With sad predictability, the latest attempts to smear Peter Tatchell began before his documentary on the Pope had been broadcast on Channel Four. The Catholic Bishop of Paisley, Philip Tartaglia, attacked him at the weekend by quoting out of context one sentence he wrote 24 years ago – in a different publication to the one cited, and against the meaning he intended.

This was presumably a pre-emptive strike before the documentary was aired on Monday evening (13 September).

Some may have been expecting – or hoping – that the programme would be an hour of anti-papal, anti-Christian ranting. This would certainly have been easier to denounce than the far more sophisticated treatment that Peter Tatchell gave to his subject.

I was impressed by Peter’s insistence that he is not attacking grassroots Catholics, a number of whom were interviewed. As a Christian, I never once felt that my religion was under attack. His exploration of certain issues was very powerful – the child abuse scandal, Benedict’s personal history and the effects of papal teaching in the Philippines.

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By uprooting old quotes from their context, Philip Tartaglia looks remarkably similar to Anglican Mainstream, who this year attacked the Greenbelt Christian festival for inviting Peter Tatchell to speak. They even went so far as to suggest that his presence at the festival would put children at risk.

Christians at Greenbelt gave Peter a standing ovation. This seemed only to outrage his critics further. Christian Concern For Our Nation (CCFON) decided to put inverted commas around “Christian” when describing Greenbelt as a Christian festival. In their weekly bulletin for supporters, they denounced Peter’s views on “orgies, sadomasochism and public cruising for sex” – none of which were relevant to his talk at Greenbelt.

Full article: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/13110