This is a guest post by Seismic Shock
The BNP’s Robert West runs the Christian Council of Britain, which appears to be a Protestant group. Recently Rev West and the BNP have tried a new tactic to win votes in Norfolk:interrupting a service at St. Faith’s Church.
According to the BNP’s Dave Fleming:
“The Church in general is drifting away from Christianity…and the service at St Faith’s was amateur theatre and lacklustre. We sang some nice hymns, but rousing hymns are not enough to electrify the service. The scripture has to be illustrated and has to come from the heart. The Holy Spirit must move within the congregation. I did not feel any of that in church.”
The BNP is trying to win votes for the upcoming Euro elections amongst British Christians, and has tried to play off anti-Catholic attitudes. The BNP’s Colin Farquhar has previously suggested that the EU is a Catholic plot to destroy the British and Protestant faith, whilst claiming that the Archbishop of Canterbury is merely an ‘agent of Rome’, and saying of ecumenism:
“In my youth .. union with other denominations was inconceivable … Yet the process of ecumenism is centuries old and no surprise to the Roman church, for this baby was conceived in the Vatican. It is part of the Jesuit Counter-Reformation plot to cause the downfall of the Protestant church and to bring the whole world under the domain of the Pope. For the Reformation was such a deadly blow to the apostate ‘Mother Church’ of Rome”
So let’s say there was a political party in Europe, claiming to represent strong Catholic values, that intimidated its nations’ Protestants? What would you imagine the reaction of the BNP to be? Outrage? Protests? A strongly worded statement?
Surely the BNP wouldn’t want to be associated with such people?
Yet the BNP does have ties to the Italian neo-fascist movement Forza Nuova, which was founded by Roberto Fiore. Fiore was a suspect in the Bologna Massacre and was involved in theTerza Posizione Movement. He was also instrumental in setting up the International Third Position alongside Nick Griffin, and runs a language school with links to Griffin’s parents. Fiore also introduced Christian Identity to the British Far Right.
The BNP is portraying itself as a party which represents Protestant British values. Yet the BNP is associated with Italian anti-Protestants. Consider Forza Nuova’s calls for “Waldensians to the stake!” in Rome in 2007.
The Waldensians are members of a religious Protestant movement that has been in Italy since the late twelfth century. Forza Nuova thus not only shamefully intimidate other ethnic and cultural groups such as Gypsies within Italy, but also other Italian religious minorities. And Forza Nuova’s own religious identity is pretty worrying.
Giulio Tam is a fascist lefebvriano priest. Tam praises the Reconquest of Spain, warns of an ‘extraordinary biological explosion’ in Italy, and argues for a stronger Catholicism to combat liberal secularism and Muslims. Giulio Tam has previously held masses by Mussolini’s grave.
He too is a member of Forza Nuova, and recently attended an international fascist rally in Milan:
And here is the BNP’s Simon Darby at the same rally alongside Roberto Fiore:
So what’s going on here?
Let’s take the BNP’s idea for second that it represents Protestant values. Surely most British Protestants, whom the BNP claim to represent, are not happy that the BNP has links to violent anti-Protestants. Does this not concern the BNP’s vicar Rev Robert West, who runs the Christian Council of Britain?
Also, the similarities between symbols used by Forza Nuova and the Christian Council of Britain might bother a few people:
