I found website run by the Free Presbyterians, and I have to say some of these guys sound downright scary. Scary in the sense that people must be going to listen to these men preach, and in considerable numbers, because they seem to have congregations all over the UK and abroad.
I thought that nonsense about the wine at Cana being grape juice was limited to some hardlined American sects.
What is the deal with this denomination, and are they really spreading as fast as their relatively well-put-together website would lead one to believe? Do they gather a lot of strength in Northern Ireland just by being an alternative to Catholics? IIRC there is a prominent MP from there named Ian Paisley who belongs to the church.
Can’t answer your other questions, but in NI, religion seems to be fairly entrenched - people don’t seem to convert too readily. There are other protestant denominations there too, but this seems to be the dominant. Census figures are difficult to come by, however, as many Republicans refuse to participate in them.
BTW Paisley is not just a prominent MP, but the First Minister of Northern Ireland, as well as a sitting UK MP and a Member of the European Parliament (the most democratically-gained titles of any UK politician, according to the BBC the other day). Anecdotally, he is meant to be a fantastic local MP, with a lot of time for his constituents regardless of their religious persuasion. On the other hand, he’s virulently homophobic, and once called Pope Jean Paul II the Antichrist.
Oh they’re on the weird loony fringe of the fundamental christian right. You know Jack Chick? Well, they share his views (especially the ones about a literal biblical creation and the pope being the Anti-Christ). They’re not what you would call easy-going, fun-loving people. I have to say, their religion may give them stability and security, but it doesn’t seem to bring them much joy and happiness, and as for being filled with the love of Christ and their fellow men…not so much.
I went to school with a girl from a Free P family. She had 8 siblings (they’re not too keen on contraception), and the women are supposed to wear long skirts and head coverings and not work outside the home.
They take certain bits of the bible really seriously.
Like the bit about not wearing clothes of the other gender. This poor girl had to do an outward bound course, complete with aerial wire slide, in a long skirt…on a windy day. We tried to point out that wearing tracksuit trousers under the skirt would have been more modest than having her panties on show, but apparently trousers were unacceptable because they were “male garments”. :rolleyes:
They’re not big on dancing, drinking and doing anything on Sundays except praying and going to church. I mean anything- this girl wasn’t allowed to study, play, read, watch TV, go for a walk, do household chores…nothing except church, Bible and prayer on a Sunday.
The problem with Free P’s is that everyone over 18 is 100% garaunteed to turn up and vote. So a small yet vocal minority can win outright over the apathetic, less extreme majority.
Oh yes, and at some point they confused a Jewish guy from Roman Palestine, with a white British guy who desperately wants Northern Ireland to stay part of the UK.
Ian Paisley was born in 1926, Fred Phelps in 1929, and they both attended Bob Jones Jr. University. Although my Wiki-fu has been unable to verify, it’s even possible that the two have met. They are two heads of the same beast in the least.
So far as I know Paisley didn’t attend Bob Jones University. He has a D.D. degree from BJU, but it’s an honorary degree. I don’t believe he ever studied there. Paisley’s formal theological education was at bible colleges in Wales and Northern Ireland.
Damn right, Spectre of Pithecanthropus. I’m a Northern Irish Presbyterian, and my religious beliefs and practice have about as much in common with Ian Paisley’s as his have with Mother Theresa’s.
