| BEWARE THE NEW AXIS OF EVANGELICALS AND ISLAMISTS by Melanie Phillips, The Spectator, March 7, 2009 |
| Melanie Phillips says there is a dangerous new alliance between anti-Israel Christians and radical Muslim groups, often plotting in secret against their common enemy. Last weekend the Revd Stephen Sizer, vicar of Christ Church, Virginia Water appeared at an anti-Israel meeting with an Islamic called Ismail Patel. Patel has not only accused Israel of 'genocide' and 'war crimes' but considers Disney to be a Jewish plot and supports Hamas, Iran and Syria. Sizer is a virulent opponent of Christian Zionism and of Israel, which he has said he hopes will disappear just as did the apartheid regime in South Africa. He has also applauded Iranian President Ahmadinejad for having 'looked forward to the day when Zionism ceased to exist'. Nevertheless, the appearance of an Anglican churchman on a pro-Islamic platform in Britain is a new and significant development. The Church of England resently banned its clergy from joining the BNP, should it not equally ban them from siding with the forces of Islamofacism? Sizer's participation, however must be seen in the context of a disturbing realignment in the services of the forces of darkness against the free world: The emergence of an axis between a body of evangelicals, the hard left, the Islamics - and the far right. Last July, a discreet meeting was held by a group of influencial Anglican evangelicals to co-ordinate a new church approach toward Islam. The meeting was convened by Bryan Knell head of the missionary organization Global Connection, and others from a group calling itself Christian Responses to Islam in Britain. The 22 participants who met at All Nations Christian College in Ware, Hertfordshire, were sworn to secrecy. The aim of the meeting was to develop the 'grace approach to Islam', which 'tries to let Muslims interpret Islam rather than telling them what their religion teaches'. The meeting had in its sites those 'aggressive' Christians who were 'increasing the level of fear' in many others by talking about the threat posed by radical Islam. |