Case dismissed: BBC ok to depict Christians as murderous sociopaths. Guy Crouchback comments.
By Guy Crouchback
I try to keep my readers up-to-date on the great Culture War being waged against Christianity in Britain by various government and semi-government bodies. Here are some of the latest developments.
The BBC Trust has dismissed a complaint about an episode of Bonekickers, a BBC One drama that involved a fundamentalist Christian beheading a Muslim.
The Trust has backed an earlier BBC ruling that there is "no reason why viewers would have been given the impression that the fanatics in the program were evangelical Christians or that the program gave an offensive portrayal of such people".
As The Daily Telegraph put it: “only a BBC drama series would, to quote the complainant, ‘transfer the practice of terrorist beheadings from Islamist radicals to a fantasised group of fundamentalist Christians’. And only the staff of The Beeb, or perhaps The Guardian, would be so ignorant of Christianity as not to realise that nearly all fundamentalists are evangelicals of one sort or another (though most evangelicals are not fundamentalists).”
The Telegraph continued: “This ruling was made public in the week that the BBC offered to apologise to the Muslim Council of Britain after Charles Moore made the perfectly true statement on Question Time that the MCB had been slow to condemn the killing and kidnapping of British soldiers in Iraq.” The BBC is, of course, entirely financed by public money through compulsory licence fees.
In a case considered by the Healthcare Commission, a pagan patient complained about her doctor “oozing Christianity.”
A Catholic hospital worker feared for her job after refusing to take off a crucifix which “could harbour infection.” Helen Slatter, 43, said: “I have always worn my cross inside my uniform and it means a lot to me. They have told me I can carry it in my pocket but it isn’t the same. My faith is important to me. Now I have to choose between my job and my faith.”
A 71 year old Christian male nurse, Anand Rao, was not warned or rebuked but sacked instantly for suggesting a visit to a church, not to a real patient but during a training exercise on how to relieve stress. Mr Rao, with 40 years’ nursing experience, said: ‘The ‘patient’ told me that her doctor had informed her that she would not live long and this had created stress.
I called on my spiritual point of view and told her it would be wise to go to church to ease her stress.”
Christian Legal Centre Director Andrea Minichiello Williams said: “How is it possible that a nurse who has served the public for 40 years should find himself dismissed because in a training exercise he advised someone to go to Church?”
The Christian owners of a private hotel, Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang, got into a religious discussion with a guest over breakfast. They are now being prosecuted and face the ruin of their business.
The guest apparently commenced the matter by challenging them over their beliefs. The guest then complained to police and the Vogelenzangs were charged with using “threatening, abusive or insulting words” which were “religiously aggravated.” The Public Order Act 1986, under which they are being prosecuted, was intended to stop those inciting disorder on the streets through violence or abusive behaviour.
“It should never be used where there has been a personal conversation or debate with views firmly expressed,” said Neil Addison, a leading criminal barrister and expert in religious law.
These cases are only the tip of a mountain more. Important areas of British life are now controlled to an unprecedented degree by people determined to destroy its Christian heritage. Things have not gone nearly so far in Australia, at least not yet, but let us not forget the watchword about “Eternal Vigilance.”