A couple of weeks ago Pastor James Gitau was campaigning on behalf of Rev Robert West and the BNP… now, according to a listing in the Croydon Guardian, he’s standing as the Christian Party Parliamentary candidate in Croydon Central. This site explains explains the Damascene moment:
Pastor James Gitau who had surprised many people by joining the BNP Party has defected to Christian Party. Pastor Gitau said that Christian Party summoned him on Saturday 17th April, 2010 and explained to him that the policies of BNP which are not good for a Christian and he changed his mind and now has joined Christian Party. He has asked for forgiveness for those whom he may have caused some embarrassment.
Doubtless the loss to one is a gain to the other, although I wouldn’t like to say which party is now better off.
The Christian Party is an “associate” of the Alliance for Democracy, which describes itself as “an Anglo-Christian Democratic Alliance of Political Parties in England, Scotland & Wales”; I blogged on this unlikely partnership here. However, according to the Alliance website, the Alliance Croydon Central candidate is Graham Dare (a “medium and spiritualist healer“), who is running on the English Democract ticket – although neither of them appear on the BBC election site, and some sites suggest Dare is standing elsewhere.
UPDATE: Stuart, who blogs here, points to this comment from West on a discussion forum:
I do not know if Revd James Gitau has transferred, but he was with me three weeks ago and was very happy then with the British National Party. We campaigned together in open air preaching and he said that I spoke well. He is a good man but his politics are his affair. He is certainly very fervent on Christian ethics (and rightly so) and the Christian Party will have a strong attraction to him on those grounds. If he has transferred that is up to him; if he has not, I will still campaign with him at every available opportunity – in deed I will do that, even if he has transferred. We have the gospel in common and that, my friend, is to “… all nations”.
Best Wishes,
Rev +
(Hat tip to a reader)
Filed under: Uncategorized
As you say Bart, which Party is the better off? Could it be that a Euthanasia Party would be the real gainer?
Hope the Christian party is for Bible believing Christians only and does not end up a mish mash
of “spiritualism”
[…] Given the above, I considered George Hargreaves to be simply woefully politically naive, so you can imagine my surprise when I found out that Pastor James Gitau, who was happily capaigning for Revd West of the BNP a couple of weeks ago, has suddenly defected to the Christian Party. […]
Interestingly I had the opportunity to ask Revd West about Pastor James Gitau and this is what he said:
I do not know if Revd James Gitau has transferred, but he was with me three weeks ago and was very happy then with the British National Party. We campaigned together in open air preaching and he said that I spoke well. He is a good man but his politics are his affair. He is certainly very fervent on Christian ethics (and rightly so) and the Christian Party will have a strong attraction to him on those grounds. If he has transferred that is up to him; if he has not, I will still campaign with him at every available opportunity – in deed I will do that, even if he has transferred. We have the gospel in common and that, my friend, is to “… all nations”.
Best Wishes,
Rev +
http://www.premiercommunity.org.uk/forum/topics/bnp-bashing-is-unchristian?commentId=2060181%3AComment%3A412597&xg_source=msg_com_forum
Jesus and he Gospel is the only unifying force so if
pastor Gitau has made a good decision then God bless him.
[…] Then Pastor James Gitau, who was happily campaigning for Revd West of the BNP a couple of weeks ago, suddenly defected to the Christian Party. […]
[…] votes (3% of the total), while in Croydon Central his former cheerleader Pastor James Gitau, who switched at short notice to the Christian Party, managed 264 votes (0.5%), taking eighth place. Meanwhile, […]
[…] The strength in the argument that the EDL aren’t an explicitly fascist comes from the form that their own denials have taken. The BNP, for example, has never taken the step of posting up a YouTube video of its members burning a Nazi flag. And it certainly doesn’t include a significant proportion of black people, under the slogan “black and white unite.” Forced to change their constitution by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, all the BNP could muster up was one racist Sikh and a deluded black pastor who only worked with them as a platform for homophobia and later defected to the Christian Party. […]