Good Christians or Christian Extremists?

Firstly I would like to point out to any readers in and around the Exeter area there is a consultation started, available through the council website.
Second the piece I have written has taken comments and details from a mixture of sources including other blogs.
Third I believe everyone has the right to practice their religion so long as they do not try to force their religious beliefs on others.

So we have been reading a lot recently about the Christian Legal Centre who have been getting involved in campaigns to stop clubs renewing licenses and trying to block the granting of new license. So who are the CLC? Well they are sister branch of the Christian Concern for our Nation or just Christian Concern now as the nation bit seemed a bit BNP/National Front and they are not racist. At lot of other things but not that, the UK can be proud of the good Christians.

So who are they? Well every case you have ever heard of in the news about being denied the right to wear a crucifix, not willing to perform a civil partnership for LGBT couples or a couple who were refused the right to be foster carers because of their religious views on homosexuality that have gone to court CLC are there fighting the good fight. The list goes on there have been around 50 cases so far. But the track record isn't that good no wins, 1 agreement and the rest losses. The cases are not winnable but it is all PR for their lobbying.

Still it hasn't stopped them and we can expect to hear more of them in the future. Of course the big issue is how the organisation operates and where the money comes from to fund it.

They claim that they get by on small donations from individuals and that the legal work is all done pro bono.  Seems though there is a link to funding from America and some rather sinister organisations like the Alliance Defence Fund which is funded by the Blackwater Private Defence organisation famous for their work in Iraq) and ultra rich Texan Christian Dr James R Leinger. However when looking at the annual report for a couple of years ago over 50% of funds came from furniture. I mean what the heck??? So rich powerful and slightly spooky american christian organisations with loads of money and we have a ultra conservative christian organisation that seems to have no money but has well equipped offices. if you think about some of the crazier things some of the American Christian Right have spouted you can see where this organisation is going.

CC/CLC run the Wilberforce Academy which is a training ground for "Right Thinking Christian" Lawyers, Politicians and a variety of other business areas. Not sure if they get brain washed there or come in pre-washed. Certainly we are seeing people taking on work such as judge in a family court who wont deal with same sex couples. Or the registrar who wont perform civil partnerships. And the list goes on and on and on and on.  However I don't think they care if they win in court when people are sacked, they want to gather media attention which empowers their lobbying. It seems that so long as they can scare Christians into believing their religion is under attack they will get more people on their books. If you look at the issue with the Green members connected with Christian beliefs and putting those before the party line the pictures gets a little scarier.

Now we get to the CEO Andrea Minichiello Williams who I am not sure is all there (personal opinion). This woman is a creationist so the world is only 4,000 years old so I guess we had people riding round on T-Rex's? Described by the Guardian as paranoid so that says something about her. Reading an interview with her she states that Christians will always be under attack. Watching a video of the CC praying that the MPs voting on same sex marriage would suddenly all go nuts and vote against was mildly amusing. On more than one blog she has been called a loon so thinking we are getting a picture here. The fact that she has stopped admitting she is a creationist shows that she can learn to keep quite when it makes her look insane if she opens her mouth on some issues.

I have nothing against anyone's personal religious beliefs, I find myself more connected with Taoism but I would not expect to push religion at others nor try and use religion to change laws. However CC are against same sex marriages, abortion, the human fertilisation bill is the work of the devil and obviously the CC organisation are busy trying to impose their morals on areas by getting SEV licenses stopped. So anywhere and everywhere these people pop up trying to affect strip clubs we need to know and to fight. A small success in Lambeth may well lead to them getting involved elsewhere and these misguided people really do need to be challenged. Anytime CLC and CC are involved there will be issues, as they don't admit it is their moral issues but try and use worries of the public and play on their minds.

When you think about how they want to control people, no other religious beliefs are acceptable, women have no right to decide for their bodies about abortion, LGBT people seem not to be even entitled to civil partnerships never mind marriages. And of course women cannot choose to strip although if we look back the flappers of the twenties were seen in the same way.

There is so much you can say about these people but there is information all over the web so just google the bits that interest you. Otherwise this blog would end up to being devoted to challenging them. I will now be watching their website to see what they are getting involved with.
TonyN