Dr Stephen Leah & The Anti-Israel Methodists
I’m glad to report that Joseph over at Seismic Shock has put together a post in response to the recent anti-Israeli overtures, emanating from the UK Methodist Church currently.
For background reading see this post from yesterday:
eChurch – Methodists set to clash with Jewish community in UK
Here is Joseph’s blog post in full:
Dr Stephen Leah & The Anti-Israel Methodists
The Jewish Chronicle reports:
Jewish leaders have condemned a “skewed” report on Israel prepared by the Methodist Church, warning it could set back interfaith relations for years.
The report, which is to be debated at the church’s national conference later this month, calls for a boycott of goods from “illegal” West Bank settlements, and political lobbying to end Israel’s occupation and the “siege of Gaza”.
[...]
The report also asks the church to examine whether Zionism, and in particular Christian Zionism, is compatible with Methodist beliefs.
This Methodist report was inevitably leading towards an interfaith crisis, given that one of the members of the Methodist Church’s Israel Palestine Working Group is Stephen Leah, a Methodist vicar in charge of the York PSG. He was also the seconder of the motion for Methodists to examine Zionists more closely, the proposer of the motion being Rev Nichola Jones of Friends of Sabeel UK. As such, Leah’s political positioning merits closer attention.
In April, Leah boasted to ICAHD-UK:
I am a Methodist preacher I’m also the chair of the York PSC. I personally would like to have divestment going a little bit further into the full boycott of Israel, but I know how much I can get away with in the churches sometimes. [...] Churches are paranoid about being critical of Israel sometimes, they want to be balanced all the time, we must put pressure on church leaders.
So Leah’s document calls for a boycott of Israeli goods which affect Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, but this is merely a pit-stop for Leah in his quest for a full-scale boycott of Israel proper.
Indeed, The Methodist document driven by Leah promotes the writings of the Christian Far Right author Stephen Sizer, who has many known links to Holocaust-deniers.
Sadly Dr Leah is pushing the Methodist Church into a reactionary political position that betrays the ethos and ethics of the Church.
Tags: Church Life, Israel
June 20th, 2010 at 7:01 am
The Church invited these practitioners of evil in it must now exorcise them from the Church.
Looks like the Church is so busy speaking the language of frogs and burning Israeli flags it is doubtful that there is ever any time for worship.
Maybe time for a new Church.
June 20th, 2010 at 7:05 am
@Goy, I too am deeply disturbed by all of this….
June 20th, 2010 at 7:25 am
If you think this is disturbing check out the war babble from Iran, Syria and Turkey.
These dumb people only add fuel to the fire, in the event they will be found to be culpable – I do not think any Church in this case the UK Methodist Church will survive the backlash that would follow.
June 20th, 2010 at 7:32 am
@Goy, I don’t know if they are so dumb, as they seem to be able to impose their will and ideology on the [church] masses….they’re positively dangerous and in their actions have the potential to pose an existential threat to Israel…
‘Liberal Protestant churches pose growing threat to Israel’ – Rabbi Abraham Cooper says some theologians “are seeking to destroy Israel from Above.”
June 20th, 2010 at 7:33 am
Maybe the chattering classes chant “viva palestina” along with the BBC but a majority of the British people will stand with Israel at the end of the day.
June 20th, 2010 at 7:35 am
….but a majority of the British people will stand with Israel at the end of the day.
Hope you’re right Goy, I really do…
June 20th, 2010 at 7:43 am
Please enlighten me on my ‘many known links with Holocaust-deniers”. This is libelous. I repudiate Holocaust denial. http://stephensizer.blogspot.com/2009/06/holocaust-denial.html
June 20th, 2010 at 7:49 am
@Webmaster,
Dumb question but I will ask anyway who are the [church] masses and how do you reach them?
June 20th, 2010 at 7:58 am
@Goy, I think that the general church populace of say the Methodists, would be largely unaware if issues like this.
Skillful and corrupt men seem to gain access to the hierarchy, and argue forecfully in the drafting of important documents which deal with official church stances.
I’ve now witnessed this is in the UK Anglican and Methodist churches.
Even “conservative” elements within the church hierarchy, which you may assume would take a more positive stance on Israel, (by this I don’t mean a blank cheque approach to Israel, but at least balanced and not veering into extremist polemics) have been swayed by these men.
The church masses continue in blissful ignorance of these moves….
June 20th, 2010 at 8:04 am
I have just been made aware of this from Premier Radio, I haven’t got time to listen to it at the mo…
CCJ President David Gifford and anti-Zionist Methodist minister Graham Carter interviewed on Premier Christian Radio:
Premier Radio – Methodist proposal to boycott Occupied Territory goods
June 20th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
Speaking to Premier Reverend Graham Carter from the Methodist Church: – “establish there something of the expression of the kingdom of God”
Presumably establish Graham Carter’s kingdom of G*d in modern day Israel with him cast in the role of G*d, this is tantamount to the Methodist church declaring jihad and calling for a pogrom against the Jews of Israel. He is (swear word delated) MAD watched to many Ridely Scott movies.
I say feed him to HAMAS.
June 20th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
June 20th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
June 20th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
@Webmaster,
This is a big part of the moral insanity phenomenon I mentioned at the Question of the Day: What is Wrong with the World Today? post and what Fr. Robert termed “apostacy”.
June 24th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Please see the document issued in response to this ‘report’ and make as many people aware of it as possible:
http://www.boardofdeputies.org.uk/file/JusticeForPalestineAndIsraelResponse.pdf
June 24th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
@Mark, thank you for alerting us to this document.
Have blogged it here….
The Board of Deputies of British Jews respond to Methodist Conference paper entitled; Justice for Palestine and Israel
June 25th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
@ Stephen Sizer, firstly my apologies for the fact that your comment wasn’t published, I have just dicovered that my spam system has been auto trashing commenters as spam, without even notifying me. It actually did the same to me.
Anyway, wanted to let you know that, so that you don’t feel I’m censoring, as I simply don’t play that game as everyone should have a fair hearing here.
In terms of the point you raise, obviously Joseph is in no way alluding to you being a holocaust denier, but the fact that you brush shoulders with folk who may well do so.
I’ll alert Joseph to you comment to see if he would like to comment in response to you himself.
June 25th, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Hi Stephen,
You wrote:
Please enlighten me on my ‘many known links with Holocaust-deniers”.
With pleasure.
First off, you sent this message from notorious Holocaust denier Michael A. Hoffman II. You also forwarded this email from notorious Holocaust denier Dale Crowley – as it turns out you also cited him in your PhD thesis, and indeed on Press TV – who themselves are hardly to be trusted on the subject of Holocaust denial.
Then you appeared at a conference and shared a platform with the notorious Holocaust denier Fred Tobin. Perhaps that could have been avoided if you hadn’t become quite so close to the NEDA Institute in Iran, who happily promote the notorious Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson. Indeed, you yourself have taken considerable time defending the political views of the world’s most famous Holocaust denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Furthermore, you have gladly spoken alongside the Neturei Karta, a group of radical haredim who participated in Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust-questioning conference.
It is a good thing that you are not a Holocaust denier, and indeed I have corrected bloggers who have assumed you to be one – for whichever reason.
Of course, these associations do not make you a Holocaust denier. However, a man is judged by the company he keeps. Therefore I would suggest you put even further distance between yourselves and these various Holocaust deniers by:
1) Accepting the facts and not trying to silence your critics.
2) Publicly disassociating yourselves from all of the above deniers.
3) Withdrawing your PhD due to its citation of Holocaust denier Dale Crowley.
4) Not comparing your meeting with terror-supporters to Jesus meeting with tax-collectors and sinners.
These are just some friendly suggestions.
Blessings,
Joseph W
June 25th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
Sounds like Stephen Sizer is itching to get the police out of his pocket again or maybe he will send some solicitor friends around to visit Joseph next time he writes something the vicar doesn’t like?
June 25th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Well, I had some cowboy window cleaners who came round to the house earlier, started cleaning the windows when I had all the windows open and managed to get water *inside* my house, then knocked on my door and asked me to shut the windows!
Maybe Stephen sent them too?
June 26th, 2010 at 12:39 am
@ Joseph W
To me there seems to be confusion between being against some of things done by the State of Israel, and being “against Jews”.
They are surely not the same thing. Indeed, there are Jews in Israel who do not approve of what their government does in their name.
And since when was the “holocaust denier” epithet relevant to this argument? You may not agree with Stephen Sizer’s conclusions, but to ask him to withdraw a PhD thesis because he quotes particular individuals is ridiculous. Most PhD theses would never see the light of day if we all took that kind of view.
I cannot testify to the veracity of any of your other accusations against Sizer, but having read hs blog and others to which you refer, I come away with the impression that you find what you want to find, rather than what is intended.
Instead of trying yourself to suppress views which conflict with your own, why not try to counter them with the force of your own well reasoned arguments based on fact? It may be that you have already done this. Perhaps you could reference relevant material?
June 26th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
Jim – of course, but we’re not talking about Israel in this moment, we’re talking about Stephen Sizer’s reliability as an expert on Jews and Christian theology.
Christians have a responsibility to tell the truth. Promoting or sharing platforms with Holocaust deniers is not a good way to promote the truth.
That Sizer should mix in any way with Holocaust deniers is extremely concerning, as Sizer does not merely offer a political opinion about the actions of the modern state of Israel, but indeed etches out a theological position about God’s relationship with the Jewish people, and in turn the Jewish relationship with the land of Israel.
Sizer’s politics are a consequence of his theology, yet in his theological works he recommends the likes of Crowley, and in other correspondence he recommends Pike, Lendman, Rense and Hoffman.
For these reasons and more, it is very concerning that the Methodist Church wants to introduce Sizer’s worldview into its ranks whilst excluding Zionist Christian opinions.
June 26th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
So is it that I am to understand that Stephen Sizer is not a defender of free speech other than his own and will call for police action and gagging orders when academically challenged, would have great difficulty taken anybody who resorts to such actions seriously.
June 26th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Joseph,
Don’t forget Stephen Sizer has recently cited the known antisemite Stephen Lendman, despite having been made aware by another Christian leader, that Lendman is a known antisemite. In other words, Sizer willingly, knowingly and repeatedly cites known antisemites in his writings. Jim and others, I would suggest you can draw your own conclusions from this.
See http://fromthetopcom.blogspot.com/2010/06/appeasement-in-our-time.html
June 26th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
As an evangelical Anglican church, we belong to the Diocese of Guildford within the Church of England …
I call on who ever happens to be in authority or has any kind of control within the CoE to kick this man out and others like him.
June 26th, 2010 at 11:04 pm
@ Joseph W
Actually it seems to me that Stephen Sizer IS talking about Israel, rather than Jews and Christians.
If the Methodist Church does indeed exclude Zionist Christian opinions then is that Sizer’s fault?
And let’s presume for the sake of argument that he was to have sympathies with Holocaust Deniers (which I very strongly doubt) – This paper has nothing whtever to do with that. It is not directly relevant to this argument.
From your posts I deduce that you have a visceral dislike of anyone who criticises Israel, for whatever reason. Although he does not declare it in quite the same way it is equally apparent that Stephen Sizer feels more sympathy with the opposition.
Neither side is all right or all wrong. There are good and bad things that can be said about both.
Surely the best way to counter what you see as inaccurate or partial is best countered by reasoned argument, rather than name calling and irrelevant slurs.
@ Goy
On what reasonable grounds would you have Stephen Sizer removed from office? He speaks of injustice or intolerance that he has witnessed, and this informs his view. he does not deny that there are those on the other side of the conflict who do wrong.
June 26th, 2010 at 11:16 pm
Briefly, Jim: nothing wrong with Sizer or anyone else being critical of Israel, a country whose leaders often get things (badly) wrong. There is a great deal wrong with someone who approvingly cites Holocaust deniers in order to support an anti-Israel position, or who circulates material written by Holocaust Deniers to others. Sizer has introduced such sources into Christian discourse, and in my view that is a deep deep stain on the name of Jesus.
June 27th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
@Jim,
Anyone in there right mind knows a class A political actavists and propagandist when they see one. The “criticisms” of the sovereign State of Israel are in fact part of an orchestrated campaign of psychological warfare being waged against Israel, in my book anyone who indulges in this strategy of warfare is a combatant make no mistake on that point.
Were the various “Lord Haw-Haws” and “Sinister Sams”, expressing banal criticism or were the key components of the NAZI war machine?
The church is in danger of standing in the dock charged with being complicit in waging war against a sovereign state and its people.
June 27th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
But Goy, since when in the Christian Church was political activism or indulging in propaganda on behalf of a group that the author felt (rightly or wrongly) were being oppressed, grounds for sacking from his ministry? Would you have had removed from office Trevor Huddleston, or John Sentamu, or Martin Luther King or many, many others?
Don’t Christian ministers have a right to express their views according to their sincerely held convictions. That’s what people do here on this blog. Some you agree with, some you don’t. But that’s ok. What’s not ok is to seek to silence a private individual who is exercising his freedom to express his views within the law. You may say that’s what he or others do, but that does not make it any more right.
As you’ll have noticed before, I have no time for sensationalist statements that do nothing to advance the argument. If people think that Stephen Sizer is wrong, then by all means express that in a considered and well argued response, as the Board of Deputies of British Jews have done.
June 27th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
@Jim,
This is not about seeking to silence a private individual who is exercising his freedom to express his views I have no problem with that as you know my support for the individuals right to free speech go well beyond your own in that I would remove all laws that inhibit such.
The question then becomes at what point does the individual through his exercise of the right of free speech then become an advocate, associate and action of a particuler political ideology. Do you not adjust your behavior in the real world to the mutterings of others, if HAMAS state their aim is the destruction of Israel would it not be national suicide to ignore their expression of freedom of speech.
In the real world there are words, lines in the sand and then actions. The church can not serve to masters, if the church action this report then I stand with Israel.
I have no time for sensationalist statements …
You obviously do not know what is going on in the Middle East or are feigning not to know, the war meddling by these false advocates could bring all our houses down I only wish that was a sensationalist statement.
June 28th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
Jim,
With all due respect, I ‘m not sure you’re getting the point here. The problem with Stephen SIzer is that he is NOT merely expressing political opinions or campaigning on behalf of the Palestinians (both of which he is of course entirely free to do), he is also using antisemitic terms and concepts in the process. I wrote about this in some detail at http://www.bmja.net/chai233.htm.
June 28th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Thanks James. I realise that I may be in a minority of one in this debate, and I am not a theology scholar.
But if having diligently read all the articles to which I have been directed I still think that there is room for doubt, perhaps either the anti-Sizer side is not getting it’s point across effectively, or the protests are overdone – and unintentionally help to boost Sizer’s views by giving them oxygen. I participate in this blog to learn, and I am happy to accept that I am wrong. I report as I see.
On a couple of specifics:
1. Zionists are not the only group who have been accused of collaborating with Nazis! Take for example the Roman Catholic Church!
2. Conspiracy theorists have accused many people of being complicit in the 9/11 attacks; most notably the US Government!
My point is that though these accusations are hurtful and create justified indignation, they are part of the baggage that goes with a high profile presence and in themselves are ridiculous.
I am unclear however what Sizer says which is clearly and specifically anti-Semitic rather than anti-Zionist/anti-Israel? I agree that there is a danger of conflating the two.
Maybe after all I’m not getting the point, but I am genuinely trying. I apologise if I’m just being thick!
July 2nd, 2010 at 2:11 pm
Jim,
I’ll come back to you on the points you mention – I appreciate that you’re here to learn and I’ll try to teach patiently!
1. The accusation that Zionists collaborated with the Nazis. This baseless slur would have it that Zionist leaders collaborated with the Nazis, turning a blind eye to the slaughter of millions of Jews, so that ultimately they could gain world sympathy for their project of getting a state in Palestine and/or extracting reparations from the Germans. Don’t you see how this accusation (which is factually baseless) inisinuates that Jewish leaders exploited their people’s greatest tragedy for their own ends, being greedy, heartless and manipulative – i.e. it is antisemitic to the core? Think about it: if you blamed the black community for slavery, how would they react?
2. The 9/11 conspiracy theory: the point is that accusing Israel/ Jews of complicity is a staple of neo-Nazi publications the world over. It adds nothing to Sizer’s argument at the point in his book where he cites it (if asnything he detracts from it). So why is he expressing a sentiment which comes straight from the far right, and is a modern equivalent of the medieval slur that the Jews were responsible for all the ills of the world?
See http://www.adl.org/anti_semitism/9-11conspiracytheories.pdf
If you have time, you could read this piece, which is very helpful in outlining the distinctions/elisions beyween anti-Zionism and antisemitism. Sizer gets a mention at p. 2:
http://www.z-word.com/on-zionism/antisemitism-and-anti-zionism/anti-zionism-and-antisemitism%253A-decoding-the-relationship.html
Hope that helps.
July 5th, 2010 at 3:26 am
Don’t be intimidated by him. Thank God Sizer speaks only for a bigoted few and most good people are sickened by his threats of intimidation.
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=11979
The Nazi’s had their versions of him, and of course they also tried the same tactics to silence those who disagreed with them.
This man is a disgrace to true Christians everywhere, just as Mel Gibson does not speak for Catholics, this man Sizer should be denouced by good people everywhere. I am ashamed the church hasn’t thrown him out and hope the day comes when it does. He is a monster plain and simple.
July 5th, 2010 at 11:00 am
Guys. Please let’s not let this get out of hand. I know that Stephen Sizer is a commtted Christian who is driven by conscience and the will to see justice done. He may hold views which do not agree with yours, and he may have quoted and stood on the same platform as some people who have said and done things which are arguably not correct and may be mischievous, but thatin no way indicates that he shares all their views, and your reaction is completely over the top. Do you really know him? Have you seen him in his day to day work in his parish? Have you spoken with his flock? You are attacking a chimera, not a real man.
One of the problems with the internet is that people are demonised with such ease. Frankly, to see some of the more sensational and
baseless accusations repeatedly made against Rev Sizer, I’m not really surprised that the Police became involved. It verges on harassment.
If you disagree with him then produce a well researched and balanced rebuttal for him to see. Simply bandying words like “holocaust denier” around does absolutely nothing but fuel a flame that should not have been lit. Let’s get back to sensible criticism, rather than mob rule baying for blood.
July 5th, 2010 at 11:36 am
@Jim
No one is doubting that Sizer is a Christian, but questioning some of his rather unwise past actions.
“he (Sizer)… stood on the same platform as some people who have said and done things which are arguably not correct and may be mischievous”
Do you think that is it wise to brand known terrorists organisations as being possibly mischievous?
Kyrie eleison
Kyrie eleison
Christe eleison
July 5th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Jim,
No-one has accused Sizer of denying the Holocaust. There is, however, plenty of evidence that he approvingly cites deniers, and other known anti-Semites in his writings, thus introducing racist sources and terminology into Christian discourse, which in my view is an abomination before God. He is still doing so, see http://fromthetopcom.blogspot.com/2010/06/appeasement-in-our-time.html which was posted earlier in the thread. Sizer has plenty of opportunity to respond to such posts but would apparently prefer to use the police to silence those who dare to challenge him.
July 6th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Islam, the Nazis and “palestinians”
Haj Amin al-Husseini, the most influential leader of Palestinian Arabs, lived in Germany during the Second World War. He met Hitler, Ribbentrop and other Nazi leaders on various occasions and attempted to coordinate Nazi and Arab policies in the Middle East.
Tell children the truth.
July 6th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Not sure there is any chance of an intellectually meaningful debate here, so I’ll withdraw from this thread.
July 6th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
Jim, if you want to make it “intellectually meaningful”, yu could try looking at the links and sources already posted above, and tell us why you do or (presumably) do not agree wuth them?
July 20th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
It looks to me that the church is being brought into disrepute by this band of people,who seem to look at the situation from only one side of the wall, the wall built to keep out the terrorist bombers. They are not taking into account why the Israeli position has to be so firm,anyone would do as they do when you get sick and tired of running scared of cowardly bombers sending missiles over to you for month after month, having bombs left in your high street to kill and maim innocent men women and children indiscriminately.why do the other muslim states not give real useful support to the palestinians,not weapons. it was the Israelis who try to make a homeland for the palestinians, not perfect i know but at least somewhere to prosper from,no other countries did that.if the Palestinians then made a peaceful start there i am sure they could have made the homes all over the area within Israel as well, but after they showed they could live in peace,which is all Israel wants..going back to the church.
there are many countries with so called disputed land, like the falklands,or Gibraltar and many many more ,i sighted those as there is no war going on there now.
I think if this church wants to become so political it should be brought to the notice of the charities committee and it could consider if to withdraw its charity status…..