The religious zealot who hands Bibles to Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Britain First organisation, which has invaded mosques and handed out Bibles to Muslims, is masterminded by a religious zealot with a criminal record for violence.

Although usually described as a splinter group of the far-right British National Party, its roots go deeper into the hardline Christian fundamentalist, anti-abortion movement.

Britain First has begun training followers in martial arts and has adopted a green-jacketed uniform. Five ­police forces have launched investigations into the party over allegations including public disorder and racial hatred. The East London Mosque, which it invaded on Monday, is to ask for an antisocial ­behaviour order on the group.

The organisation was founded by Jim Dowson, 49, a born-again Christian who was once a successful fundraiser for the BNP, amassing millions of pounds for the party. The chairman is Paul Golding, 32, a lorry driver and one-time BNP councillor who has spent much of this year being arrested in connection with the group’s ­publicity-seeking stunts.

Britain First said: “Mr Golding has not been charged with any  offences.” Mr Golding last night strongly denied the allegations and insisted that none of the material he had distributed had a racial element.

To the distress of the family of the murdered soldier Lee Rigby, Mr Golding used the slogan “Remember Lee Rigby” on ballot papers for the European elections in Wales. Election day was the first anniversary of the killing and dozens of Britain First supporters commemorated it by marching through Brick Lane in east London, an area with a large Muslim population.

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Jews Against Islamophobia hold protest against 9/11 museum film

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jews Against Islamophobia 9-11 museum protestThe NYPD removed 30 mostly Jewish demonstrators carrying signs such as “Islam does not equate terrorism,” from the 9/11 memorial park Wednesday.

The group protested what they called the interchangeable use of “Arab,” “Muslim” and “terrorist” in a 9/11 Museum film. Waving signs saying “Edit the Film” and “Jews say No to Islamophobia,” the crowd moved up the street. “We fear that visitors of the museum will blame Muslims. . . . The exhibition describing Al Qaeda is very sloppy,” said Todd Fine, 33.

New York Daily News, 22 May 2014

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Britain First stage intimidatory march in Brick Lane

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Britain First march through Brick LaneThe far-right group, Britain First, marched down Brick Lane last night with a large camouflaged car as part of what they called a “Christian patrol”.

The group said on their Facebook page: “Major disturbances follow Britain First Christian patrol in East London. Crowds of Muslims rampage through Brick Lane. Muslim vigilante gangs lock horns with Britain First teams.”

The leader of Britain First, Paul Golding, said that around 20-25 activists had marched up Brick Lane, starting from the Whitechapel Road end and given out leaflets. At the upper end of Brick Lane, Golding said they were confronted with a “baying mob of around 150 Muslims.”

Golding denied that the march was provocative and said that they were there to protect the local community. After the march, Golding said that the activists returned to south London.

He said the matching clothes the activists wore were not uniforms but “activist jackets” and were worn to distinguish Britain First from the “riff-raff” of the English Defence League who behave like “drunken hooligans”. Golding said that the armoured land rover was “not to look macho” but to protect Britain First from attack.

Natasha Daniels said on twitter that she was having a curry on Brick Lane when “some morons with Union Jacks and a tank/car thing came down followed by loads of police.” She said that there was not many people involved in the march and most were “hid in the car” which was large and camouflaged.

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New York Times publishes Islamophobic ad by anti-Islam group

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Visit The New York Times‘ homepage today, and before the page loads you may be shown a 15-second full-screen advertisement warning that unnamed “Islamist groups” are “undermining America’s security, liberty, and free speech,” with a photo of the World Trade Center towers.

The ad’s implicitly Islamophobic message, suggesting that Muslim-Americans may be enemies within, and its timing during the opening of the September 11 Memorial Museum, raise questions about why the Times decided to allow it such prominent display on its homepage. The advertising unit, called an interstitial, is typically one of the most expensive because it required users to view the ad or click away before they can see the New York Times homepage.

A spokesperson for the Times, asked why the ad was permitted under the company’s policy against ads that are gratuitously offensive on racial, religious, or ethnic grounds, responded that the ad had been internally reviewed and approved. The spokesperson added that the company had decided to slightly alter the ad’s wording. “However upon reexamination, we think the phrase ‘radical Islamists’ would have been better than ‘Islamists’ in this advertisement,” she explained. “The advertiser agreed to the change and the ad has been updated on nytimes.com.”

The ad is sponsored by a group called the Investigative Project on Terrorism, which says it researches “radical Islamist terror groups,” but in practice primarily argues that mainstream Muslim-Americans and Muslim-American groups are secretly terrorists who are plotting against the US.

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European election upset for Wilders

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Geert Wilders came fourth in European elections in the Netherlands on Thursday night, confounding predictions that he would lead a populist and far-Right backlash against the European Union across the continent.

Dutch exit polls put the far-Right and anti-Islam leader on 12.2 per cent of the vote, putting him behind all the pro-EU mainstream political parties. ‘Definitive’ exit polls put him behind the ruling centrist VVD on 12.3 per cent and almost three per cent behind the pro-EU D66 liberals and Christian Democrats, each on over 15 per cent.

Previous opinion polls had put Mr Wilders in the lead but there was widespread controversy over his alliance with the France’s Front National and the exit polls suggested that his share of the vote fell, compared with 2009, by 4.8 percentage points.

The result is a major blow to Mr Wilders who will lose two seats in the European Parliament with his MEPs now reduced to three out a total of 26 Dutch representatives.

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Evangelical Christian minister backs James McConnell, says Islam promotes killing of non-Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Paul BurnsA second evangelical minister has publicly condemned Islam, comparing Muslim fundamentalists to Adolf Hitler. Pastor Paul Burns of Adullam Christian Fellowship Church in Sandy Row, south Belfast, contacted the Belfast Telegraph yesterday to voice support for Pastor James McConnell.

“I understand exactly where he is coming from,” he said. “That is not building up hatred against Muslim people but the teaching of Islam. The Koran teaches that all infidels who do not convert to Islamic teaching, then it is correct to be able to kill all those who oppose the teaching of the Koran.

“When Pastor McConnell is talking about it as a direct teaching of Satan – it is. Hitler murdered over six-and-a-half million Jewish people. I would class him as Satanic. The people who are blowing up buses are told in the teaching of the Koran they are going to have 75 virgins who are going to wait upon them, whom he would have total control over.

“Christianity teaches that Jesus Christ is the way of salvation and teaches that God is the God of love, and teaches to repent of your sins. It doesn’t teach to go out and murder in the name of Jesus Christ. It doesn’t teach to go out and burn villages down.”

Pastor Burns also voiced concern over halal meat being eaten in the UK. “Halal meat had been coming across into the UK, into our schools where Muslim clerics have prayed over the food that is actually being given to our children, who are of a Christian nation,” he said.

Belfast Telegraph, 22 May 2014

Queensland rejects anti-niqab bill

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Peter WellingtonThe Queensland government has rejected a push by independents and minor parties to force Muslim women to remove their burqas or veils to prove their identity.

The bill, introduced by the independent MP for Nicklin, Peter Wellington, would have allowed lawyers, police, prison officers, justices of the peace and other “persons of responsibility” to require a person to remove any face covering to establish their identity.

Wellington said the measure was especially necessary in light of the upcoming G20 meeting in Brisbane. “It is not about religion; it is about doing the right thing, about making sure there is security in Queensland,” he said.

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Belfast pastor James McConnell denounces Islam as the devil’s doctrine

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Pastor James McConnellPolice have launched a probe into a a potential hate crime after an outspoken evangelical pastor defended describing the Islamic faith as “satanic” and a “doctrine spawned in hell”.

Senior Pastor James McConnell made the remarks as he addressed his congregation at the Whitewell Tabernacle Metropolitan Church on Sunday evening. They were described as “very offensive”, “hurtful” and “irresponsible” by a representative from the Belfast Islamic Centre.

There has also been an outcry on social media, with some calling for a police investigation into his comments. One posted: “If this was a Muslim Imam speaking about Christianity, he would be arrested for inciting hatred.”

During his sermon, the clergyman said: “Islam is heathen, Islam is satanic, Islam is a doctrine spawned in hell.” He also likened Muslims to the IRA, saying there were cells spread right across the UK.

When contacted by the Belfast Telegraph last night, the pastor said he stood over his remarks. When asked why he made the comments, he said “because it is against the holy scriptures”. “The Bible says there is one God the father and one Lord Jesus Christ and that is what I believe and that is what Christianity is all about.”

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Luton school head says he will challenge ‘half-baked’ Ofsted report

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The head of an Islamic faith school says he will challenge an Ofsted report written by inspectors who asked nine-year-old students to define homosexuality.

Enraged parents at Olive Tree Primary School, Bury Park Road, threatened to take their children out of the independent school on Thursday after the Ofsted representatives admitted to questioning a group of nine and ten-year-old pupils on their understanding of homosexuality and gay marriage.

The schools watchdog has said that the session was designed to gauge tolerance at the school and its pupils, though parents have said that the incident “unduly sexualised” their children.

Islam forbids homosexuality and Olive Tree does not teach sexual education.

After being confronted during a planned meeting with parents on Thursday, inspectors agreed to leave the school and say they have information to complete a report – despite completing just two of the four days they were to spend there.

Headteacher Abdul Qadeer Baksh told Luton News that he would reject and challenge the report, given the short stay of inspectors.

He said: “I told them that they had more than a day and a half still to complete with plenty left to see at the school but they told me they had enough. The report will not be accurate, I asked them to come back another time but they will not. It will be half-baked and I will challenge it. I will not accept it.”

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