BNP members involved in 'Christian' front
-14/03/06
Members of the British National Party (BNP) are involved in setting up their own church with a Christian label.
The news comes after the religious thinktank Ekklesia warned last month that the party was attempting to employ religious arguments in the run up to May's local council elections.
The 'Christian Council of Britain' (CCB) has reportedly been set up by members of the BNP to rival the Muslim Council of Britain.
The CCB appears to have been formed to enable BNP supporters to join in protests at regional theatres against 'Jerry Springer: The Opera' which have been organised by conservative group Christian Voice.
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The BNP website reports that its supporters have "joined up with the Christian Council of Britain" to stand along side a Christian Voice and protest over ëJerry Springer: The Operaí being played at De Montfort Hall in Leicester.
"The placards of the CCB were a pleasure to see and the local Mercury newspaper were keen to take photos of the demo featuring the placards" the BNP web site states.
However, the web site mediawatchwatch.org.uk has pointed to some striking similarities between the pictures of "Christians" taken outside the demonstration in Leicester, and another recent photograph of BNP supporters in Leeds.
Another website that has looked into the new organisation, suggests that the Christian Council of Britain "remains somewhat mysterious". Batholomew's notes on religion points out that there is no website for the group. The only individual explicitly associated with the group appears to be a "Reverend Robert West".
Last month the BNP placed online a video of a speech by West, who states that a multiracial society is "a transgression of Godís willÖAdam and his descendants were commanded by God to fill the earth, not to come to one part of it, namely England. The refusal of Adamís surviving descendants through Noah to spread out led to Godís judgement at Babel, and his confusing of the tonguesÖThe blossoming of what I call the proto-raceÖinto many nations was to be a manifestation of Godís glory, like light passing through a prism."
There is no Robert West in Crockfordís, the directory of Church of England clergy. However West commended two conservative newspapers to his BNP audience: the British Church Newspaper and the English Churchman.
In a worrying development the party plans to include in its campaign material for May's local authority elections one of the cartoons which sparked outrage among Muslims across the world, showing the Prophet Mohamed with a bomb in his turban.
It is also employing some of the arguments used by Christian Voice and other conservative Christian groups who have claimed that Muslims get better treatment than Christians in Britain.
Their stand however will be challenged by many other Christians, who have spoken out against the BNP during previous elections.
In the run up to the European elections, Ekklesia's director Jonathan Bartley challenged the religious arguments of a BNP press officer during a debate on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Members of the British National Party (BNP) are involved in setting up their own church with a Christian label.
The news comes after the religious thinktank Ekklesia warned last month that the party was attempting to employ religious arguments in the run up to May's local council elections.
The 'Christian Council of Britain' (CCB) has reportedly been set up by members of the BNP to rival the Muslim Council of Britain.
The CCB appears to have been formed to enable BNP supporters to join in protests at regional theatres against 'Jerry Springer: The Opera' which have been organised by conservative group Christian Voice.
The BNP website reports that its supporters have "joined up with the Christian Council of Britain" to stand along side a Christian Voice and protest over ëJerry Springer: The Operaí being played at De Montfort Hall in Leicester.
"The placards of the CCB were a pleasure to see and the local Mercury newspaper were keen to take photos of the demo featuring the placards" the BNP web site states.
However, the web site mediawatchwatch.org.uk has pointed to some striking similarities between the pictures of "Christians" taken outside the demonstration in Leicester, and another recent photograph of BNP supporters in Leeds.
Another website that has looked into the new organisation, suggests that the Christian Council of Britain "remains somewhat mysterious". Batholomew's notes on religion points out that there is no website for the group. The only individual explicitly associated with the group appears to be a "Reverend Robert West".
Last month the BNP placed online a video of a speech by West, who states that a multiracial society is "a transgression of Godís willÖAdam and his descendants were commanded by God to fill the earth, not to come to one part of it, namely England. The refusal of Adamís surviving descendants through Noah to spread out led to Godís judgement at Babel, and his confusing of the tonguesÖThe blossoming of what I call the proto-raceÖinto many nations was to be a manifestation of Godís glory, like light passing through a prism."
There is no Robert West in Crockfordís, the directory of Church of England clergy. However West commended two conservative newspapers to his BNP audience: the British Church Newspaper and the English Churchman.
In a worrying development the party plans to include in its campaign material for May's local authority elections one of the cartoons which sparked outrage among Muslims across the world, showing the Prophet Mohamed with a bomb in his turban.
It is also employing some of the arguments used by Christian Voice and other conservative Christian groups who have claimed that Muslims get better treatment than Christians in Britain.
Their stand however will be challenged by many other Christians, who have spoken out against the BNP during previous elections.
In the run up to the European elections, Ekklesia's director Jonathan Bartley challenged the religious arguments of a BNP press officer during a debate on BBC Radio 5 Live.
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