-operation, not a religion of extremism and radicalisation...is a religion of forgiveness and pardon, not a religion of brutality and revenge."
The audience heard pre-recorded messages of support from, amongst others, Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, opposition leader Ed Miliband, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams. And there were prayers for peace from representatives from a number of different religions including the Bishop of Barking, the Rt Rev David Hawkins, Jewish rabbis and representatives from the Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh faiths.
The declaration of peace included a call for democracy and good governance in the Muslim world, respect for human rights, and alleviation of poverty throughout the world.
BBC
Showing posts with label Rowan Williams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rowan Williams. Show all posts
September 24, 2011
May 25, 2009
Stop exaggerating the threat of the BNP
A small far-right party is receiving far more publicity than it deserves
The leaders of the Church of England have every right to pronounce on political issues. Like the other great monotheistic faiths, the Christian churches believe that faith must be lived out in the world and cannot be divorced from political debate.
Nevertheless, sincere though their intentions undoubtedly are, the content of the latest statement from the two archbishops of Canterbury and York, warning people not to vote for the far-right British National Party (BNP) in next month's European and local elections, must be counted a mistake.
Dr Rowan Williams and Dr John Sentamu are playing directly into the hands of the BNP by whipping up yet more brouhaha over what is likely to remain a marginal force in Britain's political life. Quite inadvertently, they are feeding the party with the oxygen of publicity to a degree that must be delighting the party's leader, Nick Griffin.
The two archbishops are not alone in pursuing this unwise, counterproductive course. Representatives of the mainstream political parties have been queuing up recently to urge people not to vote for the BNP, planting in many people's minds a connection between the scandal over MPs expenses and voting for the BNP that probably never existed before they first raised the matter.
It would not have occurred to most of the electorate to register their disapproval of the conduct of certain greedy Conservative, Labour or Liberal Democrat MPs by switching votes to a party whose only real, substantive issue is an immediate halt to immigration. The argument being put forward in recent days by various MPs – that we must all continue to vote for the traditional parties or risk handing over the country to fascists – comes across as unscrupulous and self-interested.
The fact is that unlike in France, Italy or Austria, the extreme right in Britain has never made a significant breakthrough. The BNP has developed into a significant political force in only a handful of areas, mainly in a few troubled towns in the north-west of England that have experienced prolonged high unemployment as a result of the collapse of traditional industries and which have been under the complacent management of a single political party for decades. Outside these pockets, the BNP has made few inroads. And it showed no sign of becoming the principal beneficiary of public anger against the big parties over the business of expenses until the politicians and archbishops decided to give them a great deal of airtime. If, as this newspaper reports today, the party is now registering an unprecedented number of hits on its website, that is surely, at least in part, the unintended outcome of all this free publicity it has been receiving.
The way to contain the BNP is not to rail in a frantic and exaggerated fashion against the great "threat" that it apparently poses to British democracy but, where and when it is appropriate, to calmly remind people that the arguments it proposes are wrong, illogical and unworkable – as well as obnoxious. Voters should be reminded that we cannot become the insular, isolated state for which the BNP pines, nor should we wish to.
What we should not do is what we are in danger of doing now: grossly exaggerating the BNP's size and importance and so, quite possibly, handing it a great many votes that it would not otherwise have hoped to have gained.
Independent
The leaders of the Church of England have every right to pronounce on political issues. Like the other great monotheistic faiths, the Christian churches believe that faith must be lived out in the world and cannot be divorced from political debate.
Nevertheless, sincere though their intentions undoubtedly are, the content of the latest statement from the two archbishops of Canterbury and York, warning people not to vote for the far-right British National Party (BNP) in next month's European and local elections, must be counted a mistake.
Dr Rowan Williams and Dr John Sentamu are playing directly into the hands of the BNP by whipping up yet more brouhaha over what is likely to remain a marginal force in Britain's political life. Quite inadvertently, they are feeding the party with the oxygen of publicity to a degree that must be delighting the party's leader, Nick Griffin.
The two archbishops are not alone in pursuing this unwise, counterproductive course. Representatives of the mainstream political parties have been queuing up recently to urge people not to vote for the BNP, planting in many people's minds a connection between the scandal over MPs expenses and voting for the BNP that probably never existed before they first raised the matter.
It would not have occurred to most of the electorate to register their disapproval of the conduct of certain greedy Conservative, Labour or Liberal Democrat MPs by switching votes to a party whose only real, substantive issue is an immediate halt to immigration. The argument being put forward in recent days by various MPs – that we must all continue to vote for the traditional parties or risk handing over the country to fascists – comes across as unscrupulous and self-interested.
The fact is that unlike in France, Italy or Austria, the extreme right in Britain has never made a significant breakthrough. The BNP has developed into a significant political force in only a handful of areas, mainly in a few troubled towns in the north-west of England that have experienced prolonged high unemployment as a result of the collapse of traditional industries and which have been under the complacent management of a single political party for decades. Outside these pockets, the BNP has made few inroads. And it showed no sign of becoming the principal beneficiary of public anger against the big parties over the business of expenses until the politicians and archbishops decided to give them a great deal of airtime. If, as this newspaper reports today, the party is now registering an unprecedented number of hits on its website, that is surely, at least in part, the unintended outcome of all this free publicity it has been receiving.
The way to contain the BNP is not to rail in a frantic and exaggerated fashion against the great "threat" that it apparently poses to British democracy but, where and when it is appropriate, to calmly remind people that the arguments it proposes are wrong, illogical and unworkable – as well as obnoxious. Voters should be reminded that we cannot become the insular, isolated state for which the BNP pines, nor should we wish to.
What we should not do is what we are in danger of doing now: grossly exaggerating the BNP's size and importance and so, quite possibly, handing it a great many votes that it would not otherwise have hoped to have gained.
Independent
Labels:
BNP,
fascist BNP,
John Sentamu,
nazi BNP,
Nick Griffin,
Rowan Williams
February 10, 2009
Clergy banned from BNP membership
"Dammit, now I'll never be the Bishop of Welshpool..."Members of the General Synod voted to back a motion brought by Metropolitan Police civilian worker Vasantha Gnanadoss calling on bishops to formulate a comparable policy to the Association of Chief Police Officers' ban on police membership of the BNP.
Miss Gnanadoss, who received support at the General Synod from former Met Police commissioner Sir Ian Blair, said passing the motion would make it "much more difficult" for the BNP or other similar organisations to exploit the claim that they had support within the Church of England.
She said: "If supporting organisations like the BNP is inconsistent with Christian discipleship, it seems obvious that clergy and others who speak for the Church should not be members."
Acpo policy states that that no member of the police service may be a member of an organisation whose constitution, aims, objectives or pronouncements contradict the "general duty" to promote race equality. This specifically includes the BNP, the policy states.
The motion backed today by the General Synod called for the Church of England bishops to draw up a similar policy to apply to all clergy, ordinands and employed lay persons who speak on behalf of the Church of England. The motion received support from the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu and the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams.
Dr Sentamu told the Synod he was a member of the Baganda tribe. But he said: "As a Christian, I joined another tribe, it is the tribe of Jesus Christ, and in that tribe all are welcome."
The vote from the General Synod comes in spite of a warning in a background paper prepared by William Fittall, secretary general of the General Synod, warning of possible legal difficulties. He said clergy could not currently be disciplined for lawful political activity and the BNP was not a proscribed political party. He also warned that the Church could be open to discrimination claims under such a policy.
Those backing the motion included the Rt Rev Nicholas Reade, Bishop of Blackburn. He said it was "timely" in view of the recession.
He said: "In these difficult economic times there are those who could be tempted to look for solutions among extreme political parties and we need to underline that the politics of hatred can never come up with a solution to our problems."
He added: "The religion of the incarnation cannot support in any shape or form racist policies and those who exercise the representative ministry cannot be members of racist parties or organisations for it is just not possible to be racist and speak in the name of Jesus Christ."
Independent
December 22, 2008
Archbishop of Canterbury warns recession Britain must learn lessons from Nazi Germany
The Archbishop of Canterbury warns today that Britain must learn the lessons of Nazi Germany in dealing with the effects of the recessionDr Rowan Williams risks causing a new controversy by inviting a comparison between Gordon Brown's response to the economic downturn and the Third Reich. In an article for The Daily Telegraph, he claims Germany in the 1930s pursued a "principle" that worked consistently but only on the basis that "quite a lot of people that you might have thought mattered as human beings actually didn't".
Dr Williams, the most senior cleric in the Church of England, then appears to draw a parallel between the Nazis and the UK Government's policies for tackling the downturn, which he says fails to take account of the "particular human costs" to the most vulnerable in society.
"What about the unique concerns and crises of the pensioner whose savings have disappeared, the Woolworth's employee, the hopeful young executive, let alone the helpless producer of goods in some Third-world environment where prices are determined thousands of miles away?" he asks.
In an apparent reference to the Prime Minister, who has claimed to be guided by a moral compass, the Archbishop also observes "without these anxieties about the specific costs, we've lost the essential moral compass". It follows a disagreement with the Prime Minister last week in which the Archbishop likened Government policy on spending to "an addict returning to a drug". This prompted Mr Brown to allude to the Biblical parable of the Good Samaritan by claiming he could not "walk by on the other side" as people suffered.
The Prime Minister has pledged to spend his way out of the economic downturn, increasing public borrowing to a record £200m a day. The Government has pledged £500billion of taxpayers' money to bail out the banking system, and cut VAT by 2.5 per cent to get consumers spending again. But unemployment is predicted to top 2 million by the New Year as high street names such as Woolworths and MFI go under. Thousands have fallen into negative equity as the property market has fallen by 15 per cent. Millions of prudent savers are also suffering as interest rates have been cut to 2 per cent.
Dr Williams' comments may be perceived as a further attack on Mr Brown's efforts to boost the economy, and risk damaging the relationship between Lambeth Palace and Downing Street. It threatens a return to the 1980s, when the Conservative Government came under fierce attack from the Church over its social policies which were said to exclude the poor deliberately.
This summer, the Archbishop invited the Prime Minister to speak at a rally by Anglian bishops and hailed his commitment to ending world poverty. But after the collapse of banks around the world in September, Dr Williams called for governments to increase regulation of the financial sector and claimed Karl Marx had been right in his analysis of the dangers of capitalism.
Last week, the Archbishop admitted it would not be "the end of the world" if the Church's links with the state were severed, as it would no longer have to rely on ministers' approval for changes to canon law. He also claimed he did not take account of MPs' opinions before making public pronouncements, saying: "While there might be many reasons for watching what I say, being a nuisance to the people across the river [Thames] is not a big consideration."
He then denounced Mr Brown's plans to increase debt, saying: "I worry about that because it seems a little bit like the addict returning to the drug. When the Bible uses the word 'repentance', it doesn't just mean beating your breast, it means getting a new perspective, and that is perhaps what we are shrinking away from."
In response, the Prime Minister defended his "fiscal stimulus" policies by alluding to the Biblical parable of the Good Samaritan. Mr Brown said: "I think the Archbishop would also agree with me that every time someone becomes unemployed or loses their home or a small business fails it is our duty to act and we should not walk by on the other side when people are facing problems."
However, Dr Williams has continued his criticisms of current economic policy in this newspaper. In his article he warns of the dangers of "unconditional loyalty to a system" that turned into a "nightmare" in Germany under Hitler, in which only certain groups and ideas were valued, while others were deemed dispensable and suffering was ignored.
He cites the lectures given by Karl Barth, a theologian who was driven into exile by Hitler, who had claimed that one of the benefits of Christianity is that believers are able to live without the "principles" that drive politics.
The Archbishop concedes some of the "principles" now being put forward are not as destructive as the 20th century ideologies of Fascism or Communism. But he goes on to suggest that some "principled" defences of the economy "block out actual human faces and stories", and defends the right of religious leaders to raise questions about the social implications of financial plans.
Dr Williams concludes that the message of the Christmas story is one of unconditional love, and the idea that every human life must be valued.
Meanwhile, a member of his staff has been sacked for making an offensive comment about a senior bishop in an official document that was sent to 10 Downing Street as well as other clergy. The obscene word was written next to the name of the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, in a confidential job application sent from Lambeth Palace.
Telegraph
August 21, 2008
Beware “the Lure of Rome”: BNP writer says Catholics are the “Anti-Christ” and “Satanic”
“There can be no fellowship with Rome: for once the Protestant Church is entangled in the web there is no escape, for sudden destruction will come upon it. Jesus came to give life, but Antichrist Rome administers the kiss of death ... There must be no compromise with Rome, and no appearance of compromise”
- BNP activist and writer Colin Farquhar
This article was submitted by one of our readers, Hexapla. We welcome any contributions from our supporters (as long as those contributions conform to the law and are in reasonably good taste). Please send your articles to us via email.
The Kiss of Death
In our fourth article on anti-Catholic bigotry within the BNP, we expose the rancid anti-Catholic article, The Death Kiss of Rome on the Protestant Church, written by BNP activist Colin Farquhar. The BNP does well to hide its anti-Catholic bigots in the sectarian closet. But, every so often those bigots manage to prise open the closet’s door in order to propagate their message of sectarian hate fused with extreme race-based nationalism. Before we carry on, our previous articles on BNP anti-Catholicism are below:
BNP accuses Catholics of “heresy” and “blasphemy”
The Whore of Revelation and the BNP speaker who wants to destroy Catholics
BNP candidate in anti-Catholic claims: the indefatigable Alan Girvan strikes again!
Colin Farquhar pops up every so often in the letters section of the Northern Echo newspaper to tell readers of the benefits of a BNP-ruled Britain (only to be rebuked by other readers for his political propaganda. See link). But, Colin Farquhar does not tell readers that he, along with a fair number of BNP members, harbour a distinct anti-Catholic streak. Indeed, Colin Farquhar is quite notable for his anti-Catholic activism. Back in 2002, Colin Farquhar personally hosted the anti-Catholic preacher Pastor Frank W. Dowsett of The Covenant Vision Ministry in his tour of Britain.
The whore of Babylon
In highly emotive and polemical language, BNP writer Colin Farquhar provides a perverted reading of the Bible’s Book of Revelation when he condemns the Catholic faith as the fabled whore of Babylon or as he puts it, “the harlot Mother Church of Rome”. This provides Colin Farquhar with the justification to denounce aspects of Catholic belief as “totally false” and a “sham”.
Catholics kill and torture Protestants
Unfortunately, history can be a political tool, malleable in the hands of extremists and bigots. Indeed, BNP writer Colin Farquhar shows this is the case: he reifies Christian history by compressing it into a dubious sectarian metanarrative that transposes Catholics as the historical persecutors of their Protestant counterparts:
“When we remember the origins of this church, from as far back as the tower of Babel in Babylon; and the countless idolatrous and blasphemous satellite churches of Rome; and those millions of Protestants that have been tortured and slaughtered by this same church, is there need to say more?”
Colin Farquhar goes on to condemn his fellow Protestant believers who fail to give countenance to his rather scurrilous reading of western Europe’s fraught history of Catholic-Protestant relations:
“However, in defiance of historical fact, Protestants continue to succumb to the Lure of Rome”
The European Union: an evil Catholic plot against the UK and Protestantism
How does Colin Farquhar’s ‘historical fact’ play out? Like his fellow BNP writer and activist, Alan O’Reilly, Colin Farquhar claims that the European Union is an evil Catholic plot to destroy Britain and the Protestant faith:
“An up-to-date example of the attraction of evil is the fascination of our leaders with Europe and their willingness to sacrifice the independence and self-sufficiency of our great nation as they lust for power in the forthcoming Superstate of Europe ... As our politicians are transfixed with the political manifestation of Rome, that of Europe, so our church leaders are enchanted with the ecclesiastical manifestation, the Roman Catholic Church. This great edifice of unimaginable wealth, pomp and splendour has caused so many of our church leaders to capitulate to the grandeur and influence of this mighty satanic institution. What power and authority could be theirs if only they bow the knee to Papa”
Of course Colin, of course. Do keep up the good work; you chaps in the BNP are doing a sterling job.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is a Catholic agent in service of the anti-Christ
Colin Farquhar’s ‘historical fact’ also plays itself out in a different way. Perniciously, Colin Farquhar’s conspirital pen drubs the collective leadership of the Protestant faith as irredeemable traitors:
“Today we are experiencing a similar betrayal by the leaders of our Protestant Churches. Not only are they willing to come under the authority of Rome but they move heaven and earth to take as many with them as they can. The Reformers and great Christian leaders of the past identified the Roman Church as the Church of Antichrist. Antichrist they believed was to be found in the succession of Popes. The term ‘anti’ in this sense meaning ‘another’. The Popes therefore, each in turn were Antichrist, or in other words Another-Christ”
But, BNP writer Colin Farquhar reserves especial venom for the admirable head of the Church of England, Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams:
“Haven’t we just witnessed this crawling to Rome of our present Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams? He just the other week in his attempt to promote ecumenical relations knelt before the Pope and kissed the ring on his hand as the Cardinals present chuckled with delight at their moment of triumph. There was the representative of the Protestant Church of Great Britain submitting himself in subservience to the Antichrist. What shameful behaviour: if ever a man deserves to be removed from office, it is he. The treachery of such an act is unbelievable considering how his predecessor Archbishop Cranmer was burnt at the stake at the hands of this same church. Where were the voices of condemnation within the Protestant Church, and the calls for his resignation for this and other issues that have brought disgrace on the church and dishonour to the Lord?”
Anti-sectarianism is evil! The “curse” of ecumenism
It is clear that BNP writer Colin Farquhar, without a doubt, burns Archbishop Rowan Williams at the metaphorical stake. This is the fate of those brave individuals who attempt to cross the bridge of sectarian difference and apathy. This is the process of what is known as ‘ecumenism’. And, it is something that Colin Farquhar, tout court sectarian extremist, loathes. In the most strident terms, Colin Farquhar denounces attempts to reconcile sectarian difference as yet another wicked Catholic trick to debase Protestantism:
“In my youth .. union with other denominations was inconceivable ... Yet the process of ecumenism is centuries old and no surprise to the Roman church, for this baby was conceived in the Vatican. It is part of the Jesuit Counter-Reformation plot to cause the downfall of the Protestant church and to bring the whole world under the domain of the Pope. For the Reformation was such a deadly blow to the apostate ‘Mother Church’ of Rome”
Thus, for Colin Farquhar anti-sectarianism is a “curse”. Based on this twisted logic, hate must be, conversely, a blessing. This perhaps explains why Colin Farquhar, and others like him, are members of the BNP. After all, the BNP rejoices in its own form of race-based anti-ecumenism to which it can add an anti-Catholic component. The wicked have truly inherited the earth.
Convert those wayward satanic Catholics
It is only the chosen few like Colin Farquhar who are endowed with racially-privileged spiritual insight. The Catholics are heathens whose lost souls must be prayed for. As Colin Farquhar concludes in his childish article:
“Let us be faithful witnesses toward Catholic people and others that are carried along by deceitful and deadly satanic organisations and institutions. Let us be diligent in prayer that God will be merciful toward them that the light of the gospel might shine in their lives and dispel all darkness and falsehood. Let us warn them especially regarding the deceitfulness, error and darkness of the Antichrist Roman Catholic Church; and those organisations such as the World Council of Churches and Churches Together that seek to bring about unity with this Satanic institution”
Conclusion
Colin Farquhar’s sectarianism is little more than an exercise in unapologetic hate. Should he be condemned, refuted or pitied? I leave it to the reader to answer this question. But, regardless of who you are - Catholic or Protestant, Christian or non-Christian, believer or atheist - we must all make the stand against fascism, racism and sectarianism. This is our common truth that binds us all irrespective of our backgrounds. It is only through our individual and collective apathy that the BNP can succeed. And, we should never let this happen.
¡No Pasarán!
- BNP activist and writer Colin Farquhar
This article was submitted by one of our readers, Hexapla. We welcome any contributions from our supporters (as long as those contributions conform to the law and are in reasonably good taste). Please send your articles to us via email.
The Kiss of Death
In our fourth article on anti-Catholic bigotry within the BNP, we expose the rancid anti-Catholic article, The Death Kiss of Rome on the Protestant Church, written by BNP activist Colin Farquhar. The BNP does well to hide its anti-Catholic bigots in the sectarian closet. But, every so often those bigots manage to prise open the closet’s door in order to propagate their message of sectarian hate fused with extreme race-based nationalism. Before we carry on, our previous articles on BNP anti-Catholicism are below:
BNP accuses Catholics of “heresy” and “blasphemy”
The Whore of Revelation and the BNP speaker who wants to destroy Catholics
BNP candidate in anti-Catholic claims: the indefatigable Alan Girvan strikes again!
Colin Farquhar pops up every so often in the letters section of the Northern Echo newspaper to tell readers of the benefits of a BNP-ruled Britain (only to be rebuked by other readers for his political propaganda. See link). But, Colin Farquhar does not tell readers that he, along with a fair number of BNP members, harbour a distinct anti-Catholic streak. Indeed, Colin Farquhar is quite notable for his anti-Catholic activism. Back in 2002, Colin Farquhar personally hosted the anti-Catholic preacher Pastor Frank W. Dowsett of The Covenant Vision Ministry in his tour of Britain.
The whore of Babylon
In highly emotive and polemical language, BNP writer Colin Farquhar provides a perverted reading of the Bible’s Book of Revelation when he condemns the Catholic faith as the fabled whore of Babylon or as he puts it, “the harlot Mother Church of Rome”. This provides Colin Farquhar with the justification to denounce aspects of Catholic belief as “totally false” and a “sham”.
Catholics kill and torture Protestants
Unfortunately, history can be a political tool, malleable in the hands of extremists and bigots. Indeed, BNP writer Colin Farquhar shows this is the case: he reifies Christian history by compressing it into a dubious sectarian metanarrative that transposes Catholics as the historical persecutors of their Protestant counterparts:
“When we remember the origins of this church, from as far back as the tower of Babel in Babylon; and the countless idolatrous and blasphemous satellite churches of Rome; and those millions of Protestants that have been tortured and slaughtered by this same church, is there need to say more?”
Colin Farquhar goes on to condemn his fellow Protestant believers who fail to give countenance to his rather scurrilous reading of western Europe’s fraught history of Catholic-Protestant relations:
“However, in defiance of historical fact, Protestants continue to succumb to the Lure of Rome”
The European Union: an evil Catholic plot against the UK and Protestantism
How does Colin Farquhar’s ‘historical fact’ play out? Like his fellow BNP writer and activist, Alan O’Reilly, Colin Farquhar claims that the European Union is an evil Catholic plot to destroy Britain and the Protestant faith:
“An up-to-date example of the attraction of evil is the fascination of our leaders with Europe and their willingness to sacrifice the independence and self-sufficiency of our great nation as they lust for power in the forthcoming Superstate of Europe ... As our politicians are transfixed with the political manifestation of Rome, that of Europe, so our church leaders are enchanted with the ecclesiastical manifestation, the Roman Catholic Church. This great edifice of unimaginable wealth, pomp and splendour has caused so many of our church leaders to capitulate to the grandeur and influence of this mighty satanic institution. What power and authority could be theirs if only they bow the knee to Papa”
Of course Colin, of course. Do keep up the good work; you chaps in the BNP are doing a sterling job.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is a Catholic agent in service of the anti-Christ
Colin Farquhar’s ‘historical fact’ also plays itself out in a different way. Perniciously, Colin Farquhar’s conspirital pen drubs the collective leadership of the Protestant faith as irredeemable traitors:
“Today we are experiencing a similar betrayal by the leaders of our Protestant Churches. Not only are they willing to come under the authority of Rome but they move heaven and earth to take as many with them as they can. The Reformers and great Christian leaders of the past identified the Roman Church as the Church of Antichrist. Antichrist they believed was to be found in the succession of Popes. The term ‘anti’ in this sense meaning ‘another’. The Popes therefore, each in turn were Antichrist, or in other words Another-Christ”
But, BNP writer Colin Farquhar reserves especial venom for the admirable head of the Church of England, Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams:
“Haven’t we just witnessed this crawling to Rome of our present Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams? He just the other week in his attempt to promote ecumenical relations knelt before the Pope and kissed the ring on his hand as the Cardinals present chuckled with delight at their moment of triumph. There was the representative of the Protestant Church of Great Britain submitting himself in subservience to the Antichrist. What shameful behaviour: if ever a man deserves to be removed from office, it is he. The treachery of such an act is unbelievable considering how his predecessor Archbishop Cranmer was burnt at the stake at the hands of this same church. Where were the voices of condemnation within the Protestant Church, and the calls for his resignation for this and other issues that have brought disgrace on the church and dishonour to the Lord?”
Anti-sectarianism is evil! The “curse” of ecumenism
It is clear that BNP writer Colin Farquhar, without a doubt, burns Archbishop Rowan Williams at the metaphorical stake. This is the fate of those brave individuals who attempt to cross the bridge of sectarian difference and apathy. This is the process of what is known as ‘ecumenism’. And, it is something that Colin Farquhar, tout court sectarian extremist, loathes. In the most strident terms, Colin Farquhar denounces attempts to reconcile sectarian difference as yet another wicked Catholic trick to debase Protestantism:
“In my youth .. union with other denominations was inconceivable ... Yet the process of ecumenism is centuries old and no surprise to the Roman church, for this baby was conceived in the Vatican. It is part of the Jesuit Counter-Reformation plot to cause the downfall of the Protestant church and to bring the whole world under the domain of the Pope. For the Reformation was such a deadly blow to the apostate ‘Mother Church’ of Rome”
Thus, for Colin Farquhar anti-sectarianism is a “curse”. Based on this twisted logic, hate must be, conversely, a blessing. This perhaps explains why Colin Farquhar, and others like him, are members of the BNP. After all, the BNP rejoices in its own form of race-based anti-ecumenism to which it can add an anti-Catholic component. The wicked have truly inherited the earth.
Convert those wayward satanic Catholics
It is only the chosen few like Colin Farquhar who are endowed with racially-privileged spiritual insight. The Catholics are heathens whose lost souls must be prayed for. As Colin Farquhar concludes in his childish article:
“Let us be faithful witnesses toward Catholic people and others that are carried along by deceitful and deadly satanic organisations and institutions. Let us be diligent in prayer that God will be merciful toward them that the light of the gospel might shine in their lives and dispel all darkness and falsehood. Let us warn them especially regarding the deceitfulness, error and darkness of the Antichrist Roman Catholic Church; and those organisations such as the World Council of Churches and Churches Together that seek to bring about unity with this Satanic institution”
Conclusion
Colin Farquhar’s sectarianism is little more than an exercise in unapologetic hate. Should he be condemned, refuted or pitied? I leave it to the reader to answer this question. But, regardless of who you are - Catholic or Protestant, Christian or non-Christian, believer or atheist - we must all make the stand against fascism, racism and sectarianism. This is our common truth that binds us all irrespective of our backgrounds. It is only through our individual and collective apathy that the BNP can succeed. And, we should never let this happen.
¡No Pasarán!
January 28, 2008
Teenagers of all faiths remember Holocaust
The warmth which encompassed every faith community in Liverpool yesterday embraced elderly survivors of the Holocaust and victims' relatives at a memorial concert in the city. There to welcome them were teenage Jews, Christians, Hindus and - for the first time in an official capacity - Muslims who had been on a "walk of faith" to call for tolerance, friendship, and the sanctity of individual life.
"The Holocaust was not so much six million deaths as one death six million times," said the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, taking up the theme which won Liverpool the honour of hosting National Holocaust Memorial Day this year.
He and Sir Jonathan Sacks, the Commonwealth chief rabbi, prayed together by a huge heap of spectacles, sent to Liverpool town hall from across the world and piled on a set of railway tracks like the infamous ones at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
"This is the darkness," said Liverpool councillor Tina Gould, who worked for a year to organise the mixture of religious service, music, poetry and drama, before visiting Auschwitz earlier this month. "As a Jew and as someone who loves Liverpool, I find it very hard to bear. But look, here is the light."
She opened one of the big, mahogany doors of the town hall and colour flooded in from thousands of paper butterflies - an age-old symbol of the human spirit - made by children in honour of named individuals who died in the Nazi camps.
The main commemoration at the Philharmonic Hall, on Hope Street, which unites the two once warring cathedrals, also dealt in names rather than numbers. The packed audience listened to music by Hans Krasa, who died at Auschwitz, and Hans Gal, who escaped and ended up in Liverpool interned as an "enemy alien" during the war, but was shown around the city by friendly Scouser guards.
Martin Bell, the former independent MP and BBC reporter in the Balkans, then introduced the true story of Bosko and Admira, the Romeo and Juliet of Sarajevo whose love was destroyed by the hatred between Serbs and Bosnians.
Tahira, 15, a Muslim who joined Catholic, Anglican and Hindu teenagers on the faith walk, said: "That is what we must prevent, and we do it by meeting together and making friends - simple, and just what we do in Liverpool's youth council."
Guardian
"The Holocaust was not so much six million deaths as one death six million times," said the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, taking up the theme which won Liverpool the honour of hosting National Holocaust Memorial Day this year.
He and Sir Jonathan Sacks, the Commonwealth chief rabbi, prayed together by a huge heap of spectacles, sent to Liverpool town hall from across the world and piled on a set of railway tracks like the infamous ones at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
"This is the darkness," said Liverpool councillor Tina Gould, who worked for a year to organise the mixture of religious service, music, poetry and drama, before visiting Auschwitz earlier this month. "As a Jew and as someone who loves Liverpool, I find it very hard to bear. But look, here is the light."
She opened one of the big, mahogany doors of the town hall and colour flooded in from thousands of paper butterflies - an age-old symbol of the human spirit - made by children in honour of named individuals who died in the Nazi camps.
The main commemoration at the Philharmonic Hall, on Hope Street, which unites the two once warring cathedrals, also dealt in names rather than numbers. The packed audience listened to music by Hans Krasa, who died at Auschwitz, and Hans Gal, who escaped and ended up in Liverpool interned as an "enemy alien" during the war, but was shown around the city by friendly Scouser guards.
Martin Bell, the former independent MP and BBC reporter in the Balkans, then introduced the true story of Bosko and Admira, the Romeo and Juliet of Sarajevo whose love was destroyed by the hatred between Serbs and Bosnians.
Tahira, 15, a Muslim who joined Catholic, Anglican and Hindu teenagers on the faith walk, said: "That is what we must prevent, and we do it by meeting together and making friends - simple, and just what we do in Liverpool's youth council."
Guardian
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