The Charity Commission has opened a regulatory compliance case into Bread of Life Community Church in Essex following complaints about sermons preached by its pastor and uploaded online. The church has already been at the centre of a free speech controversy after local authorities objected not only to the manner of its street preaching, but reportedly also to references to ‘hell’ and ‘judgment’ in its public witness.
If you’re wondering what the church said in its sermons, I’ll tell you. The preacher, Stephen Clayden, raised concerns about the growing influence of Islam. He spoke up for biblical sexual ethics in the face of aggressive LGBT Pride movements. He called upon men to be men, to be leaders in the home, to take seriously the roles of being husbands and fathers.
Except he didn’t phrase it in that way. He spoke as an Essex working-class man to Essex working-class people, using plain and direct language. So he talked about Muslims ‘outbreeding the white population, outbreeding all of us.’ He talked about the ‘feminist movement’ being the ‘work of the devil’. On gay pride events, He said that God ‘does not want to see men parading around in high heels and miniskirts and lipstick.’
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