Bartholomew's Notes

The latest spat between Robert Spencer and Charles Johnson continues (see my previous blog entry here); Johnson had mocked Spencer for associating with the Christian Action Network while on a visit to the UK, and for a near-encounter with the English Defence League:

Spencer claims he never met with the English Defense League (although he obviously can’t deny meeting with the extremists of the Christian Action Network), and it’s actually true — as far as it goes. But in reality, the only reason he didn’t meet with them is because he and the leaders of CAN were thrown out of the restaurant before the meeting could occur.

Spencer again retorts:

I did not go to England planning to meet with the EDL, I did not make such plans there, and I did not meet with them…As for the CAN, I am working with them because of their excellent work on the documentary Homegrown Jihad. I do not feel myself bound to endorse every one of their other positions, or consider that I have done so, by working with them. In reality, I don’t make public statements on issues that are not jihad-related. In reality, I will not work with racists, fascists, neo-Nazis, etc. Those who are inclined to buy Johnson’s guilt-by-association smears are invited to prove that I actually believe the things he is trying to pin on me from what I have actually written, not from the words or deeds (actual or fabricated in Johnson’s defamation and lie factory) of others.

It will of course be dismaying for the EDL to see Spencer repudiate any association in such terms. And as for CAN, its director Martin Mawyer is certaimly not racist, but his homophobia is intense and vicious: he has promoted the rumour that Hilary Clinton is a lesbian and rails against “one-world government extremists … radical, disease-carrying homosexuals … anti-family lesbian feminists…”

Spencer has an ongoing relationship to Christian fundamentalism, and he has endorsed a book which claims that the Bible predicts the rise of a Muslim anti-Christ. The book is entitled The Islamic Antichrist, by Joel Richardson, and it was previously packaged as Antichrist: Islam’s Awaited Messiah. The book is being heavily promoted by WorldNetDaily; I blogged it here and Richardson (who is personable) has left some comments here and there. The book’s thesis, of course, is a farrago of nonsense, in which Biblical texts are ripped from their historical context and a new meaning imposed based on what Richardson wants them to contain. Christian fundamentalists have been doing this kind of thing for a long time.

Spencer’s endorsement of this piffle appears on the book’s cover, and inside he enthuses thus:

A fascinating and provovative work. Joel has broken fresh ground in the ongoing exploration of the relationship between Islam and the rest of the world. A must-read for priests and pastors, students and lay readers everywhere. Bravo!

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