In the week a BNP membership list leaks onto the internet with the names of three ministers on it, (none of them Church of England, one allegedly in error) thoughts inevitably turn to Father Ted, and the day an unfortunate accident with a lampshade and some dirt on the window made everyone think he was a racist and revealed a few BNP sympathies, even on Craggy Island:
Saturday 22 November 2008
BNP members list - clerical error
In the week a BNP membership list leaks onto the internet with the names of three ministers on it, (none of them Church of England, one allegedly in error) thoughts inevitably turn to Father Ted, and the day an unfortunate accident with a lampshade and some dirt on the window made everyone think he was a racist and revealed a few BNP sympathies, even on Craggy Island:
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News reports here said one of them as a "vicar", which definitely suggested Church of England, as I can't think of any other denomination in the UK that has vicars. I think it was Sky News. But then, as they say, the media don't "get" religion, so perhaps one can put it down to ignorance on their part.
Steve — as usual you have it spot on, sir. In Fleet Street any clergyman of any denomination is "a vicar." Richard Bartholomew's Blog gives the names. All three are minsters of obscure Pentecostal style denominations or indepdent free churches. I wanted to underline this point because some of them have fairly common names, and there's a danger fleet street's way of reporting this will expose C of E vicars and retired clergy to unjust misunderstanding. It also has to be remembered that the list is about 3 years out of date and in that time BNP membership has fallen by 3500; perhaps including minister No 3 on the list. That's a major reason why I've looked through it (110 names in Buckinghamshire out of 12,400) and binned it (It's not the kind of data I want to be, or should be, holding on people, anyway).
My first reaction when I read this was that no minister would ever join such an organisation or hold such views, but then I remembered about some of the opposition to Martin Luther King, and some of the opposition to Nelson Mandela and remembered the horrible truth...
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