Spot the difference?

George Hargreaves's Christian Party is slugging it out with the racist British National Party in the forthcoming European elections. As the election posters show, both claim to have Jesus on their side; however, the similarities run deeper. Both parties have virtually the same manifesto.

The BNP stands for:
•a commitment to the 'values of traditional Westernised Christianity';
•stopping the 'attack on the traditional family';
•abolishing 'all laws against discrimination in employment'.

The Christian Party stands for:
•a 'Christian Europe';
•reversing decisions which have 'undermined the family';
•opposing attempts to 'outlaw discrimination in the provision of goods, services and employment'.

Spot the difference? There isn't any!

As Harry's Place points out "If you’re a woman, a non-Christian or gay, Hargreaves and his loons are the BNP. On issues such as these, The Christian party and the BNP speak the same language. Which is convenient for them since they’re on the same page, singing from the same hymn-sheet."

Carry on camping!

An anti-gay political party contesting every UK seat in next month's European elections is being directly funded by royalties from Sinitta’s 1980s disco classic 'So Macho'.

George Hargreaves, head of The Christian Party, wrote the singles 'So Macho' and 'Cruising' for Sinitta. Hargreaves, a former public schoolboy whose family is from Trinidad and Tobago, still earns thousands of pounds each month in royalties from his hits.

"Cruising was even more of a gay anthem than So Macho," says Hargreaves proudly. "The gays bought it and it spent more time in the charts than any other record that year."

In the '80s Hargreaves worked as a DJ and shared a house in London with his gay songwriting partner. Hargreaves also wrote for Yazz and Five Star.

Having made millions from his success on the gay club scene, the pentecostal minister is having to deny accusations of double standards as he uses his fortune to fund a campaign berating homosexuals.

"This is not about gay rights, it's about gay wrongs," he told The Times. "It's not all homosexuals. Just the militant ones. There is a certain type who should stop criticising the church and get a life."

Among other policies, Hargreaves's party wants the Welsh flag to be changed.

"Wales is the only country in history to have a red dragon on its national flag," says Hargreaves.

"We will not allow this evil symbol of the devil to reign over Wales for another moment. This is nothing less than the sign of Satan, the devil, Lucifer that ancient serpent who deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden."

In February, in response to the atheist bus advertisements claiming there is no God, so enjoy yourself, Hargreaves launched a counter-campaign, 'There Definitely Is A God', which quickly became one of the UK's most criticised adverts of all time.

Despite his wealth, when he tried to unseat bisexual Member of Scottish Parliament Patrick Harvie in 2007, Hargreaves came fifth with a paltry 588 votes; his party gained only 1.4% of the vote.

Link: Atheist Bus Campaign

Greed TV News

The bible describes heaven as having many mansions; maybe God TV founders Wendy and Rory Alec are trying to create a little piece of heaven on earth as they buy themselves another mansion.

Thanks to Leaving Bethel for tipping us off on this one.

The co-founders of Greed TV have bought a 15-room historic mansion for themselves and their two kids — that's nearly four rooms each! They purchased the mansion (under the alias Rory and Wendy Stephen) to serve as 'one of their private residences'.

Earlier this month the pair sent out another begging email to their supporters saying: "Your online gift now can make the crucial difference for funding all our critical broadcast outreaches"; strangely enough, no mention was made of buying houses for the gruesome twosome.

Link: God TV — It's Missions Week... again!

Todd Bentley: Healer or heel?

You may remember that we reported on tattooed biker and evangelist Todd Bentley's extra-marital affair conducted at the height of the so-called 'Lakeland Outpouring' last summer. Broadcast globally on God TV, it should come as no surprise that it is now coming to light that the healing services were nothing of the sort.

In an article called 'Heal or heal?', World Magazine examines Bentley's claims of miraculous healings. Bentley's Fresh Fire Ministries provided the magazine with a list of 13 'verified' healings. When checked out, two of the people on the list had subsequently died of their illnesses, and the rest of the healings did not live up to serious scrutiny.

This backs up the results of a Western Standard investigation in 2001. "All that Fresh Fire Ministries was able to send me were a couple of vague notes" says reporter Rick Hiebert. "One was from a doctor that noted that his patient 'felt better', but nothing indicating that there was anything that would be visible to a third party."

Despite the fact that the Florida 'Outpouring' was an obvious charade, God TV, Bentley's 'exclusive broadcast partner', has defended its role in the deception, declaring "We are presently planning to broadcast other offshoots of Lakeland in both the United Kingdom and America."

For many, the Florida Outpouring banner sums it all up. 'Sow seed into revival' screams the headline. It's the same old cry — gives us your money!

When will Christians stop being so gullible?

Link: Todd Bentley marries woman he had extramarital affair with
Link: God TV — It's Missions Week... again!
Link: Heal or heel?
Link: I guess that if you die and go to heaven, that's a "healing" of sorts...

Christianity's own financial scandal

"At least when Bernie Madoff promised big returns he actually delivered (if only for a moment). When Joel Osteen, Ken Copeland, Paula White, or Benny Hinn take your money, you’ll never see it again (unless you happen to glimpse one of their private jets leaving a runway for Bermuda)."

That's the scathing insider view of the so-called 'prosperity gospel', where pentecostal Christians are promised that God will make them rich beyond their wildest dreams if they give their money to the preacher.

As other financial scams are being exposed, the prosperity gospel seems to go from strength to strength, with the preachers targeting the most vulnerable; last year’s Pew Foundation survey showed that pentecostal Christians have the lowest incomes and the least education of any Christian denomination.

"I hear the pastors declare that God will make everybody rich, if only they will throw what little they do have into the offering plate" says the anonymous insider. "My impoverished friends dance down the plush expensive carpet to the altar and pull out their dollar bills (not their food stamps and government checks, though they have those also) and cheerfully give. The pastor nods approvingly, his hands folded in prayer (a shiny Rolex on his wrist), his eyes misty."

The disillusioned insider continues "When a major tenet of your theology is that people who invest in your church will experience wealth, while the facts show that your congregants are among the poorest and most desperate in the country, you have just been exposed. Further, when the national economy is in shambles, it should be criminal to continue to avoid taxes as a charity, yet earn immense amounts of capital on the promise of a better future. In the business world we call it a scam. While high-level corruption and financial disarray are the soup du jour of recent weeks’ media cycles, this prominent and aberrant theology has been allowed to wreak destruction on a mass of people who are grasping at economic straws."

Meanwhile, God TV poster boy Benny Hinn is still at it. He's come up with a way to get you out of debt. Apparently God has told him to dedicate May 25 as debt cancellation day.

"It’s time to break free from the bondage you have been under" says the modern-day snake-oil salesman. "But it will take a sacrificial gift to trigger your debt cancellation harvest. Pray and give what God is directing you to give sacrificially. It’s time to say, 'My debt is cancelled!' In fact, I want you to write those words on a card or piece of paper and keep it in view. Then as an act of faith sow bountifully, knowing that God will give you a bountiful harvest."

Link: It's Mission Week... again!

Does it matter more if a priest cheats with man or woman?

Are there different degrees of significance when a priest breaks a vow of celibacy? That's the question being asked by USA Today.

In the latest scandal to hit the Catholic church, photos of Father Alberto Cutie were published in a tabloid showing him having a romantic seaside romp with a woman. Previously, Archbishop Rembert Weakland was forced to resign after it came to light that he paid $450,000 to a man he loved.

We have two cases here of breaking the celibacy vows: one cheating with men, another cheating with women.

Surely both are equivalent? Not if you're the Catholic church!

The church sees both as moral sins. However, homosexual behaviours are considered a break with natural law, because they "violate the true purpose of sexuality".

Despite this, the priesthood seems to have become a predominantly gay vocation. Estimates of gay priests in the U.S. vary from 25% to 50%.

Incidently, celibacy didn't become Church law until the Second Lateran Council in 1139AD, when every priest’s marriage was declared invalid and priests were ordered to separate from their wives. This was more about capitalism than spiritualism, since property that used to pass to the priest’s heirs became windfall church profits.

Link: The Pope and Gays

What's the deal with Christians and porn?

It appears that Christians are bigger consumers of porn than the rest of society.

Figures from the major credit card companies in the US show that most online porn is purchased in the bible belt states; bible belt residents also buy less online porn than other states on Sundays, presumably because they're in church.

Porn addiction among Christians is common. Gospel artist Kirk Franklin revealed the level of his addiction to Oprah. He says that he felt so much self-disgust over his porn collection that he drove far away to ditch it.

"I tried to go to sleep that night and it was literally like a drug calling me," he confessed. "About 3 or 4 in the morning, in my flip-flops and boxers, I got in my car and drove back to that dumpster and dug looking for my porn."

Christians aren't only big consumers of porn — it seems that some are also producers.

For three years now Mormon missionaries have been posing shirtless for their Men On A Mission calendar. The calendar not only cost the missionary behind the project his place in the Mormon Church, but it also cost him his degree at Mormon-owned Brigham Young University.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

A student is appealing his suspension from a Christian college for appearing in gay porn videos under the name Vincent DeSalvo. The student says he used his porn income to pay for his bible school. The college, which has a ban on "premarital sex, heterosexual or homosexual, or any other such conduct that violates historical Christian standards", was alerted when fellow students saw one of his videos online.

Though he admits that some of his rule violations were fairly clear, he doesn't feel like the school is demonstrating Christian values of love and forgiveness. The whole experience, he said, has caused him to re-examine his Christian beliefs.

The college has not revealed what actions, if any, it has taken against the porn watchers.

Link: Men on a Mission Calendar

'The militance of sodomy'

The religious right is clearly alarmed by what Joel Stockstill has dubbed the "militance of sodomy". According to Pastor Stockstill, homosexuality is "the quickest way to rouse the unquenchable anger and judgment of Almighty God".

Stockstill claims: "Throughout history we see 2 direct instances of total destruction from God toward cities that were overrun with homosexuality. Sodom and Gomorrah were so annihilated that nothing remains but the Dead Sea. Pompey was totally drowned in a sea of hot, molten lava because of the great stench of perversion that arose from the city in 90 AD."

Stockstill clearly has not read his bible. In Ezekiel 16:48-49 God explains that Sodom was destroyed because its citizens were "arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy." In reality, whether Sodom and Gomorrah even existed is disputed by archaeologists.

Presumably when he talks about 'Pompey', Stockstill is referring to Pompeii, famously destroyed by volcano in 79 AD. Again, there is no particular connection with homosexuality.

Self-proclaimed 'prophetic voice to this generation', Stockstill is typical of a whole group of Christian leaders who attempt to poison the minds of their followers against gay people by spreading myths and falsehoods.

"Today in our great nation that same foul spirit of Sodomy is growing in influence and leverage" says Stockstill in his latest blog post. "Day and night the workers of iniquity work to not only change the laws of our nation toward them but change the very minds of our people to accepting this unthinkable wickedness."

Stockstill is a prime example of why we need to push ahead with legislation that enshrines equal rights for same gender loving people.

Link: For The Bible Tells Me So

Ice cream habit

An advert for ice cream featuring a nun and a priest about to kiss is being investigated by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority after one complaint.

The poster, for Antonio Federici Gelato Italiano, features a glamorous nun in her habit and a priest wearing a cassock in a clinch with the tagline "kiss temptation".

The food magazine Delicious refused to run the advert and a complaint was made to the ASA on the grounds that it was demeaning to people who have chosen a religious vocation.

A spokesman for the ASA said it was investigating. If the commercial is found to be in breach of the advertising code, it could be banned.

The Committee of Advertising Practice rules on religious offence state "… linking sex or sexualised images with religion may cause particular offence; for example, despite the tolerance towards the depiction of men and women of the church, portraying nuns in a sexual manner is inappropriate".

Antonio Federici's creative director, Matt O'Connor, said: "This is a light-hearted portrayal celebrating the implied forbidden Italian temptations which Antonio Federici's Gelato Italiano represents. We don't accept that this beautiful piece of photography could cause offence to anyone except possibly to a tiny minority who might have an acute sensitivity to such matters."