Bartholomew's Notes

Private Eye (1213 p. 25) draws attention to a forthcoming book, entitled Forensic Aspects of Dissociative Identity Disorder:

The book’s contributors include…Dr Joan Coleman, founder of RAINS (Ritual Abuse Information Network and Support), writing on “Satanist Ritual Abuse and the Problem of Credibility”; Valerie Sinason PhD, a child psychologist and a psychotherapist who practises in Harley Street and has written two chapters, including “When murder moves inside”; and Ellen Lacter PhD, a psychologist from San Diego, California, who writes about “Mind Control: Simple to Complex”.

The Eye also gives us the response of Jean La Fontaine, author of Speak of the Devil: Tales of Satanic Abuse in Contemporary England, which (alongside Jeffery Victor’s Satanic Panic) debunked claims of Satanic abuse in the 1990s:

“It fills me with rage”

La Fontaine’s book was written in the wake of the “Satanic Panics” which blighted a lot of innocent people’s lives in both the USA and the UK.

Lacter, meanwhile, tells us that the book’s publication is a sign that “the tide is beginning to turn” after years of sceptical dismissal.

As I noted in 2006, Lacter is a particular fan of Steve Oglevie, who was one of those responsible for causing a Satanic panic in Idaho in 1989 when he declared that a dead baby found on a garbage dump had been sacrificed by Satanists – in fact, the body had been mutilated by wild animals. Sinason and RAINS have also featured in Private Eye’s discussions of Satanism, as I blogged here.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

The Florida Ledger reports on a neo-Pentecostal faith-healing revival known as the “Florida Outpouring”:

The Pentecostal revival, which began April 2 at Ignited Church in Lakeland, draws an average of 30,000 or more people each week, according to its leaders, with about 50 percent of those from outside the state. In fact, it has become an international phenomenon, and almost a third of the crowds come from outside the United States, leaders estimate. At this particular evening service, flags from eight nations waved above the crowd, which numbered at least 4,000.

…The revival may have few precedents for its length coupled with the explosiveness of its popularity, which observers say has been fueled by the Internet, over which the services are streamed live twice a day.

The revival is being led by Canadian Todd Bentley, and apparently it began as a planned five-day session. Bentley has gained an imprimatur from Steven Strang, editor of the influential Charisma magazine (and a close ally of John Hagee):

I’m glad to see “revival” breaking out. It is wonderful to hear the testimonies of healing and even stories about people being raised from the dead. I hope the revival continues because I believe that it is a fresh move of God.

The Florida revival has also inspired spin-off events in other countries, such as the “Dudley Outpouring” in the West Midlands of England (for some reason the Dudley Outpouring official website features a prominent graphic of a nuclear explosion), and a significant role is being played by GOD TV; according to the station’s UK and Ireland Regional Director, Chris Cole (FRSA), Bentley and GOD TV are part of a supernatural plan for the Last Days:

…when I took over the role of GOD TV’s UK and Ireland Regional Director I announced from David’s Citadel on October 1st, 2005 that God had given me a word in 1986 by Prophets from Jerusalem about being used to help establish the ‘Tabernacle of David’. These are the spiritual times of a new reformation and a new apostolic age and GOD TV will play a major role in this end time strategy.

…thousands of people at these events are beginning to be healed of terminal illnesses which are being medically authenticated. Also thousands of people are being healed by just watching GOD TV.

Bentley (aged 32) turned from a life of crime to religion, and he has been an evangelist for a few years. He has held similar revivals in Canada, and he has preached in Africa; a book by Bill Nugent mentions “the report of the notable miracles which occurred through the ministry of Todd Bentley as he ministered with Heidi Baker in Mozambique” (1).

Bentley claims all kinds of supernatural encounters, including cosy chats with Biblical figures; Biblical scholars may be interested to learn that Bentley has solved the problem of the authorship of the Letter to the Hebrews with some inside knowledge from Saint Paul himself, whom he met while visiting the Third Heaven:

Back to Paul! I discovered while conversing with Paul that it wasn’t only Jesus Christ who taught him in heaven. I say this because Paul told me: “Abraham taught me, in heaven, and that’s how and why I wrote the book of Hebrews. What I heard was from the lips of Abraham himself.”

Bentley has also received guidance from various angels, including one named “Emma”, and helpful assistance from the “angel of finance”:

In this regard, on three occasions over the past couple of years I’ve had a visitation from the Lord in which I’ve seen the angel of finance. Every time this happens (in our meetings) there is an incredible financial breakthrough—something is opened up in heaven, it invades the earth, and people respond by giving generously.

Healings and resurrections also figure prominently, including tales of tumours dropping off the sick (this is a familiar Pentecostal claim; I’ve often wondered what happens to these tumours after the event). And while Bentley’s claims to have raised the dead have been met with some scepticism, he has certainly succeeded in one resurrection: that of the career of Paul Cain, the “Kansas City Prophet” and neo-Pentecostal Dominionist leader whose high-profile ministry ended Haggard-like in a gay sex and alcohol scandal a few years ago. Bentley and Cain have endorsed each other, and Bentley is keen to take on the mantle of “Latter Rain” Pentecostal teachers such as William Branham.

However, despite these connections, some Christians are concerned by Bentley and his teaching: the angelic encounters – particularly with “Emma” – sound more New Age than orthodox Christian, and his healing methods have apparently included kicking people in the face. His heavily-tattooed appearance has also raised suspicions.

(1) Bill Nugent (2006), Lawful or Legalistic, p. 20

UPDATE: C. Peter Wagner gives his endorsement.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Notorious American anti-gay “psychologist” Paul Cameron (whom I first discussed here) is currently in Russia; Interfax Religion reports:

He urged Russians to back up such politicians as Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov who opposed gay parade in Moscow. Cameron also finds it joyful that representatives of the sociology faculty of the Moscow State University showed interest to his institute’s research and plan to conduct similar independent analysis.

Perhaps Cameron would be less “joyful” if he read a report about that very same department which appeared in the New York Times last year, and which quoted dissatisfied students:

…The students said, for example, that extremist views had become institutionalized and that conspiracy theories had infiltrated the teaching.

“The dean’s office has distributed a brochure to all students that approvingly quotes the ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion,’ blames Freemasons and Zionists for the world wars, and claims that they control U.S. and British policy and the global financial system,” the students wrote in one of their public appeals. “Studying conditions at the department are unbearable.”

I blogged on this situation at some length here, profiling in particular the hard-right authoritarianism of the dean, Vladimir Dobrenkov.

This is not Cameron’s first link with the far right; last autumn he addressed the British National Party’s (apparently now defunct) Christian Council of Britain.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

British libel tourism is not just for Saudi billionaires and Ukrainian businessmen: an Israeli academic has now used the threat of the London High Court to have passages removed from a book review published in the USA. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports:

The College Art Association has averted a so-called libel tourism action threatened against it in Britain. The threat came from an Israeli professor of art history angry over a review of her book in Art Journal, one of the association’s scholarly publications. The parties agreed that the association would ask institutional subscribers to the journal to withdraw portions of the disputed article from circulation.

Gannit Ankori, chair of the art-history department at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was reportedly upset by a review of her book Palestinian Art (Reaktion Books, 2006), by Joseph A. Massad, an associate professor…at Columbia University…

Mr. Massad’s review, “Permission to Paint: Palestinian Art and the Colonial Encounter,” is a lengthy treatment of three books on the subject. In it, Mr. Massad describes a controversy concerning Ms. Ankori’s use of the work and theories of Kamal Boullata, a Palestinian painter and art historian. The disputed article does not directly accuse Ms. Ankori of plagiarism, but in her communications with the association, she argued that it was defamatory all the same.

Of course, a UK libel action might not have gone very far, but we’ll never know, since the College Art Association considered (reasonably) that it wasn’t worth the risk:

The group consulted with lawyers here and in Britain, according to its executive director, Linda Downs, and decided that the cost and risk of defending a libel case there looked punishingly high.

“Ninety-eight percent of defendants on libel cases lose there,” [executive director Linda] Downs said.

Had the College Art Association lost in a libel action in London, it might have had protection under New York State’s Libel Terrorism Protection Act, which allows “New York’s courts to declare that a foreign judgment was unenforceable if the courts decided that the libel laws in foreign jurisdictions did not protect freedom of speech and the press to the same extent as the laws in New York and the US”. Despite its silly name, the Act does not just confine itself to libel cases concerning terrorism, but is concerned with freedom of speech in general. Of course, Ankori might have won her case in London and the New York courts might have agreed that the judgement was just – but again, we’ll never know, and if Ankori were confident that her case met the American definition of libel, surely she would have pursued the dispute there?

Meanwhile, it’ll be interesting to see the conservative response to this story. On the one hand, US conservatives railed against British courts and “libel tourism” over Sheik Khalid bin Mahfouz’s use of British libel laws against the American scholar Rachel Ehrenfeld; but on the other hand, Massad is a conservative hate figure because of his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and US involvement in the Middle East. Daniel Pipes’s Campus Watch has reproduced the Chronicle article, albeit without comment.

UPDATE: Apparently the Art Journal paid out $75,000 to avoid a libel case. Ankori says that this will pay her legal costs, and the remainder will be donated to charity.

UPDATE 2: Ankori’s lawyer opines  on the “parochial” and “out of step” First Amendment.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

From a press release:

Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. (Amex: ZN) of Dallas, TX and Caesarea, Israel announced today that it will sponsor the “Night to Honor Israel” banquet at the Third Annual Washington-Israel Summit of Christians United for Israel (CUFI)…It is expected that John Brown, Zion’s Founder and Chairman, will be interviewed by Pastor John Hagee during the Summit and that the interview will be broadcast on the Daystar Television Network during the “Night to Honor Israel.” In addition, CUFI will broadcast a video about Zion at the banquet’s pre-event, and the banquet’s proceedings will be telecast by live-feed over the Daystar Television network.

John Brown, Zion’s Founder and Chairman, commented today, “Zion is proud to be a part of the CUFI Washington-Israel Summit and to support CUFI’s educational and public policy work in support of Israel.”

I’ve been following the fortunes of Zion Oil for some time now – although perhaps “fortunes” is not the right word. This appeared in May:

Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. (AMEX: ZN) of Dallas, Texas and Caesarea, Israel, today reported its results for the quarter ended March 31, 2008. The company reported a net loss of $1,039 thousand or $(0.10) per share for the first quarter of 2008 compared to a net loss of $667 thousand or $(0.07) per share for the same quarter a year earlier. The company has no revenues as it is still an exploration stage company.

On release of the first quarter results, Zion’s Chief Executive Officer, Richard Rinberg, commented: “Zion’s most recent financials show that we are implementing our business plan. We have in secure storage, in Israel, the pipe and other equipment necessary for our planned next well, the Ma’anit-Rehoboth #2, on the Ma’anit structure in the Joseph License area. Also, Zion’s follow-on offering has just been declared effective and we have started to raise funds for our planned multi-well drilling program.”

The latest “public offering” of shares was announced just the day before, and the CUFI summit is doubtless the perfect environment for raising further funds. Back in 2004 the company was tipped on WorldNetDaily by Hal Lindsey, whose cousin, Ralph DeVore, at that time had a major stake in it (he later fell out with Brown).

Zion’s chairman John Brown believes that the Bible not only gives clues to the location of oil in Israel, but also prophesizes that he will be the man to find it. The Zion Oil website gives the exegesis:

…ONE … The Prayer

“Moreover concerning a stranger [John Brown], that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country [U.S.A.] for thy name’s sake: (for they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm); when he shall come and pray towards this house; hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to ALL that the stranger calleth to thee for [Oil for Israel]: that all the people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name.” (I Kings 8:41-43).

I have more background on Brown here. However, while this kind of thing will go down well with the likes of Hagee and CUFI, Zion Oil is also mindful of being taken seriously by the wider world, and the company has brought on board a number of respected industry professionals who are happy to explore Israel as a “wildcat” operation. Rinberg in particular is good at following-up Brown’s fund-raising prophecy spiels with legalese caveats about the company not making “forward-looking statements” about actually finding any oil.

But is it really possible to have it both ways like this? Brown’s eccentric Biblical exegesis is bad enough, but Zion Oil is now making an alliance with a man who warns that the anti-Christ will be Jewish and gay, who believes that Satan was able to use Marx and Hitler because both were (supposedly) partly Jewish, and who believes that “the Rothchilds” are part of a Satanic conspiracy running the world economy.

(Christian attempts to find oil in Israel were recently the subject of an article by Mariah Blake for Mother Jones.)

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

From (inevitably) Interfax:

The Constantinople Church’s actions in church politics is one of the main challenges to Orthodox unity, the Moscow Patriarchate believes.

According to Orthodox Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria, the Patriarch of Constantinople is trying to set himself up as an “Eastern Pope”, so obviously it would be better if Russia just took charge:

“One of the main threats is Constantinople’s aggressive policy as it may lead to the schism of Orthodox world…Main opponent of Constantinople and the only Church capable to contest its claims for hegemony in Orthodox world is the Russian Church. For this reason, Constantinople seeks to weaken, divide and deplete it in all fields.”

This is just the latest volley against the Greek Orthodox Church from the Russians; last month the Russian theologian Andrey Kurayev sneered at Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople as the “Turkish Patriarch”, and he dismissed the historic Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem as the “local Greek Patriarch”.

Driving this rhetoric is power politics of the worldliest kind. Russian Orthodoxy is completely intertwined with Russian nationalism, and the Church, as Time has noted, is “a vital foreign policy instrument” for the Russian government. To this end, the Patriarch of Moscow seeks to maximise his church’s foreign influence, and he has been irritated to find Constantinople supporting Orthodox churches in the former Soviet Union that are not affiliated with Russia: last month Patriarch Bartholomew had a friendly meeting with President Yushchenko of Ukraine, and a few days ago he consecrated some bishops in Estonia.

UPDATE: Moves in the UK have also provoked Moscow’s ire:

“It seems to me that here (in relations with the Moscow Patriarchate – IF) Constantinople leads a kind of fight that is unhealthy and contradicts the spirit of Orthodoxy. They discredit Orthodoxy before non-Orthodox world. No one profits from it. They do it for their own reasons,” Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany said in his interview published by the NG-Religii paper.

…He also called it “an outrage upon justice” that Constantinople decided to welcome under its jurisdiction former head of the Sourozh Diocese of the Moscow Patriarchate in Great Britain Bishop Basil (Osborne). 

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

I missed this from Time a couple of weeks ago:

Already established as perhaps the most important voice in contemporary American Evangelical Christianity, Rick Warren last week pressed the button that he hopes will take his “brand” to the ends of the earth.

Warren’s “brand” consists of the ideas in his Purpose Driven Life book, which was recently described by Jeff Sharlet as a “spiritual time-management manual”. Linked to this is Warren’s “PEACE” plan for the economic and spiritual development of Africa, and his vision has been “beta-tested” (Time’s word) in Rwanda (as I blogged here and here) and Uganda (where Warren recently expressed his strong support for laws against homosexuality). Now Warren has apparently brought much of the US evangelical mainstream on board at a “PEACE Coalition Summit”:

…If last week’s conference increases the number of participant congregations in the PEACE plan from 12 to 1,200 — a reasonable estimate, given that 1,700 pastors were in attendance and many actually head networks of congregations — then the number of PEACE missionaries would jump from roughly 2,000 a year to 200,000…

Warren is particularly excited by the hands-on involvement of some of the larger players in the Evangelical community. “A guy was going, ‘I’ll take Mozambique,’ and another guy was going ‘I’ll take Nigeria,’ ” he said happily, adding that he’s already secured personal commitments from influential leaders in the Salvation Army and the Assemblies of God (the largest Pentecostal denomination.) “They’ve said, they’re in, and they have to get their boards along,” he reported.

Warren is also keeping the home front in mind; an interview from the Religion News Service notes that he is also planning a “40 Days of Purpose” event for New York City. Says Warren:

The idea behind “40 Days of Purpose” is that the pastor teaches on it so you hear it, then you read about it every day, then you discuss it in a small group and then you memorize a Bible verse about it and then you do a project with a group of other people.

By (using those) five ways, we find that people’s spiritual maturity was growing a whole lot faster than if I just taught a series of messages on it. That was the idea of multiple reinforcement.

(Since 2002,) 31,000 churches in America — 31,000! — have done “40 Days of Purpose.” That’s one out of every 10 churches in America. Two thousand churches in the Philippines, 1,000 in Australia, about 800 in the United Kingdom. A group of churches said, “Why don’t we do this together as a city?”

And as for PEACE:

…The P.E.A.C.E. plan is 100 times more complex than the traditional ways to do mission. I’m willing to go slow at it in order to get the long-term benefits. If you’re going to do long-term, you have to start at the lowest level. You start at the village level, not at the top level… We’ve had invitations from Guatemala, from the Philippines and … other countries saying, “Could we be next?” In the last four years, I’ve sent out 7,766 of our members to 68 countries.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

An email from the “Jerusalem Connection” brings an uncompromising message from Rev. Jim Hutchens:

Christian Zionists have a special mandate and “duty to expose and confront anti-Semitism wherever it is found.” This is true of the overt anti-Semitism of evil Islamic Jihadists like Iran, who would “wipe Israel off the map,” or Palestinian Jihadists who refuse Israel’s right to exist. It is equally true of the veiled anti-Semitism that lurks in the bowels of Replacement Theology/Supercessionism among Christians. For Zion’s sake we must not keep silent.

So, does “wherever it is found” include someone who rants about how the US economy is run by a group of Satanists called the Illuminati, in particular naming Alan Greenspan and “the Rothschilds”? Or who infers that Satan was able to make particular use of Karl Marx because he was Jewish and Hitler because he was “partly Jewish”? Alas no, seeing as Hutchens has said nothing against John Hagee’s views on these subjects.

Meanwhile, Hagee has issued yet another apology for his past sermonizing, this time for his much-reported comments about Hitler being a hunter sent by God to persuade the Jews to move to Israel:

“In a sermon in 1999, I grappled with the vexing question of why a loving God would allow the evil of the Holocaust to occur,” John Hagee, the Texas-based preacher wrote in a letter to Anti-Defamation League director Abe Foxman. “I know how sensitive the issue of the Holocaust is and should be to the Jewish community and I regret if my Jewish friends felt any pain as a result.”

Hagee doesn’t really “do” sensitive: in 1996 he held a charity “slave auction” at his church.

But is he an anti-Semite? It’s a description I’ve always been reluctant to use (much as I dislike what he stands for), because Hagee has also said so much that is philo-Semitic. It also risks conflating Hagee with a different strand of American Christian fundamentalism which is unambiguously anti-Jewish; Hagee is no Gerald L.K. Smith. However, it’s clear that Hagee’s philo-Semitism collapses in on itself: Hagee sees Jews not as real three-dimensional people, but simply as instruments in a divine drama. Those Jews who act according to God’s script receive Hagee’s regard and support, but the logic of his theology means that the Jew who strays from the path – such as Marx, the Rothschilds, and, erm, Hitler – potentially becomes a uniquely effective tool of Satan. Thus, like the late Jerry Falwell, Hagee teaches that the anti-Christ will be at least “partly” Jewish.

Hagee co-opts old anti-Jewish conspiracy theories while expressing support for Jews. But this just means that the essential anti-Jewish element of these theories is currently (more or less) dormant – and Hagee’s “paranoid style” is inseparable from an irrational hatred of minority groups. The possibility remains that Hagee’s conspiracy teachings may one day help to create an anti-Jewish climate, just as their originators intended.

Ironically, this anti-Jewish flip-side to Christian Zionist philo-Semitism has been acknowledged by some right-wing Jewish supporters of Israel, who have used it as a stick with which to beat Israeli moderates; in 2004 Herbert Zweibon, head of Americans for a Safe Israel, warned in the Jerusalem Post that

If Israel withdraws from Judea, Samaria and Gaza, I think you will see anti-Semitism in America like you have never seen. These people [Christian Zionists] will see it as a betrayal of their own trust…Why should they stand by [Israel], if the Jews don’t?

Hagee claims his support for Israel is unconditional (and doubtless he recalls Israel’s repudiation of Pat Robertson after Robertson claimed God had struck down Ariel Sharon for the Gaza withdrawal), but the mix of pro-Jewish sentiment and inherently anti-Jewish conspiracy theory must result in a psychological double-bind. How long before we see some lashing out, if not from Hagee then from others in the wider movement…?

PS: The Jewish Virtual Library explains the origin of the story of Hitler possibly being “partly Jewish”:

The idea seems to arise from the remote possibility that Hitler’s grandfather was Jewish. Hitler’s father, Alois, was registered as an illegitimate child with no father. Alois’ mother worked in the home of a wealthy Jew and there is some chance a son in that household got the woman (i.e., Hitler’s grandmother) pregnant. Adolf Hitler was not Jewish.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 11 Comments »

A few days ago I blogged on ex-Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo’s first public mass since he was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. Milingo, it will be recalled, married a Korean Unificationist in 2001 and has now accepted Rev Moon as “the Messiah sent by God”. Recently he ordained several married men as priests, establishing a breakaway Catholic church to receive direction from Moon and the Unification Church.

The Catholic Church has urged its members to give Milingo a wide berth, but details about the mass in the Lusaka Times suggest that some other Christians are less bothered:

Hundreds of people from all walks of life – Sunday turned up for a healing mass conducted by former Catholic Archibishop Emmanuel Milingo in Lusaka’s Matero township.

Archibishop Milingo conducted the healing mass that lasted for over two hours.

Christians from different churches sung songs of praise as the Archibishop conducted his healing session.

…Every Nation Church Bishop, John Jere thanked Archibishop MILINGO for bringing transformation in the church.

“Every Nation” is the controversial neo-Pentecostal grouping which I blogged several times a couple of years ago; Jere has also featured on this blog in the past, as the Zambian link-man for Peter Hammond’s Frontline Fellowship. Jere’s “Zambia United Christian Action” helped to spread the political religious supremicist teachings of Christian Reconstructionism in the country. According to his website:

Bishop John Jere has planted many churches in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, Malawi and Angola. John is still planting more churches in Zambia under Every Nation Church. The recent two church plants in Lukulu is a greater challenge as the areas arein abject poverty.

Jere’s prefered means to challenging “abject poverty” is to promote free-market fundamentalism, and he has introduced Zambian ministers to Douglas J Shaw, a Scottish free-market economist. Jere is also noted for running an orphanage.

Also at the Milingo mass were a number of Anglican clerics, obliging Anglican bishops to make a statement:

Council General Secretary, Rodgers Banda said any priest who attended the healing sessions and mass did so in their personal capacity.

The Bishops were reacting to some of the Anglican priests who were seen on ZNBC television news during Archbishop Milingo’s healing sessions and mass Sunday.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

Ed Brayton draws attention to an interesting legal case concerning Jason Van Dyke, the Texas-based legal advisor to Young Americans for Freedom at Michigan State University. The group became an object of notoriety last year when it brought in the British National Party leader Nick Griffin as a speaker, and Ed’s journalistic colleague Todd Heywood regularly reports on the YAF’s activities here. Ed explains the legal background:

Back in 2000, Van Dyke had some legal problems at MSU. He struck a plea bargain and later had the record expunged. Todd Heywood received the documents about that arrest from the court in East Lansing last year and wrote about them.

Van Dyke then filed to have those records sealed. Todd went to court to argue against sealing them, arguing that as a public figure who has inserted himself into a public controversy and as an officer of the court in Texas (where he practices law), the public has a right to know and he as a journalist has a right to report on Van Dyke’s history of illegal actions. This week, the judge agreed with Todd and refused to seal the records.

Van Dyke responded to this by describing Heywood as an “AIDS infected faggot” and announcing his plans to sue him and the judge:

Maybe, after spending a fortune on legal bills only to end up paying a hefty judgment, they will think twice before they tangle with me again.

This is, of course, the perennial boast of bullies with legal qualifications, who know they can use their professional position to make life difficult for investigators and the unduly curious; writing letters and making court filings doesn’t cost them a penny, while those on the receiving end are put to all kinds of inconveniences. In some cases, the sense of power doubtless also provides a weird thrill that serves as some sort of substitute for a normal emotional life.

Van Dyke apparently argued for he records to be sealed on the grounds of privacy. Heywood, although no lawyer, put his case very well in his submission to the court, arguing that Van Dyke is a “limited purpose” public figure, and his past acts should be matter of discussion:

Defendant is alleging that disclosure of the court documents will harm his reputation. However, by virtue of his leadership position as the Legal Advisor of MSU-YAF, and administrator position at [a website], Defendant has “thrust” himself into the forefront of particular public controversies in order to influence their resolution…As such, the Defandant has opened himself and his political arguments up for dissection by the public body. Included in this dissection must be his criminal background because it shows a personal bias towards things such as gun possession on college campuses. Defendant is not a private person who is being attacked, he has sought and maintained a public role…and has sought, through the publication of his blog and commentaries…to thrust himself into public controversies…Thus sealing the records in this case will be damaging to a legitimate public discourse.

This “public figure” distinction is something we could very well do with in the UK.

This blog post is the sequel to a post I made here.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »