Restore Britain councillor says Church has turned Jesus into ‘timid woke wimp’
Emily Price
A Restore Britain Councillor has hit out at the Church of England claiming it has turned Jesus into a “timid woke wimp”.
Owain Clatworthy, a councillor in Bridgend’s Pyle, Kenfig Hill and Cefn Cribwr ward, published a post to Facebook on Wednesday (July 8) saying that “real Christianity” was built in the west.
He wrote: “The Woke Church of Wales/England have become utterly embarrassing.
“They’ve turned Jesus….the bold, truth speaking Son of God who flipped tables and called out sin into a timid woke wimp who just wants everyone to be nice and affirm every ideology.
“I wouldn’t even consider them branches of Christianity anymore.
“Real Christianity built the West. This diluted version is helping tear it down.
Go to a Bible believing church!”
He later published another post stating that people with drug or alcohol addictions should be moved to the back of housing queues, adding that veterans should be prioritised.
Cllr Clatworthy wrote: “Working families should come first.
“If you get up every morning, go to work, pay your taxes, and genuinely need social housing, you should be at the front of the queue.
“Anyone actively abusing drugs or alcohol, you’ve never worked a day in your life, and you refuse to contribute to society……you should be at the very back of the line.
“My time working in social care showed me firsthand how the current system is being gamed and exploited.
“Meanwhile, veterans who served our country can struggle to find a place to live, and genuine local families in Bridgend remain on housing waiting lists for years while they feel others are prioritised ahead of them.
“This is completely backwards.
“We need real housing reform that rewards contribution, supports those with genuine need, and puts working families and those who have served first.”
Veterans
Around 11 per cent of UK veterans experience harmful or dependent alcohol consumption – nearly double the rate in the general population.
A survey by charity PTSD Resolution found that 46 per cent of the 500 UK armed forces’ veterans who responded used alcohol or drugs to manage the symptoms of trauma.
The Restore councillor’s latest remarks come amid a series of disputes with Bridgend’s ruling Labour group and several Independent councillors, who have branded his views “divisive” and “racist”.
Cllr Clatworthy argues that his “opinions on immigration, integration, and British values are lawful expressions of political speech”.
Several Bridgend councillors have told Nation.Cymru they had sought to support the young councillor, recognising the challenges and vulnerabilities he has faced after spending much of his childhood in the care system.
But earlier this week, the 22-year-old threatened Bridgend Council’s deputy leader with legal action after she raised concerns about his presence on the local authority’s corporate parenting committee.
Muslims
The position would require the Restore councillor to act in the best interests of all children in the council’s care, including unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
Her intervention came after Cllr Clatworthy published a series of Facebook posts about Muslim people, including one in which he wrote: “Islam is not compatible with Western civilisation”.
In a letter to council leader John Spanswick about asylum seekers, the Restore councillor also wrote: “I do not want these people in our area”.
The practising Christian published another Facebook post stating: “Multiculturalism is a failure. The silent majority has had enough of the lies.”
Cllr Clatworthy defected to Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain in April after becoming Bridgend’s youngest-ever county councillor at 20-years-old.
He had won the seat under Reform UK’s banner but it later emerged that weeks after his election, he had tried to join the council’s ruling Labour group, saying he couldn’t stand Nigel Farage.
Cllr Clatworthy resigned from Reform UK in March following a dispute over its candidate selection process for the Senedd election.
Although he initially said he intended to remain an independent councillor in Bridgend, insisting “it isn’t about politics, it’s about our community”, he later announced that he had joined Rupert Lowe’s party.
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I guess we are always going to be prey to the outlandish & weird element in political life, it certainly adds to the comedic facet of Welsh politics buts it’s also very worrying that good people voted for this moron? I imagine they must feel they’ve been conned like so many Farage/Brexit voters?
Sad to see someone thrashing around in search of an identity in public. He also needs to be reminded that compassion has a much older and deeper legacy than being woke.
It is the Church in Wales not of Wales
I don’t know which branch of Christianity he purports to know, but the devil is smiling at his new disciple.
Im drinking buddies with 1 church of Wales minister and 1 Methodist minister.
Hes one of those people that they’d stand in respectful silence around, as theytry not to speak badly of people……that silence woyld probablt last a month though.
It’s this branch – being imported into the UK by people far more influential than Clatworthy – and dismissing it as not real christianity misses the danger. Pete Hegseth’s Pastor Laughs When Asked About Repealing Women’s Right to Vote: ‘It’s a Good Idea!’ – Yahoo News UK
Just a rage-baiting neanderthal but us Christians can take it and, of course, forgive him (and yes, Life of Brian is brilliant). However, be thankful that we still (just about) live in a country where you can say what you like about any religion, any sky fairy, any religious founder, any religious leader etc. That is a precious democratic gift.
An insult to Neanderthals, I’d suggest.
The latest archaeological and genetic research proves they possessed rich, complex cultures and sophisticated cognitive abilities – some characteristics that seem to lacking in Mr Clatworthy.
Did he clarify what the housing priority should be for traumatised veterans with drug or alcohol addictions?
The poor kid just needs to get laid
If someone making a comment can’t get their facts and history correct, they’re obvious unintelligent and rather silly publicity seekers. There’s never been a Church OF Wales; after Henry VIII’s split from Rome, there was the Church of England IN Wales, then at the disestablishment, which came into effect in 1921, after delays etc due to World War I, the Church IN Wales was born. If anyone cannot get it right, they should shut up.
Which version Christianity is he after then. The one that OK’s UK slavery? The one where a European nation carried out a genocide in the Congo? Maybe the version that carried out a genocide in the America’s. How about the one where they went on crusades? Maybe the Christianity that saw the East India company leading to the Raj in India and all the vile abuses the UK wrought on that nation? He knows about the ancients and other religions and their part in the world? .oes he heck He claimed lawful interpretation of free speech means I can call… Read more »
Repugant stuff. Christianity didn’t do those things. People did. If anything, Christianity drove Wilberforce to get slavery abolished and for the UK’s West Africa squadron to patrol the seas stopping others from doing it. Disgraceful.
History has wart n all bit to it. People don’t like that bit and often tout Wilberforce as the UK doing good (which he did). But in order to abolish something, you need it to exist and the UK was very good at the slave trade, one of the best at it, the RN was a protector of the business model right up to the point it was directed to stop slavery (see East India trading company model and Triangular trade route set up). Sugar plantations were defended by the RN and who worked those? Abolition also took decades to… Read more »
But he is right. It was not Christianity doing those things. Very very wrong to claim that. As he says, Wilberforce’s Christianity was in fact key to his campaign to stop it.
The name of Christianity is laced through many atrocities. Many also used Christianity to justify and subjugate. You get one deed in the name of a god to ignore all the crimes.
Now the bible, Jesus and all that is fictional. But the idea of Jesus is not a far right fascist, its a kind and giving man, who forgave even those who killed him. When your turn food into bigger meals to feed, you are pure socialsim, because society counts to you. This fool has zero concept of anything. Now the church of England was built to satisfy Henry 8th adultery, but still better than this moron.
Jesus and his disciples existed. It is historical fact.
Of course they did Graham, you don’t need the Bible to verify that,an independent account of the Life of Christ was recorded by the 1st Century historian Flavius Josephus
Practising Christian? He needs a lot more practice.
What an unpleasant view to have.
Notwithstanding the warped opinions he holds on Christianity, he openly expresses opposing views – demeaning those with substance dependency, whilst defending veterans, who have a higher than average percentage of dependency.
I think Mr Clatworthy needs to clarify his messages & learn the meaning of support, humility and the Christian message, before getting himself into greater difficulties.
Jesus was a kick-ass socialist Jew who took loathed inequality, institutional corruption, and the concentration of wealth into a small number of hands but ‘CuLtUrAl mArXiSm’ ig
Hmmm, perhaps we should just turn the other cheek….i.e ignore the clown…. or is that being too woke?
Hmmm… Where to start?
Is he talking about the Church IN Wales, or the Church OF England – the latter being relevant where the ecclesiastical and political boundaries wobble slightly in a few parishes in Powys?
Many homeless former members of the Crown Forces have drug and alcohol problems as a consequence of their experiences. This character would, à la Schroedinger, put them simultaneously at the back and the front of the housing queue.
Trist iawn, feri sad.
‘British values’ quoted here. The only people who EVER invoke this term NEVER explain what these ‘values’ are but are ALWAYS those signed up to the hate movements committed to the denigration of human life. I am so proud to declare that i do not possess ‘British values’. If someone would care to explain to me what these are, i will consider them and try to work out if there is anything in there that i can understand, comprehend and concur with but until then, the unexplained soundbite delivered by known, anti human hatemongers will forever be rejected.
It is important we recognise that Clatworthy is part of a wider attempt by US evangelical right wing fascists to import their interpretation of Christianity into the UK. This is an interpretation that largely regards women as second class citizens, and wants to return to more ‘traditional’ gender roles in which the husband is head of the household, and thus regards the mainstream version of Christianity in the UK as too woke and having failed to defend its values against secularism. There are some denominations that are almost cult like, taking the view that women shouldn’t be allowed to vote… Read more »
What about those veterans who have turned to drugs and alcohol as a result of their experiences whilst serving their country? How does he class them?
Which “ church” does he “ worship” at? Bigot.
The deeds and words attributed to Jesus make him a true socialist even though such a word or philosophy didn’t exist at the time. I wonder how Councillor Clatworthy squares that circle!
He grew up in a working class area. I don’t think his electors would be very impressed