An organised clap for the late Captain Sir Tom Moore, a 100-year-old Second World War veteran who raised tens of millions for charity, was denounced as “a cult of White British Nationalism” by a Black Lives Matter supporting Church of England cleric.
The centenarian, who became something of a pandemic celebrity after taking his Zimmer frame to raise £1,000 for a National Health Service (NHS) affiliated charity ahead of his 100th birthday, walking lengths of his garden. In fact, after his attempt received widespread media attention he wound up raising well over £30 million.
The former British Army officer became a household name, and was promoted to an honourary colonelship and knighted by the Queen for his efforts — but recently passed away, having contracted the Chinese virus.
The news was widely reported and well-wishers arranged a national clap in commemoration — but not everyone was on board with the idea, with Church of England cleric Reverend Jarel Robinson-Brown, who goes by ‘Black Prophetic Fire’ on social media, declaring in no uncertain terms that “the cult of Captain Tom is a cult of White British Nationalism”.
The Reverend, a former Methodist and self-described “liberation theologian” who has a book titled Black, Gay, British, Christian, Queer coming out this summer, has now deleted the tweet, a subsequent apology, and his entire Twitter account — but not before social media users uncovered a trove of similarly political and perhaps somewhat less than Christian postings.
These included posts abusing the Conservative business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng in Ghanaian, an offering of Sunday blessings to “everyone except Boris [Johnson], [Home Secretary] Priti [Patel] and all other oppressors”, and a bio containing the threatening words “Justice, Freedom, Liberation, Equality: By Any Means Necessary“.
“Priests have a responsibility to create unity, not sow division,” commented Calvin Robinson, a black conservative commentator and fellow Christian.
“When did Critical Race Theory and identity politics replace the Good News?” he asked. “Why do we have priests promoting Black Lives Matter, a violent, toxic, divisive movement?”
“These appalling comments attacking the Clap for Captain Tom as ‘white nationalism’ show why the Church of England is collapsing,” concurred Brexit campaigner and Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage.
“Time to show some leadership [Archbishop Justin Welby],” he added, tagging the Church of England’s studiously “woke” top cleric.
The Diocese of London has announced an investigation into Reverend Jarel Robinson-Brown, but may have begun to set the stage for turning the curate into the victim in the situation by referencing “racist abuse” he is allegedly receiving, like many of his defenders.
A petition calling on the Church to remove him from his post had close to 15,000 signatures as of the time of publication.
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