Green: “I’m like John the Baptist”
Lots more on Stephen Green and Christian Voice since yesterday’s Radio 4 report (see below). A follow-up report on R4 mentioned the hundreds of letters of protest they received condemning CV’s actions. The reporter was unable to get Green to say how many members are in his organisation (a sign, according to a cult expert, that there probably aren’t very many – groups such as CV like to boast about the size of their memberships if they’re big). But she did get him to admit that he saw himself as a John the Baptist type figure. Not at all delusional then…
Meanwhile, Jeremy Vine’s Radio 2 show, Green blankly refused to make up any shortfall in the £3,000 which Maggie’s Centres were forced to turn down because of his blackmailing tactics. The challenge was put to him by moderate Christian John Bartley of Ekklesia in a head to head during yesterday afternoon’s broadcast.
Green claimed he was making a principled stand, “challenging one of the stereotypes of Christianity that it is a religion for women and wimps”. He also refused to apologise for this sexist comment.
He’s certainly getting a lot of publicity at the moment, and 90% of it is bad. The trouble is, this all feeds into his sense of self-importance and instinct for martyrdom. One gets the impression that he won’t be happy until someone demands his head on a plate.
UPDATE: Labour MP for Hornchurch John Cryer has joined in the condemnation of Christian Voice. In a question in Parliament yesterday he branded them “fundamentalist thugs”. Peter Hain agreed that he had “described them correctly”.
UPDATE: Blogger Nick Barlow bravely delves into the Christian Voice website “so you don’t have to”.
UPDATE: Green’s response to John Cryer’s branding CV “fundamentalist thugs”, quoted from a BBC article
He ought to wash his mouth out with soap and water…He should withdraw those comments or resign. He brings politics into disrepute.
In the same article he also admits he would break the law to further his ends “if the law contravenes the law of God”.
I read in todays TImes that;
“The group gained notoriety after it circulated the home addresses and telephone numbers of senior BBC figures when Jerry Springer — The Opera was screened on BBC Two last month.”
Would be an *awful* shame if someone were to publish the home addresses and phone numbers of members of Christian Voice, especially Stephen Green, wouldn’t it ?
Is publishing home addresses legal? Stephen Green seems to have got away with it whatever. I agree with your general point though, I think these people need a dose of their own medicine. Counter demos against their pickets and protests at their churches might be a good place to start.
Green has his home address and phone number on the Christian Voice website, or at least he used to!
His address and phone number are still on his site. It would be a shame if someone abused this kind man’s trust now, wouldn’t it
Although it is very tempting to phone up this idiot, or send him mail, or even picket his house, it will almost certainly be counter-productive. Quite apart from the fact that it would be stooping to his level, there is also the likelihood that Green would actually enjoy it. It would only serve to confirm his sense of biblical mission and feed his hunger for martyrdom:
2Tim 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
He’d probably be delighted to get some abusive calls and emails – it’d fit in nicely with his martyr delusion and in his eyes confirm his prejudices about the evils of modern society. Hell, that’s probably why his details are there in the first place, he’s daring the heathens to have a go!
It was very naive to post the names and addresses in the first place.
On the other hand, it was justified if all other avenues had been extensively tried in the past & proved to be dead ends. The BBC may have had standard replies etc without reading the detail of people’s complaints.
Depending on how far people listen or dont listen, more extreme action can sometimes be required. As in the cases of the suffragettes and Martin Luther King.
Instead of rhetoric and namecalling (‘fundamentalists’), lets have some proper arguments.
As between someone who has only rhetoric and someone who can argue, everyone knows whom one should listen to.
[…] Pompous, self-serving, proud and vain? Who can Mr Green, the self-styled Voice of All Christians who has compared himself to John the Baptist, be talking about? […]