I blogged a couple of days ago about folks who are quite happy to look you in the eye and lie for the sake of a belief. My point then was to ponder why they do this. I also illustrated it with the story of a London Mosque that affirmed they would never ever allow Homophobic preachers through their door again … then invited one to come a week later.
The journalist on the story, Andrew Gilligan, has since then been writing more about it. He notes …
Being lied about by liars is an occupational hazard of my job – but even by its own Olympian standards of untruthfulness, the East London Mosque’s latest justification for hosting its latest extremist and homophobic bigot is a classic.
Less than a month ago, after a row over its repeated hosting of homophobic preachers, the mosque promised: “Any speaker who is believed to have said something homophobic will not be allowed to use our premises.” Alas, precisely eight days after issuing this ringing pledge, it was announced that the East London Mosque would host a public meeting – not just on its premises, but chaired by its own director – with one Yusuf Patel, a man who most certainly has “said something homophobic.”
In fact, Patel has said lots of homophobic things. Here he is, for instance (at an earlier meeting at the, ahem, East London Mosque) saying that homosexuality is “not an acceptable lifestyle” and a “sin against Allah.”
OK, so I just have to ask, how the heck do they justify announcing, “no more homophobic preachers”, then invite one 8 days later, especially now that it is in the public spotlight. Well, apparently the “excuse” is that the topic being discussed is sex education in schools, oh and they have also invited another loon to stand with Patel, a Christian anti-abortionist, so that makes it all OK.
So there you have it then, simply pretend you will not be “officially” talking anti-gay rhetoric, and hide under the guise of having other loons with you. So, if we use that logic (yes sorry, thats an abuse of the word “logic”) then does this work for you:
- We invite the Ku Klux Klan to come give a talk about jam making and since they will be sharing the stage with David (the royals are really lizards) Icke that makes it all acceptable … yes? … er no.
They have even more excuses to offer. Apparently Patel is no longer a member of the the extremist group Hizb ut Tahrir. Andrew quite rightly confirms that is in fact correct, he really has left or been booted out. He also then explains why – apparently the extremist group Hizb ut Tahrir, was not extreme enough for Patel, he is even more extreme than they are.
If interested in the full article by Andrew Gilligan today, you can find it here. He finishes by writing …
it is long past time – for the East London Mosque to decide whether it actually wants to join tolerant, 21st-century multicultural London, or just carry on pretending that it has done so.
If I was a betting man, I’d put my money on the “pretending” option as the most viable outcome here. Belief, when exposed as irrational and immoral, tends not to actually change, but instead digs in and goes into chameleon mode.
Finally, I applaud Andrew Gilligan for keeping a very public spotlight on them, and refusing to allow them to squirm and wriggle their way out by playing word games.