Yesterday saw the anti-Islam “Preserving Freedom Conference” take place in Maury Davis’ Cornerstone Church in Nashville (see here and here for background). WorldNetDaily – which was one of the sponsors – has a long puff-piece on the event, which includes mention of the involvement of Paul Diamond:
Paul Diamond, a private lawyer in the United Kingdom and the director of international affairs for the legal action group Christian Concern, said he and his British colleagues are going to begin coordinating their legal efforts with the Tennessee Freedom Coalition.
He urged his American colleagues to engage in debate with “middle America,” referring to people such as lapsed Catholics and nonobservant Jews who are not informed “but are scared about where their country is going.”
Further details are available from the SPLC:
Paul Diamond, a British lawyer who advocates for Christian causes and describes himself as a “street fighter with a posh British accent,” spoke admiringly of “American exceptionalism” and his fears of a Muslim takeover of Europe. Diamond expressed hope that Christians in America and the U.K. would stand “shoulder to shoulder” to battle the dual enemies of Islam and anti-Christian sentiment, warning that “What’s happening in Europe could be coming to your state.”
Christian Concern already works closely with the Alliance Defense Fund, but a link to the TRC would more controversial: the TFC’s website urges us to “Join the Tennessee Freedom Coalition in supporting Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson)”, a “brave man” who is bringing “truth to light regarding the spread of radical Islam both in the United Kingdom and around the world”:
Click here to help relieve the cost of his legal services. We support him, and we support the EDL.
However, one alternative possibility is that WorldNetDaily‘s report has here confused the Tennessee Freedom Coalition, which took part in the “Preserving Freedom” event, with the Religious Freedom Coalition, which took charge of the conference after the original venue cancelled its booking (Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer claim that the relocated event is actually a new event altogether – a self-evident falsehood which they have spread for their own purposes). The RFC, which is run by William J. Murray (the evangelist son of Madalyn Murray O’Hair), would probably to be closer to Christian Concern’s particular interests than the unrelated TFC [UPDATE: In fact, it turns out the report was quite correct: Christian Concern is indeed making links with the TFC].
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[…] I thought that WND (or Diamond) had perhaps here meant William Murray’s “Religious Freedom Coalition”, but even if that is the case, the Tennessee Tech event shows that Christian Concern is indeed allied with the Tennessee Freedom Coalition – an organisation which offers enthusiastic support for the English Defence League and for Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. […]
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