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****Rant incoming****
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1/?
On Monday, the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) released a video on racism.
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2.
Note - the CEEC is a distinctive evangelical pressure group within the C of E. It is independent of the Anglican hierarchy (although it has a couple of bishops among its members), so its actions and decisions have nothing to do with Welby.
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You can watch the video here:
My rant is not about the video itself; nor about the people who feature in it, who all seem perfectly decent.
Nonetheless, there are two rather large elephants in the room.
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My rant is not about the video itself; nor about the people who feature in it, who all seem perfectly decent.
Nonetheless, there are two rather large elephants in the room.
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This is the 1st:
To the best of my knowledge, CEEC said precisely nothing about racism when one specific form of racism - antisemitism - was a national issue for 5 years, and formed part of the backdrop to 2 successive General Elections.
Does racism against Jews not count?
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To the best of my knowledge, CEEC said precisely nothing about racism when one specific form of racism - antisemitism - was a national issue for 5 years, and formed part of the backdrop to 2 successive General Elections.
Does racism against Jews not count?
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The 2nd, which is connected, concerns the track records of some of CEEC’s members.
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CEEC’s chair is @hugh_palmer, outgoing rector (vicar) of @AllSoulsLP.
As a director of both @EvangelicalsNow and @ChristExplored, he failed not once but twice to take decisive action against Stephen Sizer's antisemitism when asked.
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As a director of both @EvangelicalsNow and @ChristExplored, he failed not once but twice to take decisive action against Stephen Sizer's antisemitism when asked.
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CEEC's Secretary is Stephen Hofmeyr QC. *As of today*, he is on the UK Board of Reference of Stephen Sizer's charity, Peacemaker Trust.
9a.
9a.
Stephen Hofmeyr therefore remains *directly* complicit in Stephen Sizer's ongoing antisemitism - by which I mean stuff like this...
https://twitter.com/ad_holland/status/1039542174503841792
9b.
https://twitter.com/ad_holland/status/1039542174503841792
9b.
As @BernardNHoward and I show here, Lee Gatiss turned a blind eye to Stephen Sizer's antisemitism not once but twice, and when later challenged on this, pretended he had been unaware of it.
Does racism against Jews not count?
10b. https://nickhoward76.medium.com/church-society-and-antisemitism-a-failure-of-leadership-c6ccbfc2c7d7
Does racism against Jews not count?
10b. https://nickhoward76.medium.com/church-society-and-antisemitism-a-failure-of-leadership-c6ccbfc2c7d7
Hopefully the point is clear.
@HadleyFreeman has written that antisemitism is seen by too many as "a lesser bigotry".
@Baddiel argues, quite simply, that, too often, Jews Don't Count when it comes to tackling racism.
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@HadleyFreeman has written that antisemitism is seen by too many as "a lesser bigotry".
@Baddiel argues, quite simply, that, too often, Jews Don't Count when it comes to tackling racism.
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It would be hard to find a better example of what they mean, than in the contrast between the Church of England Evangelical Council's recent film on racism;...
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12a.
...and the org's general silence on antisemitism, and the specific failings of some of its members on Stephen Sizer's antisemitism.
Does racism directed against Jews not count?
12b, end.
Does racism directed against Jews not count?
12b, end.
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