On the morning of the 9th September 2024 I posted the following on the Together for Chichester Diocese Facebook Group and The Campaign for Equal Marriage in The Church of England Facebook Group:
“I appreciate that what I’m about to share will not be appreciated by some but unfortunately producing a counter argument/movement means keeping an eye on what the opposition voices are up to. Trust me….NO ONE IN THE STAND UP TO RACISM MOVEMENT LIKES LOOKING AT RACISM! So here are some things I’ve picked up on YouTube recently – I’m sure you are all aware of the “Coalition for Marriage”. This video was posted after General Synod: CofE process on marriage change “basically dishonest” Revd Dr Ian Paul interview by Dr Tony Rucinski. In it Rev Ian Paul asserts that the recent decline in church attendance and giving is due to LLF (Living in Love and Faith). Most people with any common sense would look at that and conclude that it’s a ridiculous assertion based on no evidence in the context of COVID, the uptake of zoom and YouTube, and a Cost of Living Crisis. Coalition for Marriage is basically a club for religious people so anyone outside of a church context would not watch it (speaking into the echo chamber) but imagine how that statement would look to a progressive secular/dechurched person! At the bottom of the Coalition for Marriage’s YouTube page is a whole section on how they were formed at a Tory Party conference in 2012 (and featuring Ann Widdecombe) which demonstrates their clear political alignment. Currently the Tory’s are not very popular – especially with younger folk. That is the moderate end of the spectrum of what is doing the rounds on YouTube. In the more extreme ends we have this guy: Methed Up Priest – Bye Bye Calvin Robinson – Revd Brett Murphy and the FCE (an incumbent CofE Priest) who starts his video sympathising with whatever has been going on in the Free Church of England and then goes on to express his admiration and sympathies for Calvin Robinson who is leaving the UK for a job in the States: Father Calvin Robinson reveals TRUTH about why he’s quitting UK for America: “Target on my back!”. So a current CofE Priest promoting the ideology of the homophobic and dangerously racist best friend of Laurence Fox who is himself an open Tommy Robinson supporter. This is the face of the Church of England that is being pushed on YouTube with no prominent progressive/inclusive counter voice possibly because (I fear) a great many progressive people have been put off church by the Church’s (albeit usually accidental) discriminatory practices – and before you argue with that statement keep in mind that you are talking to an activist with a foot in many equal rights campaigns. Christians are now a rarity in those settings and people don’t mind telling me why they don’t come to/like the Church. Note as well the lack of diversity in the people producing these videos. I am sharing here as both a prayer and as a cry for help so others can pray into the situation too. I understand if you don’t like it – I don’t like it either. God Help Us!”
Some my feel that Calvin Robinson leaving the UK because he’s been offered a Job in the US is a good thing. My concern is that his hateful Homophobic and Islamophobic rhetoric will get greater funding and amplification in the United States.