Methodist preacher David Hallam to sue his own church over claim of discrimination against Israeli Jews
Gosh this is no small development.
Background information and previous posts relating to the decision earlier this year by the Methodist church to partially boycott Israel can be found here.
I was alerted of this development by Daphne Anson:
The legal dispute has been prompted by a controversial resolution passed at the Methodist Conference which called for a boycott of some Israeli goods.
If the legal action is successful, it would likely bring to an end all similar campaigns that boycott Israeli goods and services.
David Hallam, who preaches in Methodist churches around Birmingham, has accused his own church of wasting funds to pursue a vendetta against Israel. There are no Methodist churches in either Israel or the Occupied Territories.
Mr Hallam, 62, a former labour MEP, said: “What I object to is money which I am putting on the collection plate on a Sunday being used to fund a political campaign against the Jewish state. This is both discriminatory and a misuse of a charity’s funds.
“The Methodist Church seems to think it has a God given right to tell Jews how to run their affairs. It is very disturbing we are getting involved in a territory where we don’t have any members or churches.”
Interestingly Mr Hallam has hired Barrister Paul Diamond, of whom we are not unfamiliar!
Tags: Church Life, Israel, Law Moral Ethical
October 11th, 2010 at 11:27 am
[...] is a cross-post by Methodist Preacher and a follow up to this recent post. There is growing interest in the discrimination case soon to be launched to rescue the reputation [...]