Wednesday saw the Christian Concern/World Congress of Families conference on marriage in London; after bookings at the Law Society and the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre were rescinded, the event eventually took place at a nearby Thistle hotel.
Pre-publicity for the event gave billing to various mainline commentators, such as Cristina Odone and Phillip Blond. However, a late addition to the line-up was Don Feder, who serves as the WCF’s Director of Communications; given the WCF’s co-organising role at this event, one wonders why his attendance was confirmed only at the last minute. As ever, it seems that Feder’s presentation consisted of boilerplate 1950s-style red-baiting. According to a Tweet from Christian Concern during the conference:
Don Feder explaining enduring influence of A Gramsci – move for ss ?#marrage? = attack on targets of Marxism: Church & family
This is par for the course. Feder is an all-purpose right-winger; according to his own profile from a few years ago:
I’m to the right of Sharon on Zionism, to the right of Pat Buchanan on immigration and Americanism, to the right of Mother Angelica on abortion, to the right of Chuck Heston on Second-Amendment rights, and generally make the legendary Atilla look like a limousine liberal.
Back in early 2010, he was defending Uganda’s planned anti-gay legislation:
Point of information: The legislation under consideration does not impose the death penalty, but life in prison for certain offenses. Punishable “behavior” includes rape, pedophilia and knowingly spreading AIDS, all of which are crimes in the United States, even in the era of Kevin Jennings.
First, the Bill does in indeed include the death penalty. Second, note Feder’s use of the word “includes” – this glosses over the fact that “punishable behavior” also encompasses other things besides the crimes against persons listed above. As has been demonstrated, the most severe penalty would be applied to a “serial offender” against any of the provisions in the Bill, which makes it illegal for adults to engage in any homosexual activity, for anyone to facilitate such activity, or for anyone “in authority” (vaguely defined) not to report such activity to the police.
Christian Concern may also have encountered Feder last year; he is also project coordinator for the “Shariah Awareness Action Network”, which was the original organiser of an anti-Islam conference held in Tennessee in November. Christian Concern’s Paul Diamond spoke at this event, and Diamond reportedly used his visit to make links with the Tennessee Freedom Coalition.
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