Last Sunday at Speakers' Corner a Christian missionary known as
Hatun was horribly stabbed by an assailant who i understand has not yet been caught.
Like everyone i unequivocally condemn this cowardly attack on a woman at Hyde Park and i
hope the attacker is caught and is punished. That being, said i've noticed since then in the UK media
i've looked at The Times and The Mail and some very prominent Christian commentators some of them
academics and other christian organizations giving her Hatun uncritical support for her
and her activities at Speakers' Corner obviously in the wake of this attack. Now perhaps they're
doing this out of an outpouring of sympathy and support for her as a person and in that case i
quite understand that but surely they must be aware of what she actually does at Speakers'
Corner they forget to mention that on a regular weekly basis she deliberately provokes muslims how
well the example is a legion she deliberately uh has drilled holes, desecrated the Qur'an and then
brought that along regularly to Speakers' Corner to make a point she regularly insults islam how
well she wears Charlie Hebdo cartoons. now of course what happened to the cartoonist in Paris
was very wicked and and i'm not in any way apologizing or trying to explain that away
but uh to deliberately um showcase cartoons that are known to be highly offensive uh to muslims
is very very peculiar behavior for someone who professes to be a christian to follow Jesus Christ
who said at least according to the gospels love your enemies do good to those other people who
persecute you to uh and yet she doesn't tend to do that she tends to be very um provocative
uh and deliberately so week in week out now i've seen her for years i've spoken to her i know her
not very well of course she's not a friend or anything but at a distance i observe her
as we all do and most sensible people um tend to ignore her because she in my experience doesn't
dialogue she doesn't have a conversation all she wants to do is destroy islam now such a person
is not a normal christian uh it's not a mainstream christian i i personally think she is an extremist
i think she is a fanatic um i think uh at some part at the back of her mind uh she wants to be
a martyr actually because why would someone behave in such a deliberately provocative way week after
week um in public uh except unless they wanted um some kind of martyrdom now of course i sincerely
hope she doesn't get her wish um it's possible there are other issues to do with her background
and her mental health i don't know i don't know her very well but her behavior is uh profoundly
unacceptable and unchristian even if it is legal not everything that is legal is good
not everything that is within the law is moral and virtuous not everything that christian can do
is christian um i don't see uh other christians or many other christians behaving like this
it's a tiny minority so i i'm disappointed that the uk media um is portraying her as a martyr
for free speech she's entitled to have free speech of course she's in my view perfectly entitled to
criticize beliefs she does not share however what she does on a regular basis goes way beyond
that this is not just free speech to deliberately insult and provoke and offend people consciously
and deliberately because she has been told about this countless time why are you behaving like this
is not to be a martyr for free speech is not to embody the finest British values of tolerance
with those with whom you don't agree with she never shows respect
for other people who are muslims so um that's really what i wanted to say i do reiterate the
attack on her is utterly condemnable and i wish the perpetuator faces justice but she also by her
behavior over the years creates a situation where nut cases and evil you know people themselves who
shouldn't be around Speakers' Corner then can lash out at her and she is not wholly indifferent
to the situation that has been created if you keep on provoking and attacking and uh in this nasty
vicious way that she verbally does on a regular basis some nutter some criminal is going to take a
a attacker now i wish it wasn't so but that is the real world i know
the police who often come under criticism have uh done their very best to try and
stay within the law to protect her rights to free speech such as they are but also to advise her
to tone down her rhetoric to not be so um provocative and not stop insulting people because
that's nothing to do with free speech there's free speech and then there's insulting people and
many christians uh prominent christians now don't seem to see the difference and i wonder there's
an agenda at work here the agenda is uh that she is a christian missionary and therefore we should
support her because she's anti-islam maybe that's an agenda that some academics i won't mention that
anyone at Cambridge University who is quite a senior academic there an evangelical christian
who has come out uh to give uh his admiration and praise and support for her i'm thinking what
uh you know support her in her personal suffering in terms of uh what's happened to her but do not
support her uncritically in her activities because she is doing a great disservice to social cohesion
to um our society in Britain where Muslims as well are often the victims of attacks uh
unprovoked attacks and she never defends muslims uh and when they are attacked it's always about
her and her views anyway enough of my ramblings i just wanted to get that off my chest um and also
i've been criticized for not saying anything as well i don't really want to say anything
about this attack because uh regrettable though it is you know i'm not i had to report on everything
in the world but i did want now it's become a um a national media um event in a way and many people
are coming out and supporting her uncritically i thought i just wanted to say something let's
give her support in terms of hoping she gets well soon and and her attacker faces justice
but let's not give her support in her egregious activities at Speakers' Corner. Until next time.