Alliance Defense Fund Consolidates Links with British Christians

From the website of Christian Concern for Our Nation:

On Sunday 21st March, 70 delegates gathered in the stunning grounds of Exeter College, Oxford, to embark on a week of intense study, fellowship with one another, and worship… Andrea Minichiello Williams (Director, Christian Legal Centre) and Jeffrey Ventrella (Senior Vice President, Alliance Defense Fund) spoke after the dinner with passion and humility, challenging all the delegates to ‘put Christianity in its place’ and to answer the ‘call of today’s worshipful warrior’.

… Teaching from Jordan Lorence (Senior Vice President, Alliance Defense Fund) at these sessions was always highly relevant; he spoke honestly about the traps that Christians can fall into and provided practical advice for keeping our future careers devoted to God…

Williams’ links with Ventrella and the ADF were noted in a 2008 Channel 4 documentary which I blogged here. Ventrella’s background is discussed on this Americans United page:

Jeffery J. Ventrella, the ADF’s senior vice president of strategic training and coordinator of the Blackstone program, has published several articles in The Chalcedon Report, the leading Reconstructionist journal, which was founded by [Rousas] Rushdoony. Ventrella… describes himself as an “ordained Ruling Elder in the Orthodox Presby­terian Church” in his ADF bio…

Christian Reconstructionism is a form of Calvinist religious supremacism; while using the language of libertarianism, its goal is an authoritarian Christian society that would rule as harshly as any Islamic extremist polity. ADF president Alan Sears argues that separation of church and state is actually a KKK conspiracy:

It took a former Ku Klux Klansman turned Supreme Court Justice, Hugo Black, to move the so-called “separation of church and state” into common jurisprudence, which he accomplished in 1947 in Everson v. Board of Education.  As a committed Klansman, Black surely must have participated in the Klan’s oath of allegiance, to “most zealously… shield and preserve… (the) separation of church and state… ”   Klan doctrine is not a good way to interpret the U.S. Constitution.

The ADF’s “Blackstone program” is a series of events which has included Reconstructionist speakers. Despite these associations (and others), Ventrella says he is not himself a Reconstructionist. However, the Americans United article gives us some idea of what putting “Christianity in its place” might mean:

Ventrella called for moving beyond boycotting gay-friendly companies.

“In reality, a better strategic approach may well be to infiltrate publicly held companies (by stock purchases) and then tactically exercise voting rights and other ownership privileges, et al, in an effort to bring pressure to bear upon corporate policy and practice,” he wrote.

In another piece, Ventrella discussed the possibility of advocating vouchers as a means of tearing down the public school system.

Ventrella has also written for the Southern California Center for Chris­tian Studies, an outfit affiliated with the Bahnsen seminary. One of his articles discusses “theonomic postmillennialism.” (“Theonomy” – which is defined as God’s law – is another term for Reconstructionism.) It highlighted the need to “engage the culture strategically” and use an incremental approach to bring about change.

The ADF was a prominent participant at the recent CPAC in Washington DC; one observer saw Lorence speak and claims that he “finished his remarks with a bizarre Islamophobic rant – warning students that if they aren’t careful the United States will be taken over by Muslims like Western Europe has.”

Islam was also a theme at  the Christian Concern event at Oxford:

Dr Sam Solomon presented powerfully for four hours on Islam, clearly demonstrating his in-depth knowledge…

Solomon’s thesis on Islam is straightforward and crude, and one wonders why it would take four hours to expound; as I’ve noted previously, he warns that Muslims are brainwashed to hate, and that the situation in Nigeria shows that hospitable Muslim neighbours are likely to become killers. He is also the author of The Mosque Exposed, published by an American missionary organisation called Advancing Native Missions. A quote here has few surprises:

Despite the overtly cruel, harsh, and intolerant Quranic views toward others, namely Jews and Christians, there are injunctions in the Quran that enable the Islamic community to disguise, play down, and when necessary, deny both the intensity and the validity of these anti-Semitic and anti-Christian teachings of its religious system.

This particular injunction is taqiya, which permeates almost all the activities and dealings of Muslims within non-Muslim societies, be they religiously sacred or religiously temporal, secular or civic, since…Islam does not distinguish between sacred and secular.

Migration is legally obligatory on a Muslim as preparatory to other forms of jihad for the victory of Islam and Muslims in other countries . . . . Migration precedes jihad and both are inextricably linked…

It is not possible to consolidate the Islamic religion without migration. There is no way to raise the profile of Islam in the abode of apostasy without the help of Muslims and the increase of their numbers.

(Solomon’s book is also currently being promoted by English Defence League activists opposed to the building of a mosque in Dudley)

Also addressing Christian Concern for Our Nation in Oxford was the former Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali, who, we are assured, “spoke with great wisdom”.

CCON also outlines the other participants:

Professor Julian Rivers (Professor of Jurisprudence, University of Bristol) presented a detailed model of law in the United Kingdom and clearly demonstrated how English law is becoming anti-Christian. Pastor Mark Baines (Partner, Deloitte LLP) engaged the delegates with practical advice on networking and defeating passivity. Teaching was also given by barristers: John Pugh-Smith proved  that Christian values can be upheld within the UK land-use planning system; Peter Duckworth spoke convincingly of the importance of marriage; and, the Christian Legal Centre’s Paul Diamond, along with some of his clients, spoke about his work defending religious liberty. Also lecturing were Dr Peter Saunders (General Secretary, Christian Medical Fellowship) and Countess Josephine Quintavelle [sic- should be Josephine Quintavalle] (Founder, Comment on Reproductive Ethics) who spoke cogently and persuasively on the importance of life, both for the elderly and the unborn…

21 Responses

  1. Very very astute post….again.

    I am deeply troubled with some elements of the UK Christian evangelical conservative movement, who appear to have morphed in to the far right.

    Their connections with the US are unhelpful at best and potentially societally divisive.

    They seem bent on stirring up fear of “others”, censorship and creating a climate of a “persecution complex” among Christians. They attempt to elicit a rather pathetic victim mentality.

    In short I have come to view them as potentially dangerous and a Gospel hinderance on many levels and who in their right mind would wish to live in the society that they dream of? Yuck to their dominionism.

    This is a first class blog and I am soothed to have found it only recently, as I no longer feel quite so alone.

  2. Christian Nurse Shirley Chaplin loses her “crucifix” case.

    And who was behind this case?

    Shirley Chaplin a Christian nurse re-assigned to an office role after refusing to take off a necklace bearing a cross will take her case to an employment tribunal next week

    Yep, non other than the Christian Legal Centre aka Christian Concern for our Nation.

    This is an earlier statement from the health trust:

    “Sadly, it appears that Mrs Chaplin may have been deflected from agreeing a sensible and pragmatic resolution of this dispute by the involvement of other parties outside the trust.”

    CLC stirred this up and shamed our whole community in the process:

    Christian Nurse Shirley Chaplin is today the “face” of UK Christianity in the Media

  3. You’ve put adl a couple of times instead of adf, just thought might be worth tweaking, feel free to delete this comment after

  4. Very very astute post….again.

    I am deeply troubled with some elements of the UK Christian evangelical conservative movement, who appear to have morphed in to the far right.

    Their connections with the US are unhelpful at best and potentially societally divisive.

  5. I can understand, but all fails when you realise such concerned people/groups are involved in these causes just to solicit donations from naive arm-chair bigots.

  6. […] Channel 4 documentary, which I blogged here. I also blogged on recent the meeting at Exeter College here. It is fair to say that the CCFON represents a British “Christian Right”. The New […]

  7. […] the ”hand of hope” urban legend. CCFON, meanwhile, has links with the US Alliance Defense League and with the anti-gay New Generation churches, and it is not inaccurate to describe it as a […]

  8. […] why Halal food is so widely available in the UK. Step forward Andrea Minichiello Williams, of the Alliance Defense Fund-associated UK group Christian Concern: Halal and Polygamy – Whose Culture Do We […]

  9. […] fundamentalist Christian organisation – Christian Concern For Our Nation – with close ties to the US-based Alliance Defence Fund – little details that you chose not to mention at the […]

  10. Dear Brethren,

    Calvary greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!!!

    This is to let you know that I have written you twice this year, without any response, therefore kindly respond to letter, if it eventually gets to you.

    I thank my God who through His grace and mercy introduced you to me, by a brother on missions here in Nigeria, a brother indeed in the Lord, who commended you for your gratitude, benevolence and love for the lost souls, new converts and believers generally. You are special to God indeed.

    It has been my desires over the years to find a man, ministries/missions overseas, that will be of help to me in my endeavour to be a blessing to to the above mentioned group of people, here in Nigeria ex gratis. Romans 12:13

    I must have to confess that I am the ‘Lord’s Poor, who is burdened for the work of the Lord, and have nothing to offer you that my gratitude to you and God, for your cares for those of us here in the third world countries. Therefore, I humbly plead with you to send me grants, ( Bibles, books, tracts and other spiritual materials) that will be of help to my missions, either new or old ones, as the Lord lays in your hearts. We will share them ex gratis to the less privileged in the crusade/believers conference we will be holding by March 15-18th, and June 25-28th 2011, at Igirita, Etche Rivers and Obioma Ngwa Abia State Nigeria, this is because we propose to distribute all these in the crusade/ conference., If God provides.

    I will be overjoyed, if you cooperate in this direction, this request is as a result of the fact that most of us indigenous ministers/pastors are faced with hard times/economic meltdown here in the third world countries.

    May God our father, bring joy, happiness, love, peace of mind and hope for you and all those laboring with you there, as He will not forget your labor of faith in that you give to the saints. Hebrews 6:10.
    Remain Blessed,
    Yours in God’s grip,

    Pastor Job M.H.Ohuka,
    Truth Of God Missions,
    59 Jubilee Road,
    P.O.Box 5030,
    Aba. Abia State
    Nigeria.

  11. […] mention it, Dorries has close links with Christian Concern, a lobby group which in turn takes advice from the Alliance Defense Fund, a US Christian Right […]

  12. […] author of The Mosque Exposed (I blogged on Solomon here – he’s based in the UK and has close links with Christian Concern); in Tennessee, Wilders will also be joined by Bill Warner of Political […]

  13. […] organisation works with Nadine Dorries MP) is also close to the ADF, as I’ve blogged here. Katya Smyslova, meanwhile, has just completed a term of service as Regional Representative of the […]

  14. […] Counsel” to the Christian Legal Centre, which is the sister organisation of the UK Christian Right lobby group Christian Concern. The conference uses a couple of talking points which appear to have […]

  15. […] Concern already works closely with the Alliance Defense Fund, but a link to the TRC would more controversial: the TFC’s […]

  16. […] and Williams have featured on this blog previously: Williams has made links with the Christian Right in Europe, while Solomon is the author of The […]

  17. […] ADF has been making common cause with British right-wing Christians for some time. The ADF is a coalition of 35 Christian Right groups, founded in 1993, including D. […]

  18. […] the American “Christian Right” organisations with which Minichiello Williams has been making links; I doubt there would be much enthusiasm for the kind of rhetoric associated with, for instance, the […]

  19. […] spoken at a previous Christian Concern event, while Coleridge announced a new “Marriage Foundation” in […]

  20. […] significant presence at the conference was the Alliance Defense Fund (which also has links with Christian Concern): …The ADF is also actively litigating religious freedom cases […]

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