Research Materials - UK Help Needed

[Darat]

Gosh he really likes that title doesn't he!

 

[brodski]

Gosh he really likes that title doesn't he!

Which one the title of "Bishop" or the title of "Weirdo"

 

[Miss Whiplash]

After all this drama, I'd like a title. Something that doesn't end with "and the horse you rode in on too!"

 

[Mojo]

After all this drama, I'd like a title.

How about "The"?

 

[Cuddles]

After all this drama, I'd like a title. Something that doesn't end with "and the horse you rode in on too!"

I have to say, I would love to have a title that ended with that.

 

[Miss Whiplash]

Research Materials Found!

Not to keep beating this dead horse called Sean Manchester, but I wanted to thank the members who provided links. Because of the people here, I've found the books I needed. You all rock!

I'm busy reading the infamous "Highgate Vampire." It's given me the best laugh I've had in a long time. Ramsey Campbell's essay on the subject is wonderful. Soon, I'll get my notes in order and start writing.

Thanks again!

 

[Mojo]

Manchester presenting himself as some legitimate clergyman is the most dangerous part of this delusion in my opinion. You know how people are - any passing kook can slap religion on any woo and people's gullibility goes into overdrive. They see him on National Geographic playing priest and fall for his dog and pony show. Few people stop and research his order and see how transparent it all is. Cults are not harmless.

You are straying into the area of defamation as Sean Manchester has tested his validity when he made an official complaint against a small radio station who went down that route because they thought that if he was not Roman Catholic he cannot therefore be Catholic. The hearing was chaired by Richard Holloway, a senior bishop in the Church of England. Bishop Holloway upheld Sean Manchester's complaint and declared him to be legally and canonically a genuine Old Catholic Bishop. It was explained that there are Eastern Catholic Churches and Old Catholic Churches as well as the Roman Catholic Church. The producer of the radio station pleaded ignorance and stated that it was never the station's intention to cast any doubt on Sean Manchester's validity as a bishop. They also apologised.

As far as the implied threat of an action for defamation is concerned, I don’t think Manchester would get far with it, at least in the UK. It seems that the courts don’t like to get involved in questions of religious doctrine. I’ve found this case: Blake v Associated Newspapers Limited.

Blake had been a C of E priest, but had resigned his orders.

Since that time he has continued to style himself “The Reverend”, to wear distinctive clerical dress and to undertake ministry independent of any denomination. In 2000 he founded ‘The Society of Independent Christian Ministry’ and ‘The Province for Open Episcopal Ministry and Jurisdiction’ with a former bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church who in turn ordained the claimant first as a priest and then as a bishop.

He sued the Daily Mail after they described him as ‘a self-styled bishop in costume mitre and cloak’ and ‘an imitation bishop who was a once-divorced former clergyman’.

The claimant claimed these statements were defamatory, that he was a validly ordained bishop and that he had been ordained such by a bishop within the apostolic succession who retained the power to confer episcopal orders.

Is any of this sounding familiar?

The court held that question of whether he was a validly ordained bishop was a matter of religious doctrine and therefore "non-justiciable", and stopped the case.

ETA: I am not a lawyer.

 

[Miss Whiplash]

"Defamation" to Manchester means anything less than blind, worshipful praise or questioning his claims. He certainly doesn't practice what he preaches though. About an author who cut him some slack and wrote a more positive chapter about him:

Despite some major errors, her book is nevertheless not malicious ~ just the result of sloppy journalism. Or is it? In The Vampire Hunter's Handbook, Seán Manchester reveals that Guiley might be a government intelligence operative working to undermine belief in the supernatural.

(my emphasis) Sean's BOS Group

I wonder if any judge has ever ordered a psychiatric examination for Mr. Manchester?

 

[Mojo]

Perhaps Sean is secretly working to undermine belief in the supernatural.