EVERYONE WANTS THE RIGHT TO SPEAK, JUST NOT TO BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT THEY SAY:

The Wrath Of God: As evangelical Christians force a Scottish cancer charity to refuse money raised from a benefit performance of controversial show Jerry Springer – The Opera, Iain S Bruce reports on the emergence of new militant faith groups who are no longer prepared to turn the other cheek (Iain S. Bruce, 2/27/05, Sunday Herald)

Firing the opening salvoes of a campaign that looks set to rage for decades to come, last week they launched an attack that took Britain by surprise when the evangelical cadre Christian Voice stepped in and, demonstrating the militant guerrilla tactics set to become a familiar feature of 21st-century politics, pressured a small Scottish cancer charity, Maggie’s Centre, into rejecting a £3000 donation. The proceeds of a benefit performance by the cast of the controversial mus ical Jerry Springer – The Opera could have had a significant impact upon the work of Maggie’s Centre, but amid reported warnings of picket action and the thinly veiled threat that accepting the funds could lead to a backlash from devout donors, the Glasgow-based voluntary organisation felt compelled to decline.

It was, Labour MP John Cryer told parliament, the work of “fundamentalist thugs,” an act of theological blackmail so far beyond the pale that it beggared belief. Sending a storm of liberal outrage sweeping through the nation’s media and provoking a deluge of hate mail directed at the perpetrators, it was an incident that the popular consensus might hope was a single unacceptable aberration but was in fact merely a taste of things to come. [...]

Britain is waking up to a new breed of faith that seems a million miles from the traditional forms of religious expression in this country. No longer content to remain in society’s shadows, they are stepping out into the light, armed with a reinvigorated brand of militant faith and a fundamentalist agenda on which they insist there will be no compromise. Radical, committed and apparently no longer prepared to turn the other cheek, they have presented the nation’s policy makers with an unexpected new challenge, and from Holyrood to the House of Commons apparatchiks have been sent scurrying to identify who these people are and exactly what it is that they want.

Attempting to flush out the facts on who is behind the emerging new strain of vigorous British puritanism is no easy task, however. Drawing its footsoldiers from a plethora of small-time fellowships and organisations such as Christian Voice, MediaMarch, the Christian Institute and Mediawatch UK, the movement consists of dozens of self-starting, autono mous groups. Although frequently sharing similar principles and providing each other with mutual support, very few formal links exist between such operations, so precisely mapping out the UK’s radical-Christian power structure is currently close to impossible.

What is clear, however, is that these groups represent a political foe to be reckoned with. Attracting members from both the established mainstream church and congregations from the far fringes of the Christian faith, these self-funding organisations are believed to have total backing worth in excess of £20 million a year and are rapidly turning themselves into highly organised and zealously committed campaigning machines.

Identifying the individuals behind this emerging movement is less difficult. Typically middle-aged churchgoers ensconced in the warm embrace of traditional family units, they are the progeny of a liberal generation who believe that their parents’ quest for self-expression and freedom has led society to the brink of doom, creating a world where there is no longer much honour, safety or respect.

Isn't the problem that having a traditional family makes you seem radical?

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 27, 2005 12:00 AM