Bartholomew's Notes

News from Hastings, on the south coast of England:

A Christian church group is packing up and leaving St Mary-in-the-Castle following death threats and harassment.

Sonrise Church, which took over the running of the building in January last year, said it has endured a campaign of hatred from a small group of people for almost two years and plans to vacant the premises in January.

Glenn and Cathy Khan, senior pastors, said they have had to put up with constant harassment from a minority of ‘nameless, faceless people’.

St Mary-in-the-Castle is an architecturally significant but redundant 1820 church building that has been run as a venue and art gallery for a few years; the neo-Pentecostal Sonrise Church was given a lease on the premises eighteen months ago, on the understanding that they would use it as a church on Sundays and continue to run it as a venue during the rest of the week. However, some questioned the process by which the lease was awarded:

Cllr Jeremy Birch, labour leader for Hastings Borough Council, said: “A lot of people and I at the time Sonrise Church was granted the lease questioned the council’s process of exclusively giving it St Mary in the Castle rather than going out to open competition.

“There was never an open process to look at other alternatives and look at offers on their merits.”

The Guardian also complained:

One of the best places to see and buy local art was at the SoCo Gallery, housed on the ground floor of St Mary In the Castle, on the seafront. SoCo is a local art group that runs well-attended regular shows where the art on the walls often tends to be of the cutting-edge variety. Upstairs, there were occasional concerts in an extraordinary beautiful and criminally underused circular concert hall. If you wanted a taste of the spirit of happening Hastings, it was as good a place as any to visit.

Last month, though, the local Tory council suddenly evicted SoCo and leased the building to an obscure evangelical Christian church called SonRise. Thus one of the few venues in Hastings suited to art events has been turned over to a minority Christian group that plans to turn it into a coffee bar, conference centre and, rumour has it, a Christian-oriented arts centre.

The church denied it would seek to censor art displayed by SoCo (South Coast Artists), and so the gallery exhibited a piece calculated to press the point. Glenn Khan complained to the local paper:

Prior to our moving into the building, an exhibition was held by the group and artwork using our child protection policy was displayed and put up for sale to the general public. We considered this work disturbing as images of a sexual nature had been superimposed over that information, even though one was of a fertility goddess from an old church building at Kilkenny.

There were also fears that as a neo-Pentecostal church Sonrise would have a negative view of homosexuality, and that it would discriminate against gay groups that might wish to hire the venue; Khan, however, responded that

“We are not homophobic. We would accept bookings from any group except ones promoting hatred or violence towards a minority group.”

Which seems reasonable enough; however, some critics continued to complain, pointing out the church’s use of the Alpha Course (which is hardly remarkable) and demanding to know

Why is it that “Sonrise Church “welcomes” new government legislation on religious discrimination in employment”, but only “accepts the legislation, regulations and codes of practice which separately and collectively outlaw certain kinds of discriminations.”

Despite assurances to the contrary, it seems that Sonrise was unable to shake off the public impression that its style and beliefs meant that it was of a piece with the American Christian Right, or somewhere like “Bishop” Michael Reid’s Peniel Church. That does not, however, appear to be the case (not that that would justify a campaign of harassment).

Sonrise is an independent church, although it used to be part of an Australian grouping called the Christian Outreach Centre. This was founded in 1974 in Brisbane by Clark Taylor, who was Australia’s “first televangelist”. Clark left Australia for the USA after an affair was exposed.

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The perennially preposterous Tom Tancredo is moved to propose a new law:

Amid disturbing revelations that the verdicts of Islamic Sharia courts are now legally binding in civil cases in the United Kingdom, U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo (R-Littleton) moved quickly today to introduce legislation designed to protect the United States from a similar fate.

…Tancredo’s bill, dubbed the “Jihad Prevention Act,” would bar the entry of foreign nationals who advocate Sharia law. In addition, the legislation would make the advocacy of Sharia law by radical Muslims already in the United States a deportable offense.

So what counts as a “radical” Muslim? What counts as “advocacy” of Sharia law – would a non-polemical historical survey bar the author? What about US citizens who adopt such positons? What about other advocates of alternative, and repressive, religious-based legal systems (such as Christian Reconstructionists, to give the most obvious example)? etc. etc. Presumably we’re not supposed to ask about such details, lest we find ourselves accused of sympathy for Islamism.

The legal recognition of Sharia courts in the UK has inevitably been presented by the right as evidence of British “appeasement” of Islam; in fact, however, the courts’ new legal status is simply due to an already-existing legal provision concerning third-party arbitration. As the Daily Mail reported:

Islamic sharia law courts in Britain are exploiting a little-known legal clause to make their verdicts officially binding under UK law in cases including divorce, financial disputes and even domestic violence.

A new network of courts in five major cities is hearing cases where Muslims involved agree to be bound by traditional sharia law, and under the 1996 Arbitration Act the court’s decisions can then be enforced by the county courts or the High Court.

It should also be pointed out that the courts have no power to prescribe criminal penalties, although reports of the courts’ activities are certainly unencouraging: inheritances doled out unequally between male and female relatives, and women “persuaded” to drop complaints to the police about domestic violence. The obvious – and reasonable – fear is some women are agreeing to be bound by the courts’ decisions as a result of community and family pressure rather than giving true consent.

However, while the undesirability of this is being widely decried, what exactly should be done is less clear. Of course for Tancredo all that’s needed are some new repressive laws targeting immigrants, but that’s hardly a serious proposition in a free society. Perhaps in some cases anti-discrimination legislation can be brought to bear, but the simple truth is that undesirable things cannot be avoided in a free society.

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…we thank you today. We come in the hindrance of the enemy, standing in her way to there. In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus! Every form of witchcraft, it will be rebuked in the name of Jesus. Father, make her way now. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Full story here.

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And while we’re still on the subject of Walid Shoebat and Joel Richardson, Richardson’s blog carries a link to an audio interview between Shoebat and a Messianic Christian organisation called “Messiah’s Branch” on the subject of Islam and Bible prophecy. As expected, it’s a car crash of crackpot interpretations of various Bible passages, and I had to laugh in particular when the subject turned to Israel being attacked by invaders on horseback. Of course, this particular detail couldn’t be in the Bible because the Bible is a product of the ancient world; it must be because that is indeed what is going to happen in the future! And it’s further evidence (a) that the Bible predicts a Muslim invasion of Israel and (b) that Muslims are like Nazis:

[Interviewer:] I [wouldn’t] look for Russia to be attacking on horses as the Bible talks about. It would be clear to see Muslim nations attacking Israel on horses. You know, because they’re still predominately using horses. Right?

[Shoebat:] That’s right. In fact, the Nazis used horses, the German army. Horses were a very main element of transferring and transforming [sic] weapons, and soldiers, that all kinds of things like that. And the Muslims do have tons of horses.

Shoebat is not alone in seeing horses as having apocalyptic significance – the Left Behind novels end with Jesus slaughtering them:

Men and women soldiers and horses seemed to explode where they stood…It was as if the very words of the Lord had superheated their blood, causing it to burst through their veins and skin…Even as they struggled, their own flesh dissolved, their eyes melted and their tongues disintegrated.

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Walid Shoebat associate Joel Richardson is annoyed:

You know the world has been turned upside-down when those who wish to preserve Germany and Europe from Islamization (and the inevitable corrosion of human rights and freedoms that always follow such) are marginalized as extremists and right-wing nationalists while those Islamo-imperialists who would fulfill the prophecies of their prophet are seen as the poor and the persecuted that need protection from “intolerance”…

Richardson is upset that authorities had shut down the “pro-Koln” anti-mosque rally in Cologne. So how did it come about that the pro-Koln activists were “marginalized as extremists and right-wing nationalists”? Speigel Online reports:

In an effort to attract large crowds to the event, Pro Cologne recently unveiled a lineup that reads like a Who’s Who of the European right-wing populist scene. As keynote speakers, it listed Jean-Marie Le Pen of the French National Front (“I believe in the inequality of races”) and Heinz-Christian Strache, chancellor candidate for the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) — a man who had contact to the banned right-wing extremist Viking Youth group and is seeking to amend the Austrian constitution to forbid mosque construction…

(Le Pen actually denied he had been invited, and claimed that his name was being used “to create propaganda” by the event organisers)

The British National Party website adds:

The BNP’s Richard Barnbrook will be one of the high profile speakers addressing an open air meeting which is part of an international “anti-Islamisation conference” in Cologne, Germany, today, to protest against the construction of mosques and Muslim immigration.

You know the world has been turned upside-down when those who support Israel and regard Jews as God’s chosen people are willing to laud a group that seeks the support of the likes of Jean-Marie Le Pen (“In France, at least, the German occupation was not particularly inhumane, although there were some blunders” – presumably refering to the deportation of 76,000 Jews) and Richard Barnbrook, whose party leader Nick Griffin (a) wrote an anti-Jewish screed entitled Who are the Mind-Benders? and (b) has admitted that his turn to anti-Muslim rhetoric is simply strategic.

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Debbie Schlussel, 19 September 2008:

Now, there is Sandra Bernhard…Her bigoted anti-Gentile video tirade against Sarah Palin is embarrassing, and as a Jew, I’m disgusted….The two slurs she uses against Sarah Palin–“goyishe” and “shiksa”–are derogatory terms for non-Jews, and I never use them. My dad taught me from when I was very little, to refrain. And I cringe when I hear other people use them. The terms are bigoted. Period.

Debbie Schlussel, 16 April 2007 (via Wayback):

… The Virginia Tech campus has a very large Muslim community, many of which are from Pakistan…

* Pakis are considered “Asian.”…

When the connotation of the term “Paki” was pointed out to her by a commentator, Schlussel responded that

UH, ACTUALLY IT ISN’T A RACIAL SLUR. AND WHERE WERE YOU WHEN DICK CHENEY AND NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR FRAN TOWNSEND CALLED THEM PAKIS? SORRY, BUT WE HAVE NO USE FOR THE IMUS THOUGHT POLICE HERE. GO TO OPRAH’S SITE AND HAVE FUN THERE.
DEBBIE SCHLUSSEL

Eventually Media Matters took an interest, and Schlussel used this as an excuse to remove the posting on the grounds that “Nazis” were posting comments.

(It should be remembered that Schlussel’s entire foray into the VT Shooter tragedy was something of a fiasco.)

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From Max Blumenthal:

After appearing on Countdown to discuss Muthee’s battle with a supposed witch in Kiambu, Kenya, and his ties to Palin, the Wasilla Assembly of God allegedly told [Shannyn] Moore not to appear at their Saturday services. They knew what she looked like, and would immediately oust her, they supposedly warned.

This comes despite an “everyone is invited to attend these meetings!!” advert on the church website. Blumenthal is “holding off” from his own reports on Muthee for a couple of days; Irregular Times is annoyed.

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The Miami News Times has some background on “Michael the Black Man”, of “Blacks Against Obama”, the group that recently disrupted an Obama rally in Florida:

In our 2002 story on the tempestuous and racially-charged history of the little village of El Portal, we ran into Michael, who at that time had commandeered an illegal but popular radio show and was lambasting the town’s Democratic black mayor, Daisy Black, as a “devil” and encouraging that she be “set on fire”.

It all stemmed, it seemed, from Michael’s obsessive and Old Testament-fueled quest to convert blacks to Republicanism. He would refer to democrats as “Demon-crats” and “slave masters”, and, yes, accuse them all of being in bed with the KKK.

Michael’s gone by the names Maurice Woodside, Maurice Symonette, and Mikael Israel. And he was once the disciple of Yahweh Ben Yahweh, a cult leader who served eleven years for a murder conspiracy conviction. Michael himself was tried in the case, along with 11 other cult followers, but was one of seven acquitted.

Still can’t get enough Michael the Black Man? Visit his website! Watch his TV show!

“Michael the Black Man” has a number of videos on YouTube, and he has a second website called “michaelwarns.com”, which has led some reports to name him as “Michael Warn”. A 1990 profile in the Miami Herald gives further details:

Maurice Woodside, 31, sect name Mikael Israel; aka John Frederick Nunnally, brother of Ricardo. Their mother, Johnnie Simmons, was a loyal Yahweh member until she died a few years ago, allegedly of medical neglect. Maurice has a long rap sheet: breaking and entering, petit theft, trespassing.

A sarcastic 2003 column in the Broward-Palm Beach New Times adds:

We must all thank Yahweh that Mikael is on the airwaves. He has the courage to defend that most abused and put-upon sector of society, the deadbeat dads. He is one himself, owing more than $50,000 in child support. And he rightly eviscerates those evil single mothers who try to force fathers to take responsibility for their kids.

Because of those terrible vipers, we now dwell, as Mikael puts it, in the land of the lesbian, the land of the amazon, and the land of hell itself. Amen.

Mikael also is a proud Republican who says he believes Democrats are tools of the great Satan. During the 2000 election debacle, he showed up in Palm Beach County to shout down Jesse Jackson. Mikael preaches that the GOP will lead us back to God and keep us from paying taxes.

Despite the anti-Jackson protest, one of “Blacks Against Obama”‘s protest signs allegedly read “Jessie [sic] Jackson Hates Obama”.

According to this video, back in March Symonette/”Michael the Black Man” received a “double doctorate” in “Humanity [sic] and Letters” from the “Jehovah Jireh Biblical Institute of Theology, Counseling and Christian Education”, alongside others such as Congressman Kendrick Meeks, in a ceremony presided over by Bishop Billy Baskin (an Obama supporter). One wonders what they would make of a book promoted on Michael’s website:

This book is written primarily to show the BLACK MAN, and the WORLD the true source of their problem, 33% of the BLACK WOMEN of AMERICA (BABYLON). GOD is angry with the world for worshipping this WOMAN LILITH the DEVIL. Acts 19:22-27 is shocking saying: THE WHOLE WORLD WORSHIPETH THE WOMAN GODDESS DIANA WHO ACTUALLY is LILITH this BLACK WOMAN in BABYLON (America). This can be proven on page 2 of this book, end of paragraph…Ex. YAHWEH BEN YAHWEH the GOOD MAN, MICHAEL JORDAN, MIKE TYSON, MICHAEL JACKSON, JOE JACKSON, MAYOR MARION BERRY, KOBE BRYANT, THE GOV. taped women with MARTIN LUTHER KING to destroy him, President GEORGE W. BUSH, CLARENCE THOMAS, RUSH LIMBAUM, and GEN. COLIN POWELL, There are many more.

(Hat tip: Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

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And here’s that “Message of Love” in full, from Shoebat’s website (advertising a book by his son):

The Elmen Center is part of Augustana college. According to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader,

A spokesman said Augustana has a long history of hosting speakers with diverse views. The college sponsors some. For others it rents space.

The list includes Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and former Sen. James Abourezk, a frequent critic of Israel. Al Gore spoke at Augustana, as did the elder George Bush, Queen Noor, Rudy Guiliani, Mexico’s Vincente Fox, Maya Angelou, Colin Powell, Mikhail Gorbachev, Newt Gingrich and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

The day after, Shoebat will be speaking at the Central Baptist Church, on the topic of “Islam and Bible Prophecy”. Here’s a taster (background here):

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A stupid throwaway line from Sarah Stern, who heads the Washington-based think-tank EMET (“Endowment for Middle East Truth”), speaking on Israel National Radio and reported by Arutz Sheva (emphasis added):

Stern explained that Title VI was legislated in 1958, “in the midst of the Cold War, when it was felt that American youngsters did not know enough to deal with the Communist threat or to be succesful in the global market. So they set aside a pot of money, which has now grown to something like $120 million of taxpayers’ money, to fund college campus programs for regional studies, such as African studies, Asian studies, Middle Eastern studies, etc. That was fine, but in 1978, Edward Said of Columbia University wrote his simplistic and lies-filled book Orientialism, which stated that only people from a given region can talk or write about that region. And that became the prevailing dominant trend of thought in academic circles…”

From Edward Said, Orientalism, p. 326 (emphases added):

Today there are many individual scholars working in such fields as Islamic history, religion, civilization, sociology, and anthropology whose production is deeply valuable as scholarship…An excellent recent instance is the anthropology of Clifford Geertz, whose interest in Islam is discrete and concrete enough to be animated by the specific socieites and problems he studies and not by the rituals, preconceptions, and doctrines of Orientalism…[S]cholars and critics trained in the traditional Orientalist disciplines are perfectly capable of freeing themselves from the old ideological straitjacket. Jacques Berque’s and Maxime Rodinson’s [1] training ranks with the most rigorous available, but what invigorates their investigations even of traditional problems is their methodological self-consciousness…

It should be noted that the whole thrust of Said’s book is anti-essentialist; therefore being from a given region is no more an guarantee of producing valid scholarship than being from the West (and Said rejected the “anti-Western” label) is a barrier to it.

Of course there are problems with Said’s book, and scholars have complained that the last few pages championing “humanistic” scholarship are hardly an adequate counter-balance to his deconstructive efforts. And of course it’s also the case that the charge of “Orientalism”, like the charge of “racism”, can be bandied about by those wanting to shut down criticism of Islam or oppressive regimes in the Middle East, although anyone who has read and understood the book would not be able to use it that way in good faith. However, such a preposterous and ignorant vulgarization from Stern must preclude her – and EMET – from being taken seriously in any discussion of the book’s merit and in any discussion of Middle East studies in America.

It should be noted that EMET’s advistory board includes Walid Shoebat, who believes that the Bible predicts a coming “Muslim anti-Christ”.

[1] Alas, Rodinson rejected Orientalism and the two men fell out, resulting in an abusive re-assessment from Said.

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