The famous journalist is being replaced as Liberal Democrat Party’s MP candidate because he is “too Christian.”
by Massimo Introvigne
David Campanale is a former BBC journalist who won awards, inter alia for his coverage of the persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang—and a friend of “Bitter Winter.” He left the BBC and planned to run for MP for Sutton and Cheam for the Liberal Democrat Party, which in Britain is somewhere in the middle between Conservatives and Socialists. We were sorry to see such an important voice for freedom of religion leaving the BBC, but then pro-religious-liberty MPs are important too.
The problem is, Campanale may not run for the seat of Sutton and Cheam after all. He has been “deselected” by his party, not because he is not qualified for the position—the contrary is true—but because he is “too Christian.” So claims a complaint submitted to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) by other Liberal Democrats who disagree with their party’s choice. They claim that the party committed multiple “breaches of equality law” and its own constitution.
“The evidence,” they say, “depicts a supposedly liberal organisation allowing clear religious discrimination and hostility to thrive within its ranks. It suggests that Mr. Campanale was driven out from his democratically elected position not because of any objective failings or wrongdoing but because a vocal group within SBLD [Sutton Borough Liberal Democrats] refused to tolerate his Christian worldview.”
According to “The Daily Telegraph” the “vocal group” included “a number of LGBT activists” dissatisfied with Campanale’s pro-life and pro-family positions as a Christian.
Is there a right to disagree with Christian pro-life and pro-family positions? Undoubtedly. But it is an entirely different matter when somebody claims that these positions have no right to be represented in politics and in the Parliament, even when a candidate has been democratically selected. This does not appear to be very liberal, nor very democrat.
The Liberal Democrat Party told some media that the decision to “deselect” Campanale is under appeal. Perhaps some common sense will prevail. Yet, the current political and cultural climate confirms the wisdom of those who suggested that nothing is less common than common sense.
Massimo Introvigne (born June 14, 1955 in Rome) is an Italian sociologist of religions. He is the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), an international network of scholars who study new religious movements. Introvigne is the author of some 70 books and more than 100 articles in the field of sociology of religion. He was the main author of the Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia (Encyclopedia of Religions in Italy). He is a member of the editorial board for the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion and of the executive board of University of California Press’ Nova Religio. From January 5 to December 31, 2011, he has served as the “Representative on combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination, with a special focus on discrimination against Christians and members of other religions” of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). From 2012 to 2015 he served as chairperson of the Observatory of Religious Liberty, instituted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to monitor problems of religious liberty on a worldwide scale.
