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Melanie Phillips has for a few years now been writing in defence of ever more untenable positions, largely as far as I can tell because she seems to have no connection whatsoever to reality. Today's article is no different, in that where see shes outrage and Orwellian dystopia, I imagine the majority of people see decency and modernity.
Her article - titled: 'The Orwellian logic that's turning the faith Britain was built on into a crime' - is attempting to be a defence of Christianity, but in reality it is a defence of intolerance and hatred, the very things that Melanie argues are causing the destruction of Christianity in Britain. It is a favourite theme of Melanie's and today's example is particularly unpleasant:
Terrifying as this may seem, the attempt to stamp out Christianity in Britain appears to be gathering pace.
Dale McAlpine was preaching to shoppers in Workington, Cumbria, that homosexuality is a sin when he found himself carted off by the police, locked up in a cell for seven hours and charged with using abusive or insulting words or behaviour.
It appears that two police community support officers - at least one of whom was gay - claimed he had caused distress to themselves and members of the public.
Under our anti-discrimination laws, such distress is not to be permitted.
I find it pretty incredible that anyone would want to openly defend a preacher raving about the evils of homosexuality in public. I really cannot understand how anyone could think that this is a good thing. Yet Melanie wants to defend the right of this preacher to shout out his beliefs based on a constantly evolving book of dubious origins and irrelevant messages. But she does, and it wouldn't surprise me if Melanie was still keen on burning people who suggest that the world is round and revolves around the sun. She really is that backward.
She drivels on about 'intolerance' in an attempt to allow this christian preacher to preach intolerance, yet she doesn't seem to realise what the real intolerance is. However, if my previous post highlighted the dumbest kind of person that posts comments on the Daily Mail website, then let me redress the balance by posting something really quite wonderful that I read underneath Melanie's article:
I really cannot add anything further to that, accept to say that is something that the utterly insane Melanie Phillips will never understand and that this comment received over 100 negative ratings.
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An impressive achievement, given Christine Odone's recent contributions to the Telegraph.
However, the comparison of inhaling carcinogenic chemicals to hearing views you disagree with is invidious. Hearing views you disagree with doesn't necessarily harm anyone ('upset' is not harm), providing that it is short of inciting violence or riots in a fairly direct way. Having a restricted set of "acceptable" views that can be voiced is ineffective and illiberal. In fact, it just supports the idea that the other views are somehow powerful or profound. Sunlight is a good disinfectant for foolishness.
So I would not, at all, in any way support this preacher's medieval worldview, but I would defend his right to voice his shitty viewpoint in what is supposed to be a free country. I realise I have just agreed with Melanie Phillips and am off to drink heavily.
To present this as a fundamental Christian belief is thus utterly absurd, even by Melanie's less than rigorous standards