God help thee, old man, thy thoughts have created a creature in thee.
(Herman Melville: Moby-Dick)
From many points of views, the authors of the report The Next Wave: How Religious Extremism is Regaining Power, bear great resemblance of many a one literary figure. From Cervantes’ Don Quixote to Melville’s Captain Ahab, these characters are all revelling in blending truth and fiction, often exaggerating threats and spinning grand conspiracies.
The ‘groundbreaking’ [sic] new report claims nothing less than proving that ‘a new alliance of religious extremists, far-right populists, and oligarch funders’ are ‘reshaping European politics’ via a ‘covert, strategic effort to launder religious extremism into mainstream governance’.
Anyone can read all 158 pages of “big revelations” – after paying the €25 price tag.
Educating people on ‘religious extremism’ is important, but filling the already well-lined pockets of an NGO is apparently even more so.
The big “fact finding enterprise” was produced under the auspices of the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (shortly EPF) – maiden name European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development. (But that was before “women’s health” and “sexual and reproductive rights” became trendier buzzwords than “demography” and “population control”.)
A network of pro-choice activists and MEPs who focus on sexual and reproductive rights, financed by American mega-donors like the Soros Foundation, Planned Parenthood or the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. And a few pharmaceutical companies producing birth control pills, for good measure.
The centre figure is Neil Datta, a prolific author of texts of similar nature, who also likes to play tourist guide and organize ‘study tours’ to the most loyal MEPs in his circle (think Sophie in’t Veld, Predrag Matic or Robert Biedron) to developing countries in between two attempts to denounce pro-life groups.
It’s more than ironic when a well-organized network rings the alarm bells about “the worrying trend of Christians being increasingly able to organize themselves”.
The more so when they find the sum spent on funding “anti-gender activism” ($ 1.18 billion, shared among 270 organizations) “alarming” when the U.S. government alone spent over $4.1 billion over the three fiscal years on LGBTQ initiatives at home and abroad. The EU spent more than €300 million on gender equality and identity projects, including research, advocacy and info-sharing within a similar period.
During the last decade, the EU financed 258 organizations working in the field of LGBTQ issues and the promotion of gender ideology. ILGA-Worldwide (an association of LGBTQ NGO’s) alone received €64.95 million in EU funds for its advocacy work on gender identity, ILGA-Europe another €16 million. Those NGOs then used their funds to pressure the EU and national governments into adopting legislation that meets the LGBTQI agenda.
The “so-called” report feels more like a modernized version of Moby Dick.
Just like in Captain Ahab’s constant ramblings the white whale slowly morphs from a simple marine mammal into the mythic embodiment of all the world’s injustice and mystery – in the “report”, the line between ‘conservative’ and ‘extremist’ becomes blurred and then disappears.
The classic binary worldview of the left (maybe even Communism) shines through, or as good ol’ Vladimir Ilyich said, “it is with absolute frankness that we speak of this struggle of the proletariat; each man must choose between joining our side or the other side. Any attempt to avoid taking sides in this issue must end in fiasco”.
The world is black. Or white.
But there is no in-between. No nuances, no exceptions.
Anyone raising even the slightest concern against even the most radical gender agenda is a villain is the in a big, worldwide (Europe-wide) conspiracy.
‘Natural family planning’ is just as ‘dangerous’ as ‘conversion therapy for LGBTQI youth’.
‘Pro-life’ (or rather anti-choice, as it is presented in the “report”) is automatically and without exceptions ‘anti-gender’.
Every talk, email-exchange, meeting or conference is part of a systematic, global organization acting in sync for one, well-defined objective or hidden agenda.
When LGBTQ+ groups employ lobbyists (Neil Datta himself has 9 on his payroll) it’s for a just cause – when conservative groups do the same, they ‘capture entire institutions, political parties and states’, including the establishment of ‘anti-gender service infrastructures’.
When “LGBTQ+ groups are labelled as agents of foreign influence”, it “fuels hate crime and normalizes hate speech against this community”, and restrictions on their advocacy activities are “severe limitations of the freedom of speech”.
When Christian/conservative organizations are put in the same category with ISIS, Hamas and Al-Qaeda (as “religious extremists”) that’s a step well-justified. Their advocacy shouldn’t only be restricted, but must be removed from European conversations altogether.
The “report” goes on to claim that “churches” shouldn’t get a say in the development of the EU’s new multiannual financial framework (MFF), neither should they be involved in the consultations and in the process of setting priorities. Ignore the fact that Article 17 of The Treaty on the Functioning of The European Union explicitly states that ‘the Union respects and does not prejudice the status under national law of churches and religious associations or communities’ and it ‘shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with these churches and organizations’.
To add insult to injury, Russia and President Putin are ‘cast’ in the role of ‘grand puppet masters’, infiltrating churches, right-wing and religious parties and movements; and then ‘steer their activism in ways favorable to Russian state interests’.
Thus, ‘anti-choice’ is automatically ‘pro-Russian’.
Of course, “choice” in this worldview seems pretty much like elections in any Communist state: citizens shall obediently flock to the polling stations and cast their ballots on the single party on the list. Because it is the sole embodiment of truth, wisdom and perfection.
To summarize, the “report” is not much else than a fancy and rather pricey conspiration theory.
Facts mixed with half-truths and exaggerations but supported with little to no evidence. All mashed up and pressed into shape to fit the pre-set idea: “religious extremism” is a danger.
Neil Datta seems almost as monomaniac as Captain Ahab was: driven by obsession, he believes himself predestined to wipe out his fearful enemy.
He should maybe remember that in the end, the white whale won over the maniac.
