CITY Council leader Mike Whitby has been urged to cancel a planned rally led by a controversial American pastor.
Richard Burden (Lab Northfield) has written to Coun Whitby asking him to confirm whether the rally will be allowed to go ahead, and asking whether he believes it is ethical to receive payment for the event.
He spoke out after US Pastor John Hagee booked Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, which is run indirectly by the council, to hold a rally and seminars on August 19 and 20. Tickets are for sale at £10 each
Pastor Hagee has said in the past that the Holocaust was part of God’s plan to force Jews to return to Israel and claimed Hurricane Katrina was divine punishment for a planned gay pride rally.
Symphony Hall is run by a charity called Performances Birmingham Limited, which is controlled by Birmingham City Council. The board of directors includes Coun Whitby, as well as Labour group leader Sir Albert Bore.
Mr Burden said: “There is a difference between accepting Pastor Hagee’s right to speak and actively helping him to perpetrate his views by providing premises.”
A city council spokeswoman said: “If and when we receive this letter we will look at it but at this stage we do not have anything to add to what Symphony Hall have said.”
In a statement earlier this week, Chris Baldock, general manager of the Symphony Hall, said: “We have a general open policy as regards all faith groups and have therefore accepted a booking from John Hagee Ministries. We have been made aware of the views expressed by individual members of the public and will be liaising with the organisers to discuss the matter further.”
Mr Hagee has been criticised in the US for a series of controversial statements. He compared Adolf Hitler in one sermon to a “hunter” sent by God to force Jews to live in Israel and said the Koran gave Muslims “a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews”.
He also claimed that Hurricane Katrina, which killed 1,800 people in 2005, was “the judgment of God against New Orleans” because of a planned “homosexual parade”.