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On 3 March 2007, The Western Mail reported thus:
"A Welsh Christian group is calling for the traditional Welsh dragon flag to be replaced by the cross of St David. The Welsh Christian Party says having a red dragon - an animal it believes symbolises the devil - on the national flag is at odds with Wales' position as a Christian nation. It is calling for the flag which has officially been in place since 1959, to be replaced with the black and gold cross of St David.
The party's leader, the Rev George Hargreaves, said,
‘We will not allow this evil symbol of the devil to reign over Wales for another moment. Wales is the only country in history to have a red dragon on its national flag. This is the very symbol of the devil described in The Book of Revelation 12:3. This is nothing less than the sign of Satan, the devil, Lucifer that ancient serpent who deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
No other nation has had this red dragon as its ruling symbol. Wales has been under demonic oppression and under many curses because of this unwise choice. This symbol was only introduced in 1959 and is not the historic symbol of Wales’...
But historians and politicians yesterday said the symbol of the dragon had a long tradition in Wales and was a source of pride. Welsh historian John Davies said:
‘It's been part of our tradition for more than 1,500 years, while the flag of St David has a much more specific remit. There are a large number of flags that are tricolour and so they don't stand out. But when you see the Welsh flag you know what it is’…
According to Mr Davies, the dragon pre-dates the Christian era, dating back 1,500 years. Widely used by the Romans, the first reference to dragons in Wales is in the History Brittonum in the eighth century.
During the Tudor era the symbol was used by Henry Tudor at the battle of Bosworth to represent his Welsh ancestry. According to Mr Davies, Wales may have adopted the symbol in an attempt to draw an association between the Welsh royal houses and the might of the Roman empire." And the leader of the Welsh Christian Party who wants to scrap one of Britain's National symbols is?
The Reverend George Hargreaves
On 6 June 2004, Scotland on Sunday reported thus:
"The sinful, hedonistic realm of pop music may seem a million miles away from the austere, forbidding world of Christian fundamentalism. But Scotland on Sunday can reveal that an anti-abortion group contesting every UK seat in the European elections is being directly funded by royalties from Sinitta’s 1980s disco classic ‘So Macho’. The song reached number two in 1985, sold over a million copies and still generates around £10,000 a month for the man who wrote it, the Rev George Hargreaves, a songwriter and promoter turned Christian.
Hargreaves, who hopes to become a Scottish MEP, is ploughing the cash from ‘So Macho’ into his radical party, Operation Christian Vote. On June 10, Hargreaves hopes to win the support of thousands of Scots voters so he can go to Brussels. His party is a call to arms for God-fearing Christians and opposes abortion, human embryo research and euthanasia.
Hargreaves, who discovered Sinitta and a string of similar acts such as Yazz and Five Star, admits he lived life to the full in the rock and roll industry before finding God, and is unabashed about using Mammon to reach heaven... Hargreaves introduced Sinitta to pop promoter Simon Cowell, who made her the Beyonce of her day and dated her before finding his own fame as Pop Idol’s Mr Nasty. Sinitta had a string of hits including ‘Toy Boy’, ‘GTO’ and ‘Cross My Broken Heart’. Hargreaves continued to work with new music acts and wrote for the charts and television. His earnings eventually hit the six-figure mark. He admitted:
'I was a hedonistic sinner. I was Jack the lad. But there came a point when I looked at myself. I was calling myself a Christian but not living the Christian life. I read a Bible from cover to cover and I changed my life.'
Ironically, he says he penned ‘So Macho’ not just for women but in a deliberate attempt to appeal to gay men’s sense of humour. The inspiration for the song came from another of his proteges, a singer called Princess...
'I heard Princess sing those words and I thought: that’s my next song. I wrote it that same evening. It was a caricature of the medallion man... It was for women to dance round their handbags to and for the gay scene to go mad to on poppers,' he admits. Despite this, Hargreaves does not accept the idea that his new vocation, which involves preaching on the sin of homosexuality, is hypocritical. He added:
'I was never gay, but I had a lot of lovely friends in the gay scene.'
He says many of them have since died of Aids.
'Never in my life have I had a homophobic persuasion. I love the sinner, whatever the sin is. If you trawled through Scotland you would find some women in Edinburgh or Glasgow I was with in my pop days. I talk freely about these things because I am not ashamed... I’ve done all the things people want to do, that they aspire to, and I’ve seen the futility in it," he said.
‘So Macho’ continues to earn a fortune for Hargreaves because of regular radio play, retro compilations of 80s hits and public performances...
Hargreaves admits he supports the controversial UK Life League, a radical anti-abortion group which has staged frightening protests outside family planning clinics, brandishing coloured posters of aborted foetuses".
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com...m?id=643822004
Well, Hargreaves, old Hutu, I don't know about "gay men’s sense of humour" but you just made me laugh! . |
