BNP propagandist Shane Sinclair says “we are anti-Catholicism”

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.

Anti-Catholic propaganda par excellence

In our fifth article on anti-Catholic bigotry within the BNP we introduce readers to anti-Catholic BNP propaganda maestro Shane Sinclair, described by BNP leader Nick Griffin as:

“the nationalist movement's best ever propagandist”

And, being the BNP’s ‘best ever propagandist’, Shane Sinclair published on his now defunct Swansea Loyalist website the anti-Catholic article, The Five Protestant Bishops Whom Rome Burned. The following is an extract from that article:

“There is as you would expect from a Unionist/Loyalist website a Protestant slant ... we are anti-Catholicism as a religion ... if anything we feel sorry for Catholics and hope one day that they believe in the real word of God….the Bible. This section highlights the lives of Five Protestant Bishops who were burned at the stake by the forces of Rome.”

Shane Sinclair’s violent past

Shane Sinclair (whose real name is Shane Whalley) was once a leading member of a violent Swansea-based outfit of pro-BNP football hooligans. But, Shane Sinclair never really broke with his violent past. With not just a criminal conviction for threatening behaviour, a drunken Shane Sinclair also attacked a member of the public who challenged him on his vandalism to public property in Cambridge. In light of his violent tendencies, it is interesting to learn that Shane Sinclair was once responsible for developing the BNP’s political strategy, taught leading BNP officials the tactics of community politics and helped establish the BNP’s Swansea branch.

Shane Sinclair’s anti-Catholic history of Wales

In another anti-Catholic article published by Shane Sinclair, How come Wales is Loyalist?, it is claimed that:

“I have had a lot of mail from republicans who are none too happy that there are Loyalists in Wales. Wales is a Protestant country and while we acknowledge there are republicans here (mainly Plaid supporters,) let us give you a few reasons why we are Loyalist...........Wales has historically been "THE" Protestant stronghold of Great Britain. During the glorious revolution, King William himself, formed both the Royal Welsh Fusillers and "The Royal Cheshire Regiment". Both regiments followed him to the "Boyne", and fought to preserve their religion. Of all the great battles, the Royal Welsh Fusillers have fought in since, none have been so important”

We very much doubt that the vast, vast majority of Welsh people agree with this bigoted anti-Catholic reading of the history of Wales promoted by Shane Sinclair. But, then again the BNP regularly distorts and deforms history to promote its racist and sectarian ideological agenda. After all, Shane Sinclair is the BNP’s ‘best ever propagandist’.

Shane Sinclair’s double life and support for anti-Catholic Loyalist terrorist groups

As with many BNP officials and members, Shane Sinclair was quite open about his support for anti-Catholic terrorist groups. Shane Sinclair’s website also carried articles in support of Merseyside-based members of the anti-Catholic terrorist group Ulster Volunteer Force arrested for smuggling illegal guns to their Belfast counterparts. The Swansea Loyalist website also attracted messages of support from Loyalist terrorist groups and neo-nazi terrorist groups such as Combat 18 (founded by the BNP in the 1990s) and Blood and Honour.

Interestingly and somewhat paradoxically, Shane Sinclair once stood as the Liberal Democrat’s parliamentary candidate for Swansea East. However, he was expelled from the Liberal Democrats after it was discovered that Shane Sinclair was secretly posting offensive messages on an extremist Loyalist website that carried a hit-list of alleged enemies of the loyalist movement. The website was operated by a supporter of the anti-Catholic terrorist group the Loyalist Volunteer Force. Shane Sinclair was condemned by Welsh Assembly Liberal Democrat representative Peter Black as leading a “double life”. Peter Black also said that:

“By exposing Mr. Sinclair in this way the Welsh Liberal Democrats are sending out a positive signal, that we are a party that will not tolerate racism and bigotry at any level. I am relieved that Shane Sinclair's double life has been found out and I congratulate the media for their part in bringing this to our attention”

We definitely share Peter Black’s sentiments.

Shane Sinclair and the British Ulster Alliance link

Writing as ‘Swansea Loyalist’ on the Protestant Unionist Loyalist Social Education website, Shane Sinclair, pejoratively calling non-Whites “ethnics”, boasted of fellow Swansea-based football hooligans attending racist BNP meetings. Indeed, Shane Sinclair, at one point, sat at the heart of a three-way nexus between the BNP, the BNP-linked British Ulster Alliance (BUA) and the Swansea Loyalist website (which later changed its name to BUA South Wales). It therefore comes as no surprise to read on the BUA’s website open support for the racist BNP:

“Similarly, the BNP and NF cannot defeat the IRA. The correct remedy must be applied, in this case Loyalism. And likewise, Loyalist groups cannot stop uncontrolled immigration into Britain. But political groups like the BNP can.”

According to the Derry Journal’s article, British Nationalist Group Set To Visit Fountain (published 24 February 2004):

“The British Ulster Alliance was officially formed in October 1999 by loyalists, patriots and British nationalists in England. The group said: "From its inception the Alliance has vehemently opposed the 'Peace Process', viewing it as an addition to the 'Anglo-Irish Agreement' and other similar pro-'united Ireland' initiatives introduced by successive British governments. Their website goes on to say: "The Alliance sincerely believes that the surrender of loyalist weapons would rapidly accelerate the sell-out of Ulster””

It is claimed that the BUA is a front group for the anti-Catholic terrorist group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) (aka the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF)), which murdered hundreds of Catholic civilians in Northern Ireland/Ulster over a thirty year period. BUA leader Frank Portinari was jailed in 1993 for smuggling guns to the UDA/UFF. In October 2002 the BUA organised a rally outside 10 Downing Street calling for the release of UFF anti-Catholic murderer Johnny Adair (who has been praised by senior BNP official Mark Collett). Flying UFF banners, the BUA protest was attended by members of the BNP, Combat 18 and the National Front. Further BNP links to the BUA were revealed by BBC News in the form of Loughborough-based BNP candidate Warren Glass and BNP activist Dave Hill.

Shane Sinclair’s Swedish odyssey

The irony is this – Shane Sinclair is now eking out a living as an economic immigrant in Sweden! Last time I heard, Shane Sinclair was whining on about his work status as a non-Swedish national being potentially threatened if the Swedish Left Party is elected to power and enacts its threat to withdraw Sweden from the European Union. LOL.

Hopefully, this article, along with the other articles in this series, can contribute to not just exposing the BNP’s residual anti-Catholicism but also its appalling racism, anti-Semitism, sexism and homophobia. In light of Shane Sinclair’s racist and sectarian nonsense, can anyone with an adult, rational and sane mind ever contemplate voting for the BNP? For our previous articles on BNP anti-Catholicism, we refer the interested reader to the following:

Beware “the Lure of Rome”: BNP writer says Catholics are the “Anti-Christ” and “Satanic”

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!

¡No Pasarán!

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!