Expanded
From the latest issue of the English Churchman (24 June and 1 July 2016, p. 3 – screenshot via Anna Raccoon here):
Christians Demand Action Against Satanist Ritual Abuse
by Wilfred WongSatanist Ritual Abuse (SRA) exists in Britain and is a growing problem, harming and destroying the lives of an increasing number of children and vulnerable adults because the UK authorities are simply not taking this crime seriously, a conference in London of about 60 Christians heard on Saturday 21 May. The conference was organised by the Christian organisation, the Coalition Against Satanist Ritual Abuse (CASRA).
An earlier and expanded version on the magazine’s Facebook page adds that CASRA “was founded in February 2014 to provide a permanent UK organisation that campaigns against SRA, conducts research on this issue and publicly exposes it.” Details, however, are scarce.
Wong is a non-practising barrister, and he previously worked as parliamentary officer and researcher for the Jubilee Group and its successor, Jubilee Action, to highlight international humanitarian issues such as the persecution of Christians in Islamic lands and the plight of street children in South America – in 2005 he was praised in parliament for his efforts on the latter subject by Lord Alton. More recently, he has worked for a religious charity that assists impoverished children in Cairo.
However, he has also for many years now been associated with extravagant allegations of Satanic Ritual Abuse. As Damian Thompson wrote in 2002, under the headline “The people who believe that Satanists might eat your baby”:
…Yesterday, a private meeting at Westminster, chaired by Lord Alton, discussed assaults on children by hooded, chanting Satanists. “You may be aware,” the organisers said, “that, for several years, there have been reports of the ritual abuse of children and in some cases ritual murder. The rituals reportedly often involve the Black Mass and the wearing of robes. Adult survivors of ritual abuse are divulging important evidence regarding the large scale of this problem in the UK.”
One of the organisers, Wilfred Wong, an evangelical Christian, is campaigning for ritual abuse to be made a specific crime, so that the Satanists – responsible for “hundreds, if not thousands” of sexual assaults and murders – can be brought to justice. “But so far little has been done,” he says plaintively.
Alton apparently said he would keep an open mind on the subject.
However, Wong’s article for the English Churchman is not just more of the same. He continues:
…Robert Green, the leading campaigner on Scotland’s largest, current SRA case, the Hollie Greig case, said that Hollie, a young woman with Down’s Syndrome, had identified 23 alleged Satanist Ritual Abusers, including a senior police officer, 2 Head Teachers, 2 Social Workers and a Judge. Green said that Greig has described not only experiencing SRA but also witnessing the Satanists ritually sacrificing a man. The Scottish Police have refused to thoroughly investigate Greig’s allegations and tried to silence Green by imprisoning him at least twice.
Here’s the actual background on this story, from the Scottish Herald in 2012:
IT is the biggest Scottish story on the internet. A girl with Down’s Syndrome portrayed as the sex slave of a ring of paedophiles for a decade and a half and the victim of a cover-up reaching to the highest law officers and politicians in the land.
…Those named include a prominent sheriff who supposedly abused children at the home of his sister, despite the fact he does not have a sister.
…Four of the “victims” would have been in their 20s at the time of the abuse. Two police investigations have resulted in no charges.
Only one person has been convicted in connection with Hollie Greig: a 66-year-old campaigner from Warrington called Robert Green.
He was jailed earlier this year for harassing those he falsely accused of paedophilia.
Green’s conviction did not make headlines in Scotland. But it did spark international attention on websites such as that of David Icke, the former BBC sports presenter who thinks the world is ruled by lizards.
See also Anna Raccoon’s blog for an in-depth debunking from 2010.
It is important to note that in 2012 the allegation was paedophilia, and an article by Wong that was published last year by Anglican Mainstream states only that Greig was subjected to “sexual abuse”. Yet now Wong presents us with a story about Satanism and human sacrifice.
Wong’s promotion of the Hollie Greig story takes us beyond familiar evangelical Satanic Panic tropes and into a darker conspiracy theory milieu. Wong has featured on Brian Gerrish’s UK Column internet TV show; Gerrish promotes numerous conspiracy theories on his programme and elsewhere (including as a guest on Alex Jones’s Infowars), and last year he helped to promote the vicious but ludicrous “Hampstead” Satanic panic. Wong was asked by Gerrish about the Hampstead claims as part of his interview:
“Because of the sheer gravity of the allegations, the very least the police should do is thoroughly investigate them and not prejudge them, and neither should the media,” Wong says. “We’re only asking the police to do their job.”
This may sound guarded, but I’d be very surprised if Wong ever declares those who were falsely accused of paedophilia and eating babies to be innocent.
Wong is not a well-meaning and energetic campaigner who has gone astray due to an idée fixe, but someone who is actively causing harm to innocent people by promoting and endorsing false allegations. The Hollie Greig story is a clear example of the bone-headed unfalsifiability of conspiracy theorising, with Green’s imprisonment simply confirming the truth of the conspiracy.
As Anna notes in relation to the Hampstead claims:
Mrs Justice Pauffley’s judgment was unequivocal in its condemnation of the damage wrought by the ‘campaigners’ who had latched onto the story. Those who are new to this story may not be aware that these campaigners have kept up their threats to the parents, children, and teachers of this small school for nigh on 2 years now. Each child has an adult accompanying them 24 hours a day, at home, at school, so seriously are the threats to ‘kidnap them and rescue them from this paedophile ring’ taken. The parents and teachers all have CCTV and panic alarms fitted to their homes.
Anna cites Wong’s English Churchman article about Hollie Greig as a further example of how “these deluded and obsessional souls will not stop”.
Footnote
The English Churchman, founded in 1843, represents an old-fashioned kind of “Reformed” fundamentalism. It’s editor, the Reverend Peter Ratcliff, is a minister with a four-church group called the Church of England (Continuing).
Filed under: Uncategorized | 8 Comments »
