Onward Christian Kippers marching on to Social War

There are10 days left to decide. It's not about “facts” or statistics. Yesterday I heard from a friend who had been leafleting in Swansea for the Remain campaign. This leaflet was being handed out by a Christian UKIP group. It's quite clear now what June 23rd is about. It's about the sort of Wales we want to live in.

On one side it's about being tolerant, respecting and celebrating the diverse and the different. It's about learning about different lifestyles, understanding different cultures. It's about knowing about history, literature. It's about knowing our true history, where we came from, the good and the bad things we have done. It's about realising that we are a nation that has welcomed and learnt from different people and the things they have learnt from us.

It's about learning from the Philosophers, the thinkers and the scholars who have brought their thoughts, awareness and speculation to us. It's about realising that we all came out of Africa. It's about understanding that the causes of Migration are the selling of arms. Of propping up tin pot dictators, of the hunger for scarce resources and of climate change. A real debate on migration would involve all these things. It would be about what we can do and not about our fears

It's about realising that the Christian, Muslim and Jewish religions all stem from an Abrahamic root. That Jesus Christ was dark skinned, that the disciples were ordinary people, that many teachers like Jesus Christ roamed Palestine under the Romans. The choice we face is a challenge to our prejudices, knowledge and our perception of others both culturally and psychologically. It's about challenging the assumptions and agenda of the right wing press. I see the Welsh fans thrilled to be there and I think of the contrast with the English fans, chanting, racist, xenophobic things. I see the difference..its so clear.

Then I see the image of the England Football fans chanting FUCK OFF EUROPE WE ARE VOTING for Brexit in France. I read the words on the UKIP “Christian” leaflet. I know what comes next the turning against the poor and the disadvantaged. The different and the diverse, the broken and the abject.

I end today's speculations with the words of the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55)

“he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones

and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

And of the Prophet Amos much loved by Martin Luther King

Amos 5:24New King James Version (NKJV)

24 But let justice run down like water,
And righteousness like a mighty stream.

The Christian Kippers misunderstanding of the book of Revelation reveals their ignorance, their lack of understanding of Apocalyptic discourse and of it's role in Jewish history and Culture.

The decision taken on June 23 will decide if we are an outward looking, tolerant country or a narrow, frightened, prejudiced place unaware of our history, our culture and our origins. Beware if you are poor, a single parent. Someone who who is different. I have sensed the anxiety and fear on the faces a sign of fear of the varied peoples of St Helen Road in Swansea. They are surprised if I smile at them or thank them. I know where the root of this fear begins...........