John Hayes: 'Respect for Islam'
Veil fight: Muslim schoolgirl Shabina Begum
Posted on 10/15/2007 2:10:26 AM PDT by Stoat
John Hayes: 'Respect for Islam'
Veil fight: Muslim schoolgirl Shabina Begum
A priest has been interviewed by police on suspicion of inciting racial hatred for expressing his Christian views in his parish newsletter.
Father John Hayes, 71, was quizzed for more than an hour after commenting on the case of a Muslim girl who went to court over her wish to wear a full veil in class.
A sergeant and community support officer turned up without warning at his presbytery after an allegation was made to a Scotland Yard 'hate crimes' unit.
The inquisition in Hornchurch, East London, prompted a furious row about policing priorities. In the past 12 months there have been five murders, 33 rapes, 424 robberies and 2,267 burglaries in the local police borough of Havering.
Yet, despite being accused of turning a blind eye to the inflammatory remarks of some Muslim preachers of hate, the Met still found time to quiz Mr Hayes.
Last night the priest said his 'offending' remarks had concerned Shabina Begum, who, represented by Cherie Blair QC, claimed unsuccessfully that it was her human right to be allowed to wear her jilbab, a loose gown, in class.
After hearing an interview with the girl, Mr Hayes suggested in his internet bulletin to his parishioners that it was never possible to convince anyone by argument in matters of religion.
"My point was that you have to demonstrate what it means to be Christian through your actions," he said.
"Apparently someone in my congregation was unhappy with my comments and, after waiting a year, went to the police to say he had been 'disturbed' by it."
A fortnight ago officers knocked on the door of his home next to St Mary's Church, Hornchurch. They said they had been sent by a superintendent.
"They said they had come to see if I had intended to incite racial hatred," the priest said. "I was pretty surprised. It seemed to me that political correctness had gone haywire in this situation.
"They were very polite and cordial, but I did say to them that surely they had better things to be doing with their time.
"We had a long, civilised discussion and I didn't give an inch.
"They seemed satisfied and when they eventually left the sergeant told me 'that's the end of the matter'. I felt the whole thing was a bit of a storm in a teacup."
He added: "I have the greatest respect for Islam. There are so many more similarities than differences in our religions that I feel it is a great pity we concentrate on the few things that divide us."
The decision to quiz Mr Hayes has infuriated many Met officers.
A source at the Metropolitan Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, said: "What happened is a gross error of judgment and possibly even an abuse of power.
"The senior officer who decided on this course of action should be called to account.
"It is yet another example of the political correctness which is blighting the Met. It is plain bonkers."
Mr Hayes, who became the priest at St Mary's 13 years ago, said one of his main aspirations was to bring people of different backgrounds together. On Saturday night he organised a 'One World' evening, where his congregation brought traditional cuisine from their country of origin.
He said: "You can talk about integration until you are blue in the face, but at the end of the day it's better to do this through actions - like getting people together over some food!"
“I’m always amazed at the power some people have.” I’m with you, it’s truly amazing. It’s like someone behind the curtain sprinkled the “power” dust on chosen groups of people such that for example, THEY get to decide who is and who is not a racist, or a homophope and now, an islamaphobe. We lose the freedom of even so much as defining who we are and what we are truly about along with the freedom to speak our truth and sadly I fear, we’ll lose the right to decide to whom we will and will not speak when told that failing to “engage” a Muslim or a person of another one of the chosen, in conversation is discriminatory. For my part? I’m running for the hills!
bump
Say goodbye to freedom of speech. It had a pretty good run. We’re returning to an aristocratic system of government, where everything will be mandated for us by a self-appointed elite.
Their own government may be the greater threat at this poibt..
Yet another reason for a Second Amendment.
For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away ...The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable. ...because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.
The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. ...
As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them.
Isaiah 3
You think? Divide Christian and Jewish heads from the rest of their bodies is concentrating on a 'few things'? Please go preach at Quaker, Amish, Mennonite and other pascifist meeting places and wait for the Muslims to join you in prayer.
We didn’t take up arms when they made killing babies legal. Now what are we to do that the very reason our forefathers travelled from the old world has come to our shores.
If a priest can't stand behind the critical differences, how can the rest of us withstand the drive to compromise?
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