Bartholomew's Notes

After a bit of prodding, I’ve received a response from the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) about the recent hosting of the British National Party’s Rev Robert West at a Baptist chapel affiliated with them. West’s appearance at this venue was noted on a BNP blog, but specific details were removed after Seismic Shock drew it to wider attention. The FIEC administrator was keen to point out that each church is independent, that the Fellowship does not support any political party, and that it is working to make member churches aware of the dangers posed by political extremists. I was also directed to a related church body called “Affinity”, of which the FIEC is a member and where further details about the chapel are listed.

A local BNP councillor is described as a member of the chapel on the website of the North West Leicestershire District Council. A site run by Searchlight magazine notes that this is:

…a former member of the NF who in August 2000 was fined £400 with £55 costs for possessing an offensive weapon – believed to have been a chair leg.

His supporters claim he was carrying a flagpole.

West, meanwhile, believes that multiracialism is sinful, and that this is the lesson of the story of the Tower of Babel. In 2007 his Christian Council of Britain brought Paul Cameron to the UK.

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Gary McCullough of Christian Newswire steps in to explain a recent story that has generated controversy:

On March 24, our service distributed a submission from Gingi Edmonds that engendered much more than the usual number of replies questioning the character of Christian Newswire. This is not surprising since the item addressed is a combination of abortion, the death of born children, and the always popular topic of God’s wrath. Edmonds wrote about the recent Montana airplane crash in which several children died, and the ties the family has to the abortion business.

The plane crash was in Montana, and it killed a number of family members (plus a few others) of Irving “Bud” Feldkamp, who owns a chain of abortion clinics in California. The plane had changed course from its intended destination for an airstrip at Butte, but it crashed into the adjoining Holy Cross Cemetery. This cemetery is Roman Catholic, and reportedly contains a “Tomb of the Unborn” (the Knights of Columbus have apparently erected a number of these in Montana).

Edmonds, who had previously protested at Feldkamp’s residence, suggested a supernatural significance:

We warned him, for his children’s sake, to wash his hands of the innocent blood he assisted in spilling because, as Scripture warns, if “you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you”. (Ezekiel 35:6)

A news source states that Bud Feldkamp visited the site of the crash with his wife and their two surviving children on Monday. As they stood near the twisted and charred debris talking with investigators, light snow fell on the tarps that covered the remains of their children…

I don’t want to turn this tragic event into some creepy spiritual ‘I told you so’ moment, but I think of the time spent outside of Feldkamp’s…I think of the haunting words, ‘Think of your children.’ I wonder if those words were haunting Feldkamp as well as he stood in the snow among the remains of loved ones, just feet from the ‘Tomb of the Unborn’?

…”I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then.” (Deut. 30:19)

Edmonds also complained that the mainstream media had not reported these details, and some repostings claim they have been “censored”.

Unsurprisingly, Edmonds’ ruminations were widely regarded as in poor taste, and her article has been interpreted as suggesting that God struck the aircraft down in vengence, or even as expressing Fred Phelps-like glee over the tragedy. McCullough, however, complains of

…the common misunderstanding of God’s judgment and what Edmonds expressed.  Imagine if you will, a father telling his toddler son not to touch a hot stove. Over and over the father warns that the stove will burn him if he touches it.  Yet the toddler does, and cries out in pain. The infant mind might blame the father for the burn he just experienced — thinking he was being punished. “Why did you burn me daddy?”

I do not know the extent of the pain we will experience for failing to heed our Heavenly Father’s admonition not to murder. Child-on-child and child-on-adult murderers are becoming less rare. An overall lack of respect for human life is undoubtedly having an impact. The highest concentration of child-on-child murders occur within the segment of our society with the highest concentration of abortion clinics. And we cry out, “Why is this happening — is God punishing us?”

Ms. Edmonds does not claim that God took the lives of the airplane crash victims in an act of vengeance. She does point out the irony of such a loss being experienced by a leader in the child-killing profession.

Fair enough for the distinction, but McCullough tries to have to have it both ways. Obviously, touching something that is hot is likely to cause a burn (although, alas for McCullough, his example also raises the possiblity that religion may promote, or be based on, false understandings of causality). The assertion that tolerance of abortion leads to a violent society doesn’t have much behind it, but I can understand the causal argument he’s getting at. However, that’s very different from Edmond’s invocation of Ezekiel and Deuteronomy – she’s clearly claiming that the plane crashed because of Feldkamp’s business interests, and the inference is that the site of the disaster is a sign of this. That means that God intervened, either directly or through having established some kind of “karmic” law that results in the innocent relatives and employees of someone who offends against divine commands suffering harm. Such a causality – and its apparent absence in other situations – raises a number of obvious problems in theodicy that not even the various Biblical authors could agree on, and which I don’t need to rehearse here…

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Luton Today reports on the decision to abandon a counter-demo against the recent small but ugly Islamist demo against returning British soldiers:

James Yeomans…has decided to abandon the event in case it attracts further trouble, but has organised another protest in London on April 12, to encourage the government to ban “all protests of hate towards troops”.

The event was being promoted on-line by formerly local anti-Muslim blogger “Lionheart”, who posted a video promo using stills taken from March for England (MfE) events; elsewhere it is clarified by MfE that “This is not a March for England event but we urge you to support it.” [UPDATE: It appears that this “support” was unwelcome and was the reason why Yeomans decided to cancel the protest]

“March for England” is of interest though. It seeks to use Islamist provocations to promote English patriotism:

We have been brainwashed to tarnish march’s that show pride and our countrys flag’s as Right Wing or Racist … WELL WE ARE MARCHING ON TO CHANGE THAT TARNISH !!! TO CLAIM BACK OUR FLAG WHICH SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH RACISM IN THE FIRST PLACE.

It is time to unite against everything that is ruining our country. Our country has been sold and ruined by government, it is time to let the government hear our voice. Immigration, E.U, Terrorism, And so much more is threatening our country’s identity. It is time to remove that notion that flying the St George flag is racist. It is time to be counted.
IT IS TIME FOR ENGLAND TO AWAKE !!!!.

Who is responsible for this “brainwashing” is not explained, although there is curiously little complaint about how the actual use of English symbols by the far-right may have contributed to their unfortunate association with racism. Photos on the MfE website show some Sikh involvement, and a couple of photos show a black teenage boy at their events. Support for the Gurkhas is also a theme.

On the other hand, though, MfE likes the idea of using English symbols to throw their weight around, and restoring a world of cricket and elderly ladies cycling to Evensong does not seem to be the priority:

MfE’s website has a short list of six “Friends Links” – these include “Lionheart”‘s blog and a pro-BNP blog called English Rose.

The leaders of MfE are not readily apparent, although “Lionheart’s” blog and a few other sites show the organiser to be a certain Dave Smeeton, a football supporter from Portsmouth. It is also linked with the “United British Alliance“, which exists “to raise peoples awareness of the rising threat within our towns and cities from islamic extremists” and to encourage “a new tide of patriotism in Britain AGAINST our enemies” (the UBA is also allied with Jesse Petrilla’s United American Committee). Both groups have been commended by “Lionheart”:

The inevitable has finally arrived and long overdue and I take my hat off to the leaders of March for England and the U.B.A who have organised an grass roots movement to make OUR voices heard, and to all those who stand behind them and have taken to the streets in protest of everything that is now happening in OUR society, and what OUR Country has become.

In their own words:

U.B.A stands shoulder to Shoulder with Sikhs, Jews, in fact anyone whom unites aginst the new nazism that we struggled through world wars to remove… hence you see us stand besides the jewish flag… if you look at the lambeth palace i held a danish and jewish flag.. as the police thought we was right wing, a right wing idiot would die before hold a isreali flag.

March For England is for England… and in that atmosphere anything that threatens our way of life is against the English… be it terrorists, governments e.t.c… united as one but for Queen and Country

U.B.A is solely against terrorists (islam) over-riding our country…..

this is where we unite… two groups united even though we hold strong to the union jack, and they the St George… it is a strong enemy which via government has slowly started to over-ride our freedom, way of life…e.t.c… so both have united,.. but under an umbrella in support.

Both groups joined SIOE (Stop the Islamisation of Europe) recently when they marched to Lambeth Palace on September 11th to demonstrate against the introduction of Sharia Law into OUR Country.

“Lionheart” was writing in the wake of a counter-demo against an Islamist-organised “al-Quds” march in London in September. Potkin Azarmehr, an Iranian secularist who was the overall organiser of the counter-protest, explained that

To our right were the SIOE and March for England supporters. I had received many warnings that the later were a right wing Nazi group, but I could find nothing on their website that remotely suggested this, and in fact they go out of their way to distance themselves from any racist association. Nevertheless I had my anxieties about two things, a confrontation between the different groups in the counter demo and any indication of racism which would have tarnished our aims and objectives and benefited the Islamic Republic supporters. As it turned out, none of this took place. The March for England supporters assured me they will not tolerate any racism amongst their ranks and even suggested to me that if we think their presence will in any way damage us, they are happy to go away. I asked them to stay and we all agreed to have our own distinct positions behind the railings.

However, Workers’ Liberty, a fiercely secularist far-left group that was also counter-protesting, tells us that

Workers’ Liberty members, a few other British socialists and members of the Worker-communist Party of Iran turned up to counter-demonstrate, as did a larger group of broadly nationalist and, as it turns out, rightish Iranians. We demonstrated awkwardly next to each other until a third group turned up, composed of supporters of the “March for England” organisation, a nationalist group with English flags who are almost certainly some variety of fascists, though they denied it…March for England soon showed their true colours in full technicolour, shouting “Hang them”, “No surrender” and “White power” as the Al Quds march went by.

An account by one of the Al-Quds marchers concurs with this:

The chant from their side included “White pride: no surrender!”, “Terrorist bombers, off our streets!” and “Hang them, hang them”.

[UPDATE: In the comments below, Smeeton insists that “Never once has any chant or shout on our marches or protests included the word white!!!”]

Photos of this event certainly show a disproportionate number of heavy-set bald-headed middle-aged white men.

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Back in January, the Rochdale Observer reported on an unpleasant incident:

THE pastor of Zion Baptist Church has expressed his disappointment after vandals daubed anti-semitic graffiti on the church wall.

An insult aimed at Israeli Jews as well as the words ‘Free Gaza’ were painted in metre high letters on the outside wall of the Milkstone Road church.

Things escalated the following month:

A gang of “20 youths” have launched another vicious attack on the Zion Baptist church, assaulting the pastor and hurling racist abuse.

Pastor Dennis Rigg and his brother Mervyn have been in and out of the church setting up for their dad’s funeral which is set for Saturday.

Yobs attacked the pastor and pelted a series of hard snowballs at their heads, as well as shouting hateful slurs relating to their Christian religion and its apparent [erroneous] relation to attacks on Gaza.

Of course, the word “Zion” in a church’s name does not indicate any connection to Zionism (and even if it did, such harrassment would still be unacceptable). It’s obvious why this is happening now; the only question is whether the “youths” really are ideologically-driven or just yobs looking for an excuse to throw their weight around (or a bit of both) – apparently a gang tag was added to the graffiti.

However, an article recently published online by the Christian Zionist organisation Moriel Ministries (last blogged by me here) blames Stephen Sizer:

It is apparent that the Muslim community, which has lived in the UK for many years, was never before agitated by the many churches called “Zion” scattered around Great Britain. However things have changed, ever since Anglican priest Stephen Sizer launched his crusade against ‘Christian Zionists’, young Muslim youths are angry at even a church building with the word “Zion” on it, just imagine what it is like to be Jewish in Britain now! Sizer’s books Christian Zionism and Zion’s Christian Soldiers, his many articles for Muslim journals and web sites along with his speaking tours in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Lybia, Egypt and Indonesia have brought Christian supporters of Israel, whether they are Christian Zionists or not, into the sights of many extreme Jihadists around the world and particularly in Britain. The Spectator magazine, 4th May [sic – should be March] 2009, notes that “Last weekend the Revd Stephen Sizer, vicar of Christ Church, Virginia Water appeared at an anti- Israel meeting with an Islamist called Ismail Patel. Patel has not only accused Israel of ‘genocide’ and ‘war crimes’ but considers Disney to be a Jewish plot and supports Hamas, Iran and Syria.”…

The article also notes similar vandalism of a Messianic Synagogue in Northern Ireland.

Now, Sizer’s associations (some of which, as chronicled by the pro-Israel Seismic Shock,  seem to me to be ill-advised) and his studies of Christian Zionism (which I have found useful) can certainly be the subject of critical comment, just as anything else can (I’ll also disclose that I’ve met Sizer and that I’m broadly in sympathy with his efforts on behalf of Palestinian Christians). But the above paragraph is an insult to the intelligence: Christian Zionism is a high-profile religious phenomenon which is hardly shy about making its perspective known to the public. Those who are likely to be moved to violence against it already know that it exists without help from Sizer – and it is highly unlikely that these “youths” in Rochdale have been even indirectly influenced by his writings or talks.

In fact, the attacks on Pastor Rigg highlight a different problem: that many Muslims are under the misapprehension that all Christians must be Christian Zionists. This has caused problems for Palestinian Christians, and in other places where Christians are a minority or where there is inter-communal tension. In these contexts, Christian writings that are critical of Christian Zionism actually offer a corrective.

However, perhaps Moriel realised this article was dubious (which is saying something!), and it has now been removed – although the url remains:

http://moriel.org/MorielArchive/index.php/news/uk/anti-zionist-attacks-on-church-and-messianic-group

The article itself can still be seen re-posted here.

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From a press release:

A recently-appointed “Ambassador for Peace” from the UK is to make an official visit to Pakistan this week. The Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Cllr Abdul Rashid, will be visiting the troubled Asian Republic at a time of heightened political tensions. The official tour will include visits to the Punjab and Azad Kashmir provinces, where the Lord Mayor will meet high-ranking dignitaries and speak at events promoting greater understanding of British culture and commerce.

…The Lord Mayor was recently appointed as an “Ambassador for Peace” by The Universal Peace Federation – a UN-associated humanitarian organisation.

Of course, the UPF may be “UN-associated”, but it is better-known as being Moon-associated: “Ambassadors for Peace” receive a certificate signed by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, and the UPF exists promote Moon’s “One Family Under God” slogan.

Meanwhile, a UPF-sponsored event is due to take place in the House of Commons on 2 April, entitled “New Vision Amid the Economic Crisis“:

…We will hear from popular campaigns such as the Jubilee Debt Campaign that will remind the G20 nations of their previous commitments as well as discussing the principled changes the G20 should embrace in order to bring about the more equitable, stable and developed world that is closer to ‘one family under God’.

Speakers listed are: Nick Dearden (President: Jubilee Debt Campaign), Ruth Tanner (Campaign and Policy Officer: War on Want),  Helen Tailor Thompson (Thare Machi Education), Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal (Former Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem), Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi (Secretary General: All India Organisation of Imams and Mosques), Moeen Yaseen (Executive Director: Global Vision 2000), Anil Bhanot (General Secretary: Hindu Council UK), and Dr. Thomas Walsh (International Secretary General: Universal Peace Federation).

I blogged on the London UPF “Global Peace Festival” – which included involvement from British politicians – here.

(Hat tip to a reader for some details)

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The Texas Freedom Network brings us some background on Robert Bowie Johnson, whose book Sowing Atheism: The National Academy of Sciences’ Sinister Scheme to Teach Our Children They’re Descended from Reptiles has been recommended by Don McLeroy, chairman of the State Board of Education. The TFN notes that Johnson sees Obama as part of a Satanic conspiracy, citing a press release:

In a series of essays published at www.solvinglight.com/blog/, author Robert Bowie Johnson Jr. presents evidence that Barack Obama is directly linked to Satanic teachings through his close association with Oprah Winfrey, who parrots and relentlessly promotes, worldwide, the anti-Christian doctrine of her guru, Eckhart Tolle.

“The voting public has a right to know to what degree Barack Obama, who has called himself a ‘committed Christian,’ considers himself and his wife to be integral parts of Oprah’s and Tolle’s New Age global tribe, a tribe that has adopted the “wisdom” of the ancient serpent as its own,” Mr. Johnson said.

Johnson also expounded these views in an article for Human Events:

Barack Obama’s connections to Oprah Winfrey and her New Age guru, Eckhart Tolle, are the least examined, yet most revealing, and by far the most potentially ruinous of the senator’s controversial associations. Obama claims to be a “committed Christian,” yet appears to support Oprah in the worldwide dissemination of Tolle’s and her virulent anti-Christian doctrine.

…In Iowa, Michelle Obama said that Oprah had touched her soul and empowered her. How so? Through the blatantly anti-Christian Oprah/Tolle doctrine?

Is Obama a “committed Christian” as he claims, or is he on board with Tolle and Oprah in their global anti-Christian crusade? Or, as a third explanatory possibility, is the Tolle-entranced Oprah, “the richest and most influential woman in the world,” not the Oprah Obama knew?

Johnson runs Solving Light Books, and he has apparently been published in

The Progressive, The New York Times, Playboy, the international publication of Answers in Genesis, TJ (Technical Journal), Newsday, and many others.

Not many people can boast of such a combination.

Johnson’s magnum opus, however, is a book called The Parthenon Code: Mankind’s History in Marble. Here’s the pitch:

The DaVinci Code
is fictional.

The Bible Code
is bogus.

The Parthenon Code: Mankind’s History in Marble
is a GENUINE ancient artists’ code which opens the door to long-hidden truths about the origins of mankind.

In this book, and in other volumes such as Noah in Ancient Greek Art and Athena and Eden: The Hidden Meaning of the Parthenon’s East Facade?, Johnson claims that Greek mythology is based on historical events depicted in the Bible – Nereus is actually Noah, and Athena is “the serpent-friendly Eve of Genesis”. One reviewer, preposterously, calls this “the first interpretation of Greek Mythology that actually makes sense.”

In the early 1980s, Johnson was the co-creator of a couple of ideological board games. Mother Jones reported in 1981:

Johnson and [Ronald] Pramschufer are marketing a new board game called “Capital Punishment,” in which the goal is to get “criminals” past “liberals” and into the electric chair, on death row or imprisoned for life. Under the game rules, liberals can free the criminals, but when that happens, an innocent citizen becomes a crime victim and is sent to “heaven”.

This followed “a satire of the welfare system titled ‘Public Assistance: Why Bother Working for a Living'”(1), which can now be purchased here.

Johnson also collaborated with Pramschufer to write a guide for small presses, and in 2007 Pramschufer’s RJ Communications (now called SelfPublishing, Inc) published a novel entitled Danger My Destiny, co-authored by Johnson and Hilda Petrie-Coutts; she is the mother of composer and music producer Wernher Pramschufer, so presumably is also related to Ronald.

Johnson’s first book was the polemical 1973 West Point: America’s Power Fraternity, co-authored with a certain K. Bruce Galloway; Gore Vidal complained that they “tend to see conspiracy where there is often only coincidence”, citing their claim that Vidal’s West Point graduate father had been made Director of Aeronautics by Franklin D. Roosevelt in order to retain West Point control over civil areonautics, particularly for mail transport. According to Vidal (2),

Actually, it was civil not military aviation that pushed for my father’s appointment, while the decision for the army to fly the mail was Roosevelt’s. 

McLeroy’s recommendation for Johnson’s Sowing Atheism can be seen here:

In the current culture war over science education and the teaching of evolution, Bob Johnson’s Sowing Atheism provides a unique and insightful perspective. In critiquing the National Academy of Science’s (NAS) missionary evolution tract—Science, Evolution and Creationism, 2008, he identifies their theft of true science by their intentional neglect of other valid scientific possibilities. Then, using NAS’s own statements, he demonstrates that the great “process” of evolution—natural selection—is nothing more than a figure of speech. These chapters alone are worth the reading of this book.

Next he shows how the NAS attempts to seduce the unwitting reader by providing scanty empirical evidence but presented with great intellectual bullying—both secular and religious. He actually embarrasses the NAS with a long list of their quotes where they make the obvious claim that evolutionists believe in evolution. He then shines light on the Clergy Letter Project, again showing the obvious—theistic evolutionists believe in evolution…

According to a profile, McLeroy “holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University and a Doctor of Dental Science degree from The University of Texas Dental Branch in Houston.”

(Hat tip: Ed Brayton)

***

(1) “Gallows Humor Alive and Well”, in Mother Jones, July 1981, p. 10.

(2) Gore Vidal, “West Point”, in Matters of Fact and of Fiction, 1978, p. 194.

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WND reports on ABC’s Satan debate:

Is Satan a religious fable, or an actual being wreaking havoc in the world?

The question was debated yesterday by four unusual suspects – one megachurch pastor, one former television preacher branded by some as a heretic, the alternative medicine guru Deepak Chopra and the founder of Hookers for Jesus – in a taped debate that will air on national television later this month.

The “heretic” is Carlton Pearson, once a member of the Pentecostal A-list but now a minister with the United Church of Christ, having adopted an inclusionist theology. The megachurch pastor is Mark Driscoll:

…The Satan discussion will be the latest in a series of “Face Off” debates created by ABC TV’s late-night news program, Nightline, and will air March 26.

…James Goldston, the show’s executive producer, told the Seattle Times, “We went for the most interesting voices we could find.”

Driscoll told the paper that the curious lineup – a diverse group of people outside the world of theology’s hallowed halls – helps ensure that “this is not just an academic debate but also a practical discourse.”

In fact, ABC has excluded any academic voice that might provide some sensible historical context. Where’s Elaine Pagels, author of The Origin of Satan? Or Henry Ansgar Kelly, author of Satan: A Biography? Even as a bit of worthless-but-fun sensationalism the debate fails, as ABC looks to me to have been too scared to bring on someone from the Church of Satan.

Meanwhile, the Sun has some actual evidence for us to ponder:

Satan’s footprints spotted in Devon

A BAFFLED gran told last night how she discovered the Devil’s footprints — in sleepy Devon.

…She said: “I couldn’t believe it — the footprints were in the shape of a cloven hoof. There were no other marks at all in the snow. I’d love to know what it was.”

Of course, though, it may just mean that Glen Jenvey keeps a pet goat.

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Tim Ireland has received an “interim statement” from Patrick Mercer, MP and former Shadow Minister for Homeland Security:

“I disassociate myself from anything that Glen Jenvey may have claimed about Mr Tim Ireland and will be looking carefully into my other dealings with Mr Jenvey.”

This comes in the wake of Tim’s communication with Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, about whom Jenvey boasted on tape of using as an intermediary:

Meanwhile, after weeks of radio silence, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles has finally been in touch. We’re still discussing what will or won’t be said on the record, but he’s not standing shoulder to shoulder with Jenvey by any means.

Jenvey’s former associate Dominic Whiteman, meanwhile, has been very keen to stress that he has had nothing to do with Jenvey for some time.

But what about Jenvey’s other friends and associates?

No word yet from journalist Jeremy Reynalds, who wrote a bizarre smear attack against the Guardian newspaper at Jenvey’s behest. Reynalds also sent an email to Tim from Jenvey in which Jenvey denied he had ever used the false name “Richard Tims” – audio evidence has proven this to be lie, so Reynalds must be feeling a bit of fool. Plus I’ve found further evidence suggestive that Jenvey used bogus postings in 2007 to try to whip up Muslim anger against Reynalds’ book War of the Web; there is no suggestion that Reynalds had anything to do with this, but it’s rather embarrassing.

No word yet from Paul Ray ( blogger “Lionheart”), who has continually asserted that any concerns about Jenvey can be dismissed as the machinations of Muslims.

No word yet from the Sun newspaper, which is currently facing legal action over a front-page splash derived from Jenvey’s tainted research.

The evidence that Jenvey concocted stories about Muslim extremists by making bogus postings to Muslim forums has been pieced together from diverse sources, some of which are both obscure and several years old, and it is simply not credible to see some Muslim masterplan behind it all. Plus, from the “Richard Tims” lie and from Jenvey’s threat of violence against Tim, we’re now able to see directly what kind of a person he is.

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Original version, at the pro-BNP Leicestershire Community Voice:

This morning, worshippers from many parts of Leicestershire gathered at the Baptist Chapel, [location redacted] to take part in a Service conducted by Rev. Robert West of Lincolnshire.

New version:

This morning, worshippers from many parts of Leicestershire gathered at a Baptist Chapel to take part in a Service conducted by Rev. Robert West of Lincolnshire.

Old version:

Footnote: By preaching at [the chapel], Rev. West follows in the footsteps of the notable Leicestershire clockmaker and Baptist pastor, Samuel Deacon (1746-1816). The Chapel itself is a Victorian gem, maintained in superb style by a dedicated handful of local people. The pews are original, there is seating for 800 worshippers on 2 levels, a beautiful carved pulpit, and still retains a church organ, which it is hoped will one day be heard again. Do visit,or attend a Sunday Service and, if you are part of Barton’s community, treasure this lovely old building in your midst.

This “footnote” has now been removed, along with a picture of the chapel.

I blogged on this event here. The unrevised version is still available at other far-right sites.

UPDATE: I’ve now found some clues as to how and why this event took place.

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Following on from my previous post, I’ve now received details about Zaidi234’s registration on the MPAC forum in 2007:

user: zaidi234

email: nashraf_abu@hotmail.com

Registration IP Address: 195.93.21.39

This is interesting for a number of reasons:

1. “195.93.21.39” resolves to the Yorkshire Dales, just north of Skipton. Curiously, so does “84.13.23.48”, the IP which was used to spread bogus messages purportedly from the Daily Mail accusing Tim Ireland of being a paedophile, and which, according to the moderators of the Ummah website, was also used by abuislam/Richard Tims.

2. A poster named “Nashraf” made a one-off posting to another Muslim forum, again in 2007, to publicise Zaidi234’s posting about Jeremy Reynalds – see here.

3. A poster named “Nash1965” made a couple of dozen postings to Pravda‘s forums on Muslim extremists in 2007 and 2008. This included some strands promoting Jeremy Reynalds’ book and the work of Glen Jenvey. One thread is headlined “Pravda User’s in New Book” (sic for apostrophe – a Jenvey trademark), and he explains that (sic for spelling)

JOHNATHAN GALT AND GLEN JENVEY

They were both Pravda message board users who met on Pravda and pulled off a sting on Abu Hamza.

Another thread is entitled “Muslims Up in Arms!“, and it links to Zaidi234 on MPAC – in other words, Nash1965 is using a posting made by Zaidi234 as evidence of Muslim extremism. That’s a strangely familiar story. And by the way, Jenvey apparently is 43 years old, so was probably born in 1965.

4. In November 2007, “Nashraf Abu” left a post at Ummah linking to http://www.al-qaeda.us, and telling us that

They have stolen al-qaeda’s name they think it’s so cool.why can’t they think of their own name.

And who are “they”? Well, the link redirects to the blog of Paul Ray, aka “Lionheart”, a long-time associate of Jenvey who rails against “Paki Muslims” and who in the past has expressed support for the BNP.

What a remarkable set of coincidences.

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