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Monday 17 August 2015

Don’t Menshn Songs Of Praise

After the BBC screened the edition of Songs Of Praise featuring footage shot in a Calais refugee camp, and including the makeshift Orthodox church attended by Christians from Syria, Eritrea and Ethiopia, the right-leaning press and its hangers-on sought to denigrate the broadcast in any way it could. This process, it became clear, could feature any level of creativity, and fact checking of the most basic kind need not be performed.
(c) Doc Hackenbush 2014

And, to demonstrate that, on occasion, stupid people can indeed study at the University of Oxford, (thankfully) former Tory MP Louise Mensch, who claims to be an “investigative journalist”, was clearly up for the attack, and the fullest possible display of stupidity.
Taking issue with Tim Montgomerie, whose idea of Christianity had far too much in the way of compassion for her liking, she observed “Forgot that here Tim not only praises 'migrants' scorning France, EU for England but applauds sex segregation. Ugh … .@GowTolson @montie thanks for picking up on this revoltingly unchristian sexual segregation which Christ never enforced on women. #feminism”.
Her latest source of information, Michael Gow Tolson, is a paid-up member of the UKIP lunatic fringe, something she has managed not to figure out. Instead, she dug herself in deeper: “in fact the entire thing looks faked. Why are women in a ‘Christian’ service not only all in headscarves but segregated? Can Tim Momtgomerie @montie and the BBC explain to me why they broadcast this attack on women?” Er, what?
It got worse: “It would appear the ‘congregation’ is Muslim, which accords to the demographics of the camp and Christian trappings are fakes … That means @montie @GowTolson that the BBC broadcast sheer political propaganda in the name of religion”. No, it means the BBC bothered to do their research - in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, men and women are routinely segregated, and women cover their hair.
Ms Mensch, of course, knows better: “Christians do not segregate sexes or ask women to veil hair. These are Muslims used for propaganda. What a huge catch by @GowTolson … these aren't ‘ethiopian orthodox' either, stop reaching. It's a sexist, segregated congregation and is not Christian”. Yes, UKIP fruitcakes are right, and the BBC is wrong.
And they weren’t fleeing anything! “Ethiopia is the economic powerhouse of Africa, experiencing growth. What war are Ethiopian Orthodox fleeing?” She then goes on to cite an Ethiopian propaganda site. Here is what Human Rights Watch has said recently: “Prior to the May 2015 elections, Ethiopia’s government silenced dissent. Authorities use arbitrary arrests and politically motivated prosecutions to silence journalists, bloggers, protesters, and perceived supporters of opposition political parties. Security forces respond to peaceful protests with excessive force, and detainees routinely allege torture and ill-treatment”. Can you hear an “investigative journalist” flushing her cred away?

The last word has to go to Montgomerie, who has for once summed up the situation rather well: “That doesn't make the Christians ‘fake’ as Mensch - the pound shop Ann Coulter - suggested” (Coulter is also seeing her stock fall). And don’t forget folks, they not only let her into Oxford, but allowed her to become a Tory MP.

10 comments:

Andy McDonald said...

Ah, but it's an economic powerhouse. Those are the best kinds of powerhouse.

A few people are getting rich, everyone's got access to satellite TV, and there's a media telling everyone to stop complaining and shut up, because everything's alright unless you're a weirdo or loser. In which case you probably deserve whatever the secret police are doing to you. Now, look at some tits.

asquith said...

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? [and hated darkies]? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity" said Jesus, who if he were here today would be one of the refugees (those who deny this say more about themselves than any religious question.

For that matter, "but every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven".

You don't have to like it (the Church of England doesn't), but you can't deny that Saint Paul commanded women to cover their heads and remain silent in church. Now I'm an agnostic. And my question is why people who come out with "Lord, Lord" don't deign to find out what is in their own bible. It isn't just "Thou shalt hate Muslims and not be gay", you know.

rob said...

Onward Louise Menschioners, marching as to war
With the stripe of Murdoch going on before
Onward then, good people, join her happy band
Fight the dreaded BBC else our profits down the pan

Rupe, the Supreme Leader, leads without any fear
Then up sprouts Lou, still speaking from her rear

Anonymous said...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_headcovering

Fishman Dave said...

It does seem strange that she conveniently ignores the fact Orthodox Jewish synagogues also insist on segregating men from women.

How unlike her

Andy McDonald said...

@Fisherman Dave:

Reminds me of a 'debate' I once got into with an EDLer. I asked him if he oculd see the parallels between Islamophobia today, and the anti-Semitism of 1930s Germany. The vilification, dehumanising and so on. Oh noes, he said, that wasn't true, and anti-Semitism was awful. Indeed it was, I said, but what was the difference? Ah well, he replied, Jews were white.

The sheer cunning and audacity of his argument left me literally at a loss for words.

Anonymous said...

Mensch an "investigate journalist"?

If so, so was Julius Streicher.

The woman's just another crackpot Sarah Palin. And just as thick.

asquith said...

I'm actually even more enraged than ever about this. A number of refugee-producing countries, Ethiopia included, have been majority-Christian for centuries, or were before the advent of Islam, at a time when my forefathers and the forefathers of most people reading this were sacrificing human beings to Wotan annd Thor.

But no, Damian Thompson and Louise Mensch deem them Muslim, so Muslim they must be!

Tim Fenton said...

@8

To be fair to Damian Thompson, he has not tried to suggest that those at the refugee camp church were other than Christian. The claim that they were Muslims was exclusively that of Ms Mensch.

hatty said...

Even if some or all were Muslim why would they not be welcomed to attend the service.
LM needs to check her facts about gender segregation in places of worship. LM is so disrespectful she would probably halt a Jewish funeral to demand all the women in the shul uncovered their heads and sat in mixed gender.

Some Christian groups (and many other religions) do loosely segregate and women do cover their heads. For some it is cultural rather than a religious rule. Some Catholic women wear a scarf to mass. The oh-so-feminist LM is really telling women what they can and can't wear?!