See also
1a. Alan
Billings, South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner: Complaint
1b.
Same content as (1) but in single column
1c. Alan Billings: Ichtheology, the
Billingsgate Challenge
1d. Police
and Ethics Panels
1e. S. Yorks
Police: IOPC
1f. S. Yorks Police, PCC, Panels
1g.
Capability in
education and policing
1i. Complaints-pcc-panels.htm
1j. 'Treating people properly'
This page and the pages listed above will be revised to
exclude duplicated material and to achieve other benefits
7.Churches, donations,
employment
Examples of Biblical Hate Crime
The You tube videos are the work of Rock Christian Centre. The video
footage is accompanied by text. In the videos, the text is simply read.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBlJ6zd1RSU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNe2ckLIUMU
Deuteronomy 25
[11] If two men are fighting and the wife of one of
them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and
seizes him by his private parts, [12] you shall cut off her hand. Show her
no pity.
Leviticus 24
23Then Moses spoke to
the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned
him. So the Israelites did as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Leviticus 18
22You must not
lie with a man as with a woman; that is an abomination.
Leviticus 19
27You must not
cut off the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your
beard.
Leviticus 20
10If
a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his
neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.
11If
a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness.
Both must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
12If
a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both must surely be put to death. They
have acted perversely; their blood is upon them.
13If
a man lies with a man as with a woman, they have both committed an
abomination. They must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
27A man or a
woman who is a medium or spiritist must surely be put to death. They shall
be stoned; their blood is upon them.’ ”
Leviticus 22
11But
if a priest buys a slave with his own money, or if a slave is born in his
household, that slave may eat his food.
Leviticus 25
44Your
menservants and maidservants shall come from the nations around you, from
whom you may purchase them. 45You
may also purchase them from the foreigners residing among you or their clans
living among you who are born in your land. These may become your property. 46You
may leave them to your sons after you to inherit as property; you can make
them slaves for life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9BFq5NDmP8
Deuteronomy 23
1] No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may
enter the assembly of the Lord.
Translation in King James Version:
23 He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall
not enter into the congregation of the Lord.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFmFzM3pnAk
Deuteronomy 21
[10] When you go to war against your enemies and the
Lord your God delivers them into your hands and you take captives, [11] if
you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her,
you may take her as your wife. [12] Bring her into your home and have her
shave her head, trim her nails [13] and put aside the clothes she was
wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her
father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her
husband and she shall be your wife.
[18] If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who
does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they
discipline him, [19] his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring
him to the elders at the gate of his town. [20] They shall say to the
elders, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us.
He is a profligate and a drunkard." [21] Then all the men of his town shall
stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3nzezxoS4k
Micah 5
[12] I will destroy your witchcraft and you will no
longer cast spells.
Deuteronomy 32
[21] They made me jealous by what is no god and
angered me with their worthless idols. I will make them envious by those who
are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no
understanding. [22] For a fire has been kindled by my wrath, one that burns
to the realm of death below. It will devour the earth and its harvests and
set afire the foundations of the mountains. [23] "I will heap calamities
upon them and spend my arrows against them. [24] I will send wasting famine
against them, consuming pestilence and deadly plague; I will send against
them the fangs of wild beasts, the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.
[25] In the street the sword will make them childless; in their homes terror
will reign. Young men and young women will perish, infants and gray-haired
men.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_poAChumJMc
Deuteronomy 29
[22] Your children who follow you in later
generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the
calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the Lord
has afflicted it. [23] The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and
sulfur---nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It
will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which
the Lord overthrew in fierce anger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzoE1dmcua8
Deuteronomy 28
[14] Do not turn aside from any of the commands I
give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and
serving them. [15] However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not
carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all
these curses will come upon you and overtake you: [16] You will be cursed in
the city and cursed in the country. [17] Your basket and your kneading
trough will be cursed. [18] The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the
crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your
flocks. [19] You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.
[20] The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything
you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin
because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. [21] The Lord will
plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are
entering to possess. [22] The Lord will strike you with wasting disease,
with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight
and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. [23] The sky over your
head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. [24] The Lord will turn
the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the
skies until you are destroyed. [25] The Lord will cause you to be defeated
before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from
them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on
earth. [26] Your carcasses will be food for all the birds of the air and the
beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away. [27]
The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering
sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. [28] The Lord will
afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. [29] At midday
you will grope about like a blind man in the dark. You will be unsuccessful
in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with
no one to rescue you. [30] You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but
another will take her and ravish her. You will build a house, but you will
not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to
enjoy its fruit. [31] Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you
will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will
not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will
rescue them. [32] Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation,
and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless
to lift a hand. [33] A people that you do not know will eat what your land
and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your
days. [34] The sights you see will drive you mad. [35] The Lord will afflict
your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from
the soles of your feet to the top of your head.
National and International Perspectives
The issues raised by my complaints against South Yorkshire Police and
the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner are issues which have
national - in fact international - importance.
I'm used to working at the national and international level. A few
instances:
I was a member of the human rights organization for a very long time, as
a member of the Sheffield group. For most of that time, I was the death
penalty co-ordinator for the group but I worked on a much wider range of
human rights abuses. Again and again, I contacted officials in a large
number of the countries of the world, and I wrote letters to newspapers
in many countries.
From my page
www.linkagenet.com/themes/deathpenalty.htm
Years ago, I wrote a letter about
the death penalty to a politician in Malawi, the then Minister of Education,
and the reply was so heartening that I quote it here:
Dear Mr Hurt,
Thank you for your letter of 9th
February. I am encouraged greatly by your kind remarks about the situation
in Malawi.
We were indeed very fortunate that
Malawi experienced such a peaceful transition from a vicious one-party
dictatorship to a multi-party democracy. It was partly because we were
convinced that some of the people who had been sentenced to death were not
really guilty of the offences that we commuted all death sentences on the
president's inauguration day in May 1994.
The death sentence however has not
yet been formally abolished in this country. The matter was discussed
extensively during the recent Constitutional Conference and the delegates
decided to retain it. This decision ties up the hands of the government,
much against its own will. We are only hoping that with civic education the
body of public opinion will swing towards the abolition of the death
sentence.
You can rest assured however that
no executions have taken place since the new government took over.
Yours faithfully,
Sam Mpasu MP
Minister of Education
Many years late, Malawi has still not executed a single
person.
At the national level, I played a part in changing the
policies of Amnesty International. At a meeting of the Sheffield group, I
made the argument that there were gaps, in fact, deficiencies in Amnesty
International policy. I persuaded the group to put motions at two
Annual General Meetings of Amnesty International.
At the time, Amnesty International had no policy as regards anti-personnel
mines. I outlined arguments concerning the fact that, after conflicts had
come to an end, long after conflicts had come to an end, the anti-personnel
mines put in place during the conflicts were still killing and injuring
civilians. Another motion: that many of the campaigning techniques used by
Amnesty International were demonstrably ineffective. I wrote a paper giving
reasons why they were ineffective and outlining improvements. I also put the
case for including a motion concerning human rights abuses in China. My view
was that Amnesty International had failed to give campaigning against these
human rights abuses the coverage they merited.
Speaking on these motions at the Annual General Meetings, to about a
thousand people in each case, was divided between me and another member of
the group. All the motions were carried overwhelmingly.
I left Amnesty International. The organization was changing, emphasizing
simplistic slogans more and more, becoming grossly unrealistic and far
more ineffectual. Of course, the organization had always achieved much less
than it claimed, but it did have substantial achievements to its credit.
Now, a substantial part of its 'campaigning' is at a pitiful level, most
notably, I think, its condemnation of Israel as an 'apartheid state.' My
page
www.linkagenet.com/themes/israel.htm
puts the case for Israel.
My membership of Amnesty International was a long time ago. We wrote airmail
letters. This was before email.
Some of the email letters were to newspapers in a wide range of countries.
I've no evidence that they were published, in many cases. An editor in a
different country would never send a letter to inform me that a letter had
been published. I did receive a letter from a reader in Jamaica, to tell me
that he supported my views on the death penalty in Jamaica. He'd read the
letter I'd sent for publication in the 'Jamaica Daily Gleaner.'
I contacted many wardens of penitentiaries in the United States where
executions took place, and many people involved in the administration of the
death penalty. One of these people was a Warden of a penitentiary in
Mississippi. A programme had been broadcast, 'Fourteen Days in May,' about
the execution of a man (black) in the gas chamber. The letter I sent was
long and detailed. I didn't receive a reply, but I later found that this
Warden had become an outspoken opponent of the death penalty. He came to
this country to take part in anti-death penalty events. His change of mind
and change of heart may have had something to do with the letter I sent.
My complaints against South Yorkshire Police and the South Yorkshire Police
and Crime Commissioner raise issues concerning lack of protection, lack of
legal safeguards in this country, some omissions and defects which are
nationally important and internationally too. It can't possibly be claimed
that the legal safeguards in this country are so extensive, so complete that
the country deserves to have an international reputation in the safeguarding
of fundamental human liberties. It does deserve its reputation in many areas
or most areas, but the gaps are significant.
I have a book on my bookshelves, 'Blackstone's Guide to the Protection from
Harassment Act 1997.'
The intention of the legislators was protection for people being harassed.
Unfortunately, the Act gives no protection or far too little protection to
people who have been wrongfully accused of harassment, people accused of
harassment on slight evidence, manufactured evidence or no evidence at all.
The Act allows a Police Constable to come to the door and to present a
'Harassment Warning' ('Police Information Notice') without any investigation
at all, with no attempt to find out the 'other side of the story.' It allows
a 'Harassment Warning' to be presented after hearing only the complainant's
story.
Similarly for 'Hate Crime.' Accusations of 'Hate Crime' can be received by
the police and acted upon by the police with only the complainant's version
of events taken into account. To make inquiries into claims of 'Hate Crime'
would more often than not be time-consuming, would take up even more police
resources, in time and money. So, very often, these elementary safeguards
are dispensed with.
The implications of these fundamentally unjust procedures are many, and do
no credit to the international reputation of British justice.
The pretence that policing can put to right every wrong is grossly
misguided. In the pursuit of 'Hate Crime,' elementary principles, economic
and ethical, are overlooked, such as this: infinite needs (or infinite
demands) and scarce resources.
A complaint may reach South Yorkshire Police, and other police forces, and
acted upon, which does involve genuine hate, but hate which is so minor that
it hardly justifies the use of the term 'hate.'
There are genuine victims, obviously, and many of them, including victims
who have suffered horrific consequences, but victimhood has become an
all-encompassing category. There are hordes of supposed victims as well,
whose victimhood includes a claim for recognition and not much more than
that, victims who should be be strongly recommended to get over it.
Being a member of a group which claims victimhood is enough, now - no need
to claim individual oppression, or to produce the evidence for
individual oppression. If the alleged purveyor of 'Hate Crime' doesn't
belong to one of these privileged groups but the complainant does, then it
may well be that the charge of 'Hate Crime' is far more likely to be
believed and acted upon.
I don't include detailed comments on the issue of 'Trans' people anywhere on
this site, in fact, I hardly mention the issue at all. This will be regarded
as a gross failure on my part by some Trans people. What? Failing to write
about the most important issue of our time? I have, though, given a great
deal of thought to the issues - but not nearly as much thought as to a large
number of other issues.
I'll mention one thing, a claim. I'd claim that many, many Trans people are
over preoccupied with their own problems, real or imaginary. I don't detect
very much Trans interest in wider issues. A news item, or more exactly, a
news item which so far as I know hasn't been prominent in Trans circles any
more than in most others.
From USA today
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/
2023/01/03/amber-mclaughlin-first-transgender-person-executed-us/10982182002/
A woman inmate in Missouri died by lethal
injection Tuesday, becoming the
first openly transgender person executed in the United States.
Amber McLaughlin’s fate was sealed earlier Tuesday when Missouri Gov. Mike
Parson declined a clemency request.
Clemency petition cites traumatic childhood, mental health diagnoses
A clemency petition filed to Parson on Dec.
12 by McLaughlin's attorneys requested a sentence of life without parole in
place of a death sentence. The document cites chronic trauma McLaughlin
experienced in childhood, including brain damage from fetal alcohol
exposure, traumatic brain injuries as a child, abuse she suffered
– including tasing and beating – at her adoptive home, and her diagnosed
depression and suicide attempts as reasons for clemency.
So far as I'm aware, the 'Trans Community' did very little to oppose this
execution. They were ineffectual and failed to mobilize their members. They
have weaknesses in planning, in the skills needed for responsible
campaigning which has a hope of achieving results. They have no interest,
many of them, in the skills needed for effective campaigning, or they would
rather use slogans as a substitute. It's certainly far easier.
A few short extracts from European newspapers on issues to do with South
Yorkshire and specifically sexual abuse in Rotherham.
Deutsche Welle
https://www.dw.com/de/hunderte-f%C3%A4lle-von-kindesmissbrauch-im-englischen-rotherham/a-17880683
'In Auftrag gegeben hatte den Untersuchungsbericht die
Kommunalverwaltung von Rotherham, nachdem in der
250.000-Einwohner-Stadt 2010 fünf Männer mit pakistanischen Wurzeln
zu langen Haftstrafen wegen Kindesmissbrauchs verurteilt worden
waren.'
Le Monde
https://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/
2014/09/03/angleterre-de-nouvelles-victimes-se-manifestent-apres-la-revelation-d-abus-sexuels_4480768_3214.html
Angleterre : de nouvelles victimes se manifestent après la
révélation d'abus sexuels
Une enquête a été ouverte après la révélation d'abus sexuels
massifs à Rotherham.
South Yorkshire Police and the South Yorkshire Police
and Crime Commissioner: their preoccupation with
'Hate Crime.'
Putting the search term "Police and Crime Commissioner" "Hate Crime"
into Google currently gives a total of 69,500 results in total. And
who is in first place? Why, South Yorkshire's PCC, Dr Alan Billings!
To reflect this result, let's refer to Alan Billings as the 'South
Yorkshire Thought Police and Hate Crime Commissar' and let's give a
new meaning to the abbreviation 'PCC:' 'Politically Correct
Commissar.' But only in this paragraph. Decorum will be maintained
in other places.
In this column, material on same-sex relationships. The
Reverend Canon Alan Billings has failed to realize that Christianity
and the Bible promote 'Hate Crime.' I think that the evidence is
conclusive, but Alan Billings and the Churches are welcome to show
that I'm completely mistaken - if they can. As a matter of strict
fact, in their long history, the dominant Christian Churches have
used Biblical texts again and again to justify persecution, torture
and execution. Now, with their loss of power, Church sanctions are
incomparably less severe - but the harmful effects of Bible-based
doctrine are still striking - as in the case of the issue presented
in this column, same-sex relations. Before I turn my attention to
some contemporary examples of Christian intolerance, a striking
example of the older intolerance, from my page
www.linkagenet.com/themes/christian-religion.htm
' ... the King James who gave his name to the King James Bible,
the Authorized Version to be found in a place of honour in Churches
all over the country. Most Church goers know not nearly enough about
him. This is an extract from the section which should disturb any
innocent illusions:
King James VI of Scotland, who later became King James I of England,
is better known for his association with the Authorized Version of
the Bible, also known as the 'King James Bible,' than for his book 'Daemonology,'
(1597). 'Daemonologie' endorses the practice of witch hunting
in Christian society. The title page describes him as 'Defender of
the Faith.'
He wrote in the book,
'The fearefull aboundinge at this time in this countrie, of
these detestable slaves of the Devil, the Witches or Enchanters,
hath moved me (beloved reader) to dispatch in post, this
following treatise of mine (...) to resolve the doubting (...)
both that such assaults of Satan are most certainly practised,
and that the instrument thereof merits most severely to be
punished.'
The King James Bible translation of Exodus 22:18 is 'Thou shalt
not suffer a witch to live.' The King will have believed that he
had divine authorisation for his persecution of witches. The
'Good News Translation (!) is 'Put to death any woman who
practises magic.'
[King James oversaw the trials and torture of many women accused
of witchcraft.]
'One of Scotland's most notable mass witch trials occurred under
the reign and supervision of King James VI. The trials
took place in North Berwick between the years of 1590 and
1592, and led to at least 70 accused witches being condemned to
violent torture and in most cases, death. The trials took place
after the King experienced terrible storms whilst journeying by
ship to Denmark where
he would marry Princess Anne. King James VI, having seen
authorities in Denmark accuse women such as Anna Kolding of
using witchcraft to create the storms during the Copenhagen
witch trials turned to the "witches" in North Berwick to blame
for this event.
In the first column of the page: many more examples of shocking
Biblical Hate Crime, including a collection of extracts from Rock
Christian Centre videos - the text only. Rock Christian Centre is
the place where Dr Billings, the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire
Police at the time - Stephen Watson - and Sergeant Simon Kirkham
went to celebrate the relaunch of the Christian Police Association
(CPA).
From my page Billingsgate: a
question addressed to Dr Billings:
1. A question concerning 'hate crime.'
Quotation from one of the Billingsgate Questions
below:
'If
a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what
is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own
heads.'
Is this verse from the Bible (Leviticus 20:13)
an example of 'Hate Crime?' If not, why not? Is it harmful or absolutely
harmless? Is it the 'Word of God' or not? The people at Rock Christian
Centre, where Bibles were presented at the event attended by Dr Billings believe it's
the word of God. The passage where it appears is read out in one of the Rock
Christian Centre You Tube videos discussed below.
Is this verse from the Bible, in this case
the New Testament, an example of 'Hate Crime?' From the writing of
'St' Paul, 1 Corinthians, 6:9, in the New International Translation:
9 ... do you not know that wrongdoers
will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor
idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with
men 10 nor thieves
nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will
inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And
that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you
were sanctified, you were justified in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Is Alan Billings certain that this can't possibly amount to thought
crime or hate speech because it appears in The Bible, 'the word of God?'
Is it impossible for the word of God to be hateful? Can he really claim
that all the instances of thought crime or hate speech dealt with by
South Yorkshire Police, with his active encouragement, are more hateful
than any of this?
A news
item concerning a prominent music group, The King's Singers, a
not-nearly-so-prominent institution in Florida, Pensacola Christian
College, which cancelled their concert, and move quickly to some of
the horrific penalties imposed by Christians against homosexuals in
the past. Then I quote one or two horrific Biblical texts which are
'proof,' to the people at Pensacola College, that the Christian God
opposes same sex relations. Christians who believe otherwise, who
would claim that the Christian God is warmly in favour of same-sex
relations, should include in any arguments to defend their view a
discussion of these and other Biblical texts - but I don't think
they'll want to do that or will be able to do that.
Then I mention briefly some other issues which will cause
difficulties for Dr Billings, for fundamentalist Christians, for
Roman Catholics, for liberal Christians with very vague,
hard-to-define views on Christian doctrine - extreme difficulties, I think.
These, and other Biblical texts, have had consequences, in many
cases horrific consequences. Christian believers have made known
their abhorrence for homosexual relations by banning homosexuals,
torturing homosexuals and killing homosexuals. This is a secular age
- many, many Christians would think of it as a 'godless age' - when
Christians can't get away with executing homosexuals but can get
away with lesser sanctions, such as banning. First I mention a case
of banning and then I mention some of the much, much harsher
measures which could be imposed in the 'age of faith.'
https://news.sky.com/story/the-kings-singers-saddened-after-college-in-florida-cancels-show-over-lifestyle-which-violates-scripture-12811513
A Grammy-winning British a cappella group has said a US Christian
college cancelled a planned concert at the last minute due to
"concerns related to the sexuality" of some members.
The King's Singers said they were "deeply saddened" to have the show
at Pensacola Christian College, in Florida,
called off at two hours' notice.
The university said the performance was cancelled "upon learning
that one of the artists openly maintained a lifestyle that
contradicts" the Bible.
It said it could not "give an implied or direct endorsement of
anything that violates the Holy Scripture".
Writing on Instagram, The King's Singers said this was the first
time one of their shows had been cancelled for reasons other than
bad weather, the pandemic, or war.
"The school gave its reasons for cancellation as 'concerns'
expressed about the 'lifestyle' of members of our group," they said.
An extract from my page
www.linkagenet.com/alan-billings-pcc-scrutiny-accountability2.htm
As
supplementary material, I'll quote now a comment now I wrote which was
published on the site 'Conservative Woman.'
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/mocked-reviled-and-pelted-with-eggs-a-christian-on-the-pride-front-line/
[The 'mocked, reviled and pelted with eggs Pastor here was protesting
against a Gay Pride Event.]
From the Pastor's article: 'A video report on Sky News used the term
‘religious bigotry’ to describe our Christian testimony. Whatever happened
to impartial reporting? Why did the reporter not come over to us and ask
some questions? She would have found out that we are perfectly capable of
engaging in civilised debate.
If the Pastor ever made use of the opportunity to have a 'civilized
debate' with Sky News about homosexuality, I'd recommend to Sky News asking
him for a comment on the material to be found in the Wikipedia 'List of
people executed for homosexuality in Europe.'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...
If homosexuals loathe his orthodox views on homosexuality, it has
something to do with awareness of what orthodox Christians have done to
homosexuals over the centuries. They would loathe them even more the more
they know about the horrific facts. Among the punishments mentioned in the
article, including some from this country:
A German cross-dressing lesbian executed for heresy against nature
They were pierced in their tongues, hanged and burned; they were also
charged with blasphemy.
German from Augsburg; burned in Rome
with 3 heretics
From Augsburg; one burned, other 4 (all
ecclesiastics) bound hand and foot in a wooden cage to starve[
both drowned in a barrel
Lesbian, drowned
Burned at Tudela for "heresy with his body"
And from the UK:
His trial was at the Old Bailey in November, where he was convicted
of having "a venereal affair" with James Hankinson. He was hanged at Newgate.
He was hanged with a forger, Ann Hurle - they were led out of Debtor's Door
and rather than the New Drop they were hanged by a cart being driven from
under them.
"Spershott's hanging was perhaps the last
occasion at which was performed the folk ritual of the hangman passing the
dead man's hands over the neck and bosoms of young women as a cure for
glandular enlargements."
The last two men to be hanged for
homosexuality in England. [1835]
Is Pastor Peter Simpson perfectly capable of engaging in civilized debate
or perfectly capable of becoming evasive when confronted by harsh realities?
Is Canon Alan Billings perfectly capable of engaging in civilized
debate or perfectly capable of becoming evasive when confronted by
harsh realities?
Again and again, Canon Billings comes out with pronouncements and
platitudes. They will please people who are very easily satisfied,
in particular, the Anglicans who think like Canon Billings,
but just a little reflection, supported by a modest amount of
evidence, will show that they are superficial - and evasive.
Take this, from the page
Sermons
Sunday 3 March 2019 - Dr Alan Billings
https://stmarkssheffield.co.uk/?sermons=sunday-3-march-2019-dr-alan-billings
As a matter of interest, St Mark's Church, Sheffield, is the
Church where Lu Skerratt-Love used to worship, the LGBQT church-goer
who made damaging false allegations about me, allegations which were
acted upon by a very different kind of Christian, the fundamentalist
Sergeant Simon Kirkham. This is one of those grotesque
contradictions which appear frequently in this grotesque world.
From the Sermonizing of Canon Billings at St Mark's Church:
The Church of England used to be rather good at theology. I say
‘used to be’, because for reasons I don’t wholly understand, large
parts of the contemporary church have given up on theology. They
have narrowed the range of experiences we can draw upon, to one. The
Bible ... Whatever the question, the answer is in scripture. I don’t
doubt the zeal of people who treat the biblical books in this way,
but it can have the most unfortunate consequences.
At different times Christians who take this view have said that
childbirth can never be without pain because it says in Genesis that
‘in pain you shall bear children’. Women could be regarded as
property because it says in the last of the Ten Commandments that a
man should not covet his neighbour’s property – his house, his
slaves, his animals, his wife. Social welfare has been declared
useless because Jesus said, ‘the poor you have with you always’. We
laugh at this now, but this approach to the Bible – divorcing it
from theology – is becoming dominant in the modern Church.
We need theology – reflection on that accumulation of
experiences – as well as scripture if we are truly to discern God’s
will.
When was this period, the period when 'The Church of England used to
be rather good at theology?' This bland, sweeping statement,
unsupported by any evidence, is quite shocking. At all times,
recent, less recent, centuries-old, Christian theologians have
disagreed strongly - sometimes violently - with each other. The list
of theological 'differences of opinion,' sometimes leading to open
warfare, is long and deeply depressing. Splits and schisms are
entrenched in the history of Christianity. Do sinners always go to
hell, no matter what good they have done in their lives? They do,
according to so many theologians, past and present. Not so,
according to other theologians who have maintained that 'good works'
can be taken into account.
A very different example, from a sphere very remote from everyday
human concerns but very important to the theologians who debated
these issues centuries ago - and still debate them, the split
between Eastern Orthodox views and Western Roman Catholic views.
From the page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Eastern_Orthodox_teaching_regarding_the_Filioque
The Eastern Orthodox interpretation of the Trinity is
that the Holy Spirit originates, has his cause for existence or
being (manner of existence) from the Father alone as
"One God, One Father" and
that the filioque confuses the theology as it was defined at the
councils at both Nicea and Constantinople. The position that having
the creed say "the Holy Spirit which proceeds from the Father and
the Son", does not mean that the Holy Spirit now has two origins, is
the position the West took at the Council of Florence, as the
Council declared the Holy Spirit "has His essence and His subsistent
being from the Father together with the Son, and proceeds from both
eternally as from one principle and a single spiration.
My page
www.linkagenet.com/themes/cambridge-university.htm
includes profiles of Cambridge University theologians, which will
make clear, I hope, that in general, these people are in no fit
state to pronounce on matters beyond their arcane specialities.
Dr Billings' pronouncements are always clear - clear but confusing,
again and again. On the pages of this site - I don't provide links
to these sections here, since there has to be a limit to
semi-scholarly citation of sources - I discuss his use of a
Biblical text about the Second Coming of Jesus (this second coming
will be a time when Jesus carries out 'The Last Judgment,' according
to orthodox Christian theologians). He gives every appearance of
believing in a Second Coming. He stresses the New Testament emphasis
upon 'watchfulness' - calls it, being 'wake' - before launching into
a ridiculous claim that the New Testament view of watchfulness or
being 'wake' supports present-day notions of the importance of being
'woke' or politically correct.
Watchfulness - or being 'wake' - is stressed in this extract from a
theologian, quoted on the page
www.linkagenet.com/themes/fefe.htm
The extract comes from the site
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-return-of-christ/
DEFINITION
The Return, Second Coming, or Second Advent of Christ
refers to the future return of Christ to earth at the end of the
age. This return will be visible and physical as he comes from
heaven on the clouds to bring final judgment and salvation.
SUMMARY
The New Testament establishes the doctrine of the Second
Coming. Jesus refers to his future return in glory. While the
term “Second Coming” or “Second Advent” does not occur in the
New Testament, there are several nouns and verbs used to refer
to the return of Christ. The nature of the Second Coming is
visible, imminent, and final. The hope believers have of his
return gives confidence of his victory and the salvation of
their mortal bodies from sin once and for all to have a
glorified resurrected body that is pure, immortal, and
incorruptible (1Cor.
15:35-49). The Second Coming, then, has implications for
how believers live day to day in an attitude of watchfulness and
readiness.
Introduction
The doctrine of the Second Coming or Advent of Christ
refers to the future return of Christ to earth at the end of the
age. This return will be visible and physical as he comes down
from heaven on the clouds to bring final judgment and salvation.
It is often associated with the great day of the Lord in the Old
Testament and corresponds to the messianic prophecies
anticipating the messiah coming as King of kings in victory and
glory to triumph over all the enemies of God and his people. The
New Testament focuses primarily on the messiah’s first advent
with the ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus
who came as a sinless sacrificial lamb to make atonement for sin
and provide salvation through faith in him by inaugurating the
New Covenant ...
In a sermon at St Mary's Church, Sheffield, he quotes a Biblical
text about God appearing to Moses in a burning bush. He has never,
to my knowledge, discussed the fact that in orthodox Christian
theology, Moses also received from God, supposedly, the first five
books of the Old Testament. The quotations in the first column of
the page from these 'books of Moses' are horrific.
Dr Billings discussed a pleasant little story about Moses in the
sermon, omitting the context or suppressing the context. Could he
give an opinion - as a theologian - on this extract, quoted in my
page
www.linkagenet.com/themes/fefe.htm
It's included in one of the questions which make up the
'Billingsgate Challenge'
www.linkagenet.com/themes/billingsgate.htm
Numbers 31, extract
The LORD said to Moses, 'Punish the Midianites for what they did to
the people of Israel ... So Moses said to the people, 'Get ready for
war so that you can attack Midian and punish them for what they did
to the LORD ... The people of Israel captured the Midianite women
and children, took their cattle and their flocks, plundered all
their wealth, and burned all their cities and camps ... Moses became
angry with the officers, the commanders of battalions and companies,
who had returned from the war. He asked them, 'Why have you kept all
the women alive? Remember that it was the women who followed
Balaam's instructions and at Peor led the people to be unfaithful to
the LORD. That was what brought the epidemic on the LORD's people.
So now kill every boy and kill every woman who has had sexual
intercourse, but keep alive for yourselves all the girls and all the
women who are virgins.
If a preacher includes this passage
in a sermon, would the preacher be liable to a charge of 'Hate
Crime?' If not, why not? Or perhaps the charge should be 'promotion
of ignorance and superstition.' My view is that Notice the
pre-scientific, anti-scientific, far-from-harmless view of epidemics
and their causes.
How are ordinary people supposed to recognize 'genuine' orders of
God, orders which can be acted upon, and 'false' orders of God, all
those repulsive and irrelevant orders which form the greatest part
of this 'revelation' by far. Theologians have overwhelmingly taken
the view that God did command that disobedient sons should be stoned
to death, that 'witches' should be put to death - I don't need to
elaborate, because there's abundant evidence on this and other
pages, even though the evidence I give is only a small part of the
massive, cumulative evidence which it would be possible to give,
just about.
