[Update Jan 2013: Two articles worth adding to this: Protest planned outside St Neots cafe over “anti-gay comments” and Cafe closes again in wake of protests. Seems he was ignorant of his buddy Kiganda spearheading the Kill the Gays campaign. God moves in mysterious ways. Perhaps she, he or it intended this as a wake-up call?]
[Update Aug 2013: And also UK Christian coffee shop owner urges Uganda to pass ‘Kill the Gays’ bill and Why, oh why, are we being kept waiting for an explanation, Mr Shinners? Despite warnings, the Charity Commission of England & Wales have done absolutely nothing about him being director of a UK charity. Major abuse of public trust.]
On Saturday, there is a local protest in St Neots, UK, brought about by the actions of a British preacher named Paul Shinners.
[Update Aug 2013: And also UK Christian coffee shop owner urges Uganda to pass ‘Kill the Gays’ bill and Why, oh why, are we being kept waiting for an explanation, Mr Shinners? Despite warnings, the Charity Commission of England & Wales have done absolutely nothing about him being director of a UK charity. Major abuse of public trust.]
[Update July 2014: Busted. Paul Shinners caught on camera preaching hate in Uganda.]
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On Saturday, there is a local protest in St Neots, UK, brought about by the actions of a British preacher named Paul Shinners.
As you can see from the poster above, the guy associates with some very dodgy characters. The event was organised by the catchily-titled National Fellowship of Born Again Pentecostal Churches, Uganda (NFBPC).
The Provincial Overseer of the NFBPC is Bishop David Kiganda, the same David Kiganda who made a compelling New Year's speech:
“We ask Members of Parliament to stop wasting time debating the Bill but simply pass it to save school-going children, who are at risk of being recruited. Our leaders should desist from any act that would frustrate this proposed law...”
Paul Shinners fervently denies that he's homophobic himself, stating on his website:
The purpose of my visit on the 31st December 2012 to The 7th National Day of Prayer in Uganda was simply to preach the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which I did.
Yes, Shinners, you certainly did... to a stadium full of Bahati Bill supporters.
It would seem that Paul Shinners is either not entirely truthful, or extremely naive.
Either way, he is a concerning character. Ignorance isn't an excuse for headlining at a gig run by Kill the Gays campaigners.
As well as running the Cornerstone coffee shop in St. Neots (hence the protest there), he also runs a charity called Passion for Souls (UK charity #1131321) which, according to their Charity Commission statistics, had an income of over £39,000 in 2011.
If you'd like to follow this up further, please write to the Charity Commission of England & Wales, outlining your objections and asking them to revoke charitable status from his organisation, or tweet: @ChtyCommission
The principle is that the trustee of a registered charity in the UK, governed by the principles of public trust, should not be appearing at events in Uganda run by David Kiganda. When you make the decision to spend money getting on a plane to preach at such a volatile conference, ignoring all political and media warnings to the contrary, you no longer deserve charitable status. If you want to do so, do it on your own money, not money raised (and tax exempt) through pretending to serve a humanitarian cause.
ReplyDeleteHe claims not to be homophobic - which is fine. This isn't an attempt to prove he is. What it is, is an attempt to prove he's acting in such a way that brings public trust in charities into disrepute, considered a serious issue by the Charity Commission who govern the conduct of such organisations.
Using the charities commission weblink you have included in your blog, it’s clear that the accounts were submitted 56 days later than the deadline of 31st January 2012, but have been submitted
ReplyDeleteThe next accounts are not due for submission until 31st January 2013 so are not “well overdue”, or in fact overdue at all.
Get your facts right, stop the ridiculous hatred to this chap, and concentrate on gay rights, not a witch hunt.
This kind of miss-reporting is slanderous and reduces your credibility to less than zero.
Thanks for pointing out the financial inaccuracy. That's been amended. But the fact remains, he's heading a UK charity whilst appearing on a line-up in Uganda organised by one of the country's leading hate preachers.
ReplyDeleteNot a charitable use of money.
Of all the Christian conferences in all the world that he could have attended, he chose to attend that one. He didn't have to, but he did. Either he has no awareness of what's going on in the country (a bad sign in itself) or he agrees with their ethos and wanted to support those people in particular.
If it were a politician attending a BNP rally, we'd report that too.
I live in St. Neots where Paul Shinners runs his cafe/bookstore please read http://time4change2013.blogspot.co.uk/ for more details...
ReplyDeleteThanks
DB
PROOF SHINNERS IS PART OF A FUNDAMENTALIST CULT!!! http://time4change2013.blogspot.co.uk/ ... BLOG UPDATE!
ReplyDeletehttp://time4change2013.blogspot.co.uk/ blog update... More lies and misdirection!!!
ReplyDeleteYes it does
ReplyDeletePlease sign and share... http://chn.ge/1nqA1zV
ReplyDeletePlease sign and share the petition to have UK based Paul Shinners' charity status revoked!! He spoke in favour of Uganda's anti-gay bill while it still included the DEATH PENALTY!!! For more info please read the following blog...
http://stopugandanantihomosexualitybill.blogspot.co.uk/