PrintMay 19, 2008
Does a new 'radical' religious group threaten Britain?
In this article for the UK Telegraph, David Modell is concerned that a "radical" and "hard-line" religious group has set up shop in Great Britain.
They think society should be built on their beliefs. They claim non-believers are damned. But these radical Christian groups are not in America - they are here and are aiming to change the laws of our land, discovers the Bafta-winning film-maker David Modell
Carmel Christian School is my latest stop on a journey through British Christian fundamentalism, for a Channel 4 Dispatches film. With the nation focused on the perceived threat from radical Islam, I am interested to know if a less apparent form of radical religious belief is gaining ground. It is.
Was it a "perceived threat" that killed 52 people on July 7th, 2005 or was it real?
Yes, the liberal media, always attuned to any threat to our way of life is now focusing it's attention on Christian fundamentalism in England. We can all sleep safer now. He continues by explaining the aims of these "hard-line Christian organisations."
The school is part of the Carmel Christian Centre, one of a growing number of locally based hard-line Christian organisations. The aim of these groups is to spread a fundamentalist form of Christianity. The followers believe that the Bible is literally true and not open to any degree of interpretation. They are the only "true" Christians because they have confessed their sins before Jesus and become "born again". Those who have not converted are damned.
[....]
The ambitions of Britain's hard-line Christians go far beyond the borders of their local communities. Like most fundamentalist movements, the ultimate aim is a society built on their rigid belief system.
In his opinion they are "Like most fundamentalist movements".
In the liberals' quest for equality in all things they are constantly trying to equate some Christian groups with radical Islam. I believe a sober analysis of the number of victims from each group should dispel this idea. However it seems Mr. Model's main concern is that they are trying to influence Parliament.
To achieve her ends, Ms Williams doesn't just organise demonstrations - she has secured access to the heart of Westminster. As the HFE Bill reaches its final reading in the Lords, she calls me to say she has arranged a meeting with Lord Tebbit. Would I like to come?
What I then witness is a piece of raw and normally strictly confidential parliamentary lobbying. Lord Tebbit meets us in Central Lobby and takes us to a meeting room. He and Ms Williams perch across the corner of a huge oak table. Ms Williams is persuading him of the importance of laying an amendment to the Bill. "You can get a slot on the Today programme," she says. "Because you can say, 'I'm tabling an amendment to reduce the upper limit on abortion'."
What's wrong with individuals or groups having access to their leaders? Perhaps Mr. Modell's real concern is that Ms. Williams would like to reduce the upper limit on abortion. I think it's only fair since the pro-abortion groups have certainly had unlimited access to the leaders in both our countries for many years.
I would like to try to allay Mr. Modell's anxieties about these "radical" groups. Having lived amongst these evangelical groups here in America for many years I can speak from experience that they are relatively harmless. The worst that can happen is you might get cornered at a dinner party for a few minutes as one of them tries to save your soul.
