A US church group currently in the UK has been compared to neo-Nazis and Islamist terrorists by a newspaper columnist.
Shona Craven said The King’s Project singers were a “musical Trojan horse” who were part of a church that “ticks every box on the Ugly Religious Fundamentalism checklist”.
Craven pointed to the church’s pro-marriage and pro-life views as reasons why they are “not welcome”.
Hope in Jesus
The choir, part of Prestonwood Baptist Church, is on a tour of England and Scotland and said they had enjoyed presenting a concert in Edinburgh “to another great crowd”.
They added: “We have found the people very receptive to our message of hope in Jesus Christ”, before asking for prayer that they would be bold in sharing the Gospel.
Craven, who writes for The Herald and The National newspaper, claimed that the church’s “dreadful” pregnancy centre exists “to frighten and manipulate women into ruling out abortion”, because they offer them ultrasounds.
Neo-Nazis
She continued: “What message does it send when a shopping centre welcomes this kind of musical Trojan horse into a Scottish city, and where do we draw the line?
“A neo-Nazi puppet show at the Gyle Shopping Centre? Magic tricks by Islamic State at Buchanan Galleries?”
Craven added that, as a nation, citizens “should be stating clearly: bigots are not welcome here”.
Well-received
A separate article in The Herald gave prominence to the Scottish Secular Society (SSS) who questioned why the church group had ‘even been allowed in the country’.
Megan Crawford, from the SSS, claimed the church was “extremely fundamentalist”, describing their orthodox views on marriage and abortion.
A spokesman for Waverley Mall in Edinburgh where the group featured on Saturday said he did not think the choir sang “anything that would upset anybody”.
He added: “I was unaware of their views and my views are completely different. But the plaza was packed and it was well-received.”