Singin from da hymn sheet

Posted by Guessedworker on Sunday, 30 April 2006 22:49.

Since I am not a Christian nor a liberal nor a Ugandan immigrant nor sound asleep it is difficult for me to assess the utility of today’s sermonising by Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York. He is, alas, the second most powerful figure in the Anglican Church, and living proof of the Communion’s exciting, go-ahead committment to ... vibrancy, of course. So when he adumbrates upon the nature of my Englishness and cautions me to vote for a mainstream political mugger in Thursday’s local authority election, should I obediently sit up and take notice. Does anyone, in fact, obediently sit up and take notice?

Well, according to BBC News this is what he said:-

Referring to parties like the British National Party, Dr John Sentamu said they espoused the “politics of fear”.

Dr Sentamu, who was born in Uganda, described Britain as “a country of immigrants” and ... told BBC Radio Four’s Sunday programme: “This country has been one of the most welcoming, most accommodating.

I want to suggest if it lost that because people simply say ‘we’re going to put a barbed wire around a number of things in order for us to feel safe’, that is not actual security, that’s fear - and any politics which plays on people’s fears in the long run, give it a bit of time, it will fail”.

Now, it happens that today’s crop of mundane crime stories on the BBC News’ England page included this and this and this. So no change there then. The delights of vibrancy abound. Human nature being what it is, they trigger a fearful reaction among the natives - the most common response to which is “white flight”. But according to da holey wun this does not increase white folks’ security because it is based on the aforementioned fear. So, obviously, given “a bit of time” it will break down. Well, I mean it is obvious, isn’t it? Isn’t it? Someone? Anyone?

Anyway, apparently and for as yet some unexplained reason, the white flighters will see the un-Christian error of their ways. They will be enlightened, Dr Sentamu assures us, as to the eternal bruddahood of da man. Eager only to be more progressive and, of course, more “welcoming” and even more “accomodating”, they will race back to da vibrant, lovin’ embrace of pimpin homies an’ all, and promptly throw open the borders.

Or maybe not.

So, to return to my first question. Since, clearly, I am not in Dr Sentamu’s target audience I cannot judge whether his outburst is helpful or harmful to the BNP. Are there really meek little Anglican rabbits out there for whom Dr Sentamu’s “leadership” is scripturally and ethically valid?

Or is this guy a joke and a damned effective recruiter for those evil persons who espouse “the politics of fear”.

Tags: Christianity

Comments:

Posted by Al Ross on Mon, 01 May 2006 01:44 | #

I dont know whether Dr. John Sentamu has described to his flock the racial composition of Heaven, but I’m sure that if the piously masochistic delusionals who comprise that ovine group
fulfil their sacred duty by donating sufficient funds to the Archbishop’s benighted fellow Africans, he may provide them with a clue. After all, what agreeable, multi-culturalist, anti-racist Christian wouldnt wish to enter a paradise teeming with Blacks, Browns and other fine ‘souls’ of Third World provenance.

Today’s Church of England clergymen do not understand that whatever they may deem ‘true’ in theological doctrine, we exist in the real realm of natural laws, and that the primary law of nations is that the tough and determined survive, while the puny and fanciful sink without trace.

The BNP understands this in a way that Cameron with his middle-ground, racially-neutral, doomed-to-fail policies does not.

Posted by Nick Tamiroff on Mon, 01 May 2006 02:36 | #

Being an American,I don’t follow European politics to any great extent,but have been tracking the BNP for over a year.They appear,to me,a honest expression of White Britons,exclusive of mandated PC.I sincerely wish them well in the upcoming elections,and hope that they may help us form a true “third party"in the US.The Conservative Party,The Libertarians,The Greens,et. al.,have yet to focus on the real issues of the White semi-Christion male[you know-the guy who works,tries to take care of his kids,pays taxes,worries about crime and his job,mows his own lawn,takes out the garbage,etc.]I TRULY BELIEVE IT’S TIME FOR AN"AMERICAN NATIONAL PARTY”

Posted by john on Mon, 01 May 2006 02:58 | #

A church guy gave a speech at the launch of the Huddersfield branch.http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=bnptv

Posted by john on Mon, 01 May 2006 03:04 | #

By the way, the lady who did the immigraton interviews lost her job for her BNP work. In the ivideo she comes out with the immortal line “it’s ok we’re not from the bbc’.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=bnptv

Posted by allotmentkeeper on Tue, 02 May 2006 02:42 | #

My girlfriend is an Anglican and met Sentamu today at a conference focusing on attracting more young people into the church. He was the guest of honour and delivered the keynote speech.

Rather than wear his Archbishop’s vestments, he wore a hoody with the embroidered logo, “The Bish - made in Birmingham” to advance his central arguments: that we shouldn’t prejudge or even judge at all young people or youth cultures - not all hoody wearers are criminals he preached, and that the church’s culture must become more like the street culture if it wants to attract young people.

Shallow and inane, yet horrifying. And precisely the same sort of guff which has seen people young and old desert the CofE for decades, but it seemed to Helen that the other 650 participants loved his speech, loved his music (yup, African drums – a ritual when he speaks), and especially they loved His Grace.

She’s beginning to see that the church (and every other institution) would have us continually adapt ourselves, our families, and our communities to multiplying social problems, rather than take a strong moral and religious opposition to the values of liberalism and one-way tolerance which inevitably lead to such problems. She’s thinking very seriously about conversion to Catholicism.

I might suggest she looks into the church that the vicar in the BNP video above is involved with.

Posted by Guessedworker on Tue, 02 May 2006 07:51 | #

allotmentkeeper,

Very interesting. I can quite believe that there are “Christians” for whom the “Bish’s” media celebrity is more important than his theological knowledge and leadership, and for whom an obvious black social worker in gaitors is an entirely appropriate vicar of Christ.

Organisations or individuals who present themselves over a long period of time in a certain light attact a membership of like mind. The Anglican Church has been broadcasting its own shallowness for decades, and necessarily attracts a congregation of people incapable of living seriously. In the process, of course, it repels those like your girlfriend. It is in transit dedecus. She should probably be in transit to Rome where serious conservatives can at least still practise their faith.

Posted by Guessedworker on Tue, 02 May 2006 12:26 | #

The clown can be observed in his negroidalised Spacely-Trellis slavishness here.

Posted by Effra on Sat, 06 May 2006 23:11 | #

At my local middle-stump home countiues suburban C-of-E, congregations are as large as they have been for 40 years. We don’t care much for politics of any description being concerned with more spiritual matters.

The embarrassing antics of “trendy” episcopates such as ++Sentamu have been legend for as nearly as long, but by and large the Anglican communion is unaffected, still worshipping on Sundats in their unenthusiastic way in numbers several times greater than those attending football matches on a Saturday afternoon.