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The Wrath Of God
They see themselves as defenders of the faith, Christian sanity’s last line of defence against the ruthlessly advancing forces of immorality and decline. The fire in their bellies burning with the white heat of righteous outrage, these new soldiers of the cross are taking their fight on to the streets, and this time they vow that it will be no war of words: just a bitter moral conflict in which there will be no hiding places and no choice but to take sides.

Firing the opening salvoes of a campaign that looks set to rage for decades to come, last week they launched an attack that took Britain by surprise when the evangelical cadre Christian Voice stepped in and, demonstrating the militant guerrilla tactics set to become a familiar feature of 21st-century politics, pressured a small Scottish cancer charity, Maggie’s Centre, into rejecting a £3000 donation. The proceeds of a benefit performance by the cast of the controversial mus ical Jerry Springer – The Opera could have had a significant impact upon the work of Maggie’s Centre, but amid reported warnings of picket action and the thinly veiled threat that accepting the funds could lead to a backlash from devout donors, the Glasgow-based voluntary organisation felt compelled to decline.

It was, Labour MP John Cryer told parliament, the work of “fundamentalist thugs,” an act of theological blackmail so far beyond the pale that it beggared belief. Sending a storm of liberal outrage sweeping through the nation’s media and provoking a deluge of hate mail directed at the perpetrators, it was an incident that the popular consensus might hope was a single unacceptable aberration but was in fact merely a taste of things to come.

“This was not democracy or reasoned debate – it was an act of tyranny, a breathtaking demonstration of the power of the mob and a harsh introduction to the unacceptable face of things to come,” said Paul Edwards, a media analyst whose company Publicis is conducting research into the rise of protest culture. “The Christian assault on Maggie’s Centre was only a taste of the future,” he added. “We are entering a new age of protest, and before long every organisation, charity and business in Britain is going to have to come terms with the threat posed by the emerging militant ranks.”...

...“All that happened here was that we explained that the Maggie’s Centres were at grave risk of alienating Christian donors by accepting money that had been raised from a performance of filth and blasphemy, especially in a Scottish homeland where faith in God is still very strong. You might call that intimidation – I call it my Christian duty.”...

...“We want to see a return to a society governed not merely by the laws of man but also by the word of God,” said Suit. “In America they have always had the advantage of the bible belt’s ability to exert a strong moral influence over national affairs, and we would certainly like to see something similar in Britain to provide the country with the guidance it so desperately needs.”...