From Norway, Dagbladet reports that Anders Breivik has stated under police interrogation that he was “inspired” (“inspirert”) by the 4 Freedoms website. This is not particularly surprising – 4 Freedoms is an “anti-jihad” forum, and it is well-known that Breivik read such such sites. However, 4 Freedoms is Alan Lake’s main vehicle for expounding his views, and there has been media interest in Lake since Breivik’s massacre; Lake responded to speculation about a link in December.
Dagbladet goes on to claim that the 4 Freedoms website is actually part of a “Four Freedoms Community”, and that the group’s “inner circle” (“indre sirkel”) has held “secret meetings” (“hemmelige møter”) in two churches in central London. The Google translation is slightly unclear in places, but it appears that at least one participant has alleged attempted “brainwashing” (“hjernevasking”).
The paper also claims to have spoken to a “leading figure in the extreme Christian community in the UK” (“En lederskikkelse innen det ekstreme, kristne miljøet i Storbritannia”), who showed the newspaper cards outlining Lake’s views and his “12-Point Plan for Equal Civil Rights”. Details of these “12 points” are readily available on 4 Freedoms; Dagbladet appears be claiming, inaccurately, that they amount to some kind of code of conduct to regulate members’ lives (“Four Freedoms Community vil regulere livsførselen til sine medlemmer.”).
Although the fact of the meetings is of interest, the report is somewhat overegged – towards the end of the article it is confirmed that their locations were commercial hirings, and it’s impossible to judge whether the unnamed “leading figure” (a woman) really actually represents anyone. Newspapers are also notoriously quick to raise the spectre of “brainwashing” when confronted with people holding views they find strange.
Dagbladet has a photo of the interior of one of the churches – it is small, and appears to be an old building that has been refurbished with modern chairs and carpet. A distinctive modern stained-glass window shows Jesus standing on a geographically-detailed globe of the world, flanked by peoples of world in modern dress (including a kneeling woman in a kimono); the report states that the churches were Pentecostal.
Lake’s own religious views are not clear – on one occasion he posted a strange anti-evolution chart to 4 Freedoms, and Searchlight has claimed that he formerly attended Kensington Temple, a large charismatic church in west London. However, he has shown no interest in the kind of “Crusader” imagery which so enthuses a number of religiously-inclined “anti-jihad” types.
There’s actually a post on 4 Freedoms about me – Lake was moved to accuse me of metaphorically “masturbating in public” for raising some issues about Rabbi Nachum Shifren, whom Lake helped to make links with the English Defence League. Lake also has links with a particularly unpleasant man who has been known to troll me on-line from time to time with abuse and threats – details here.
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