In case any of you thought I was getting hot under the collar about nothing, have a look at the report on the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s Carol service at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church on Tuesday night. http://www.hurryupharry.org/2009/12/02/carols-with-caryl-and-more/#comment-419787
A group of Jews and Christians, including one of CWI’s field workers protested outside the church. You Tube has a short film of the event, which includes interviews with a John Sullivan, an anti-Zionist who thinks Jews are evil and should “%@&$ off back to Israel”, and John Beynon, the Church Secretary of BCBC and former Principal of King’s College London. On the BCBC web site, Beynon says that, among other things, what he most admires about the church is its “commitment to practising as well as preaching Christianity” (http://www.bloomsbury.org.uk/who/john_beynon.html). Hmmm.
Simon Perry, one of the ministers at BCBC, has Romans 12:2 at the top of his personal page on the BCBC web site: “Don't let this era squeeze you into its own mould, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (http://www.bloomsbury.org.uk/simon/index.html).
Perry supported the event and believed his church would endorse the PSC event. Perry supports a boycott of Israeli goods and fails to see anything anti-Semitic about Caryl Churchill’s play Seven Jewish Children. I wonder if he feels the same about John Sullivan’s comments. It looks as though this era (or at least the Palestine Solidarity Campaign) has squeezed Simon Perry into its own mould.
None of the ministers have so far responded to my letter to them.
Bloomin' brilliant post
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