Alan Campbell (pastor)

Campbell began preaching in May 1974 and delivered his first sermon on Bible prophecy on 24 September 1978. He was officially ordained to the ministry by Dr Francis Thomas on 18 July 1988. He was the author of a number of Bible study books and lectured throughout the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Australia. However, his ministry centred in Ulster and many of his messages dealt with the political situation there. Campbell had contact with the Christian Assemblies International.

Campbell, a "British Israelite",[4] believed that the people of Ulster form part of the lost tribes of Israel taken into exile by the Assyrians. Further, his sermons on this subject taught his listeners that the Protestant people of Ulster and the white race in South Africa represent Israel’s lost tribes. He argued that the hand of the Lord had seen a Calvinist race, descended from the people of Israel, settle in each place well over 500 years previously and form an ethnic nation. God’s plan, he contended, is that each race has a special duty to convert non-believers and remain immovable in defence of the truth of the gospel.[5]

Campbell held fiercely anti-Catholic views and mentored "anti-Catholic sectarian bigot" Clifford Peoples.[6] Campbell once referred to Catholics as worshipping a "wafer God" and used his website to disseminate such sentiments; he also authored a number of anti-Catholic pamphlets, including Romewatch.[7] Campbell once linked a protest to the ancient conflict between Protestant beliefs and the Beast of Rome.[8] Critics of Campbell noted that he fomented opposition to Catholics.[4] In August 2002, a unionist Catholic journalist noted that Campbell had referred to him as "that Romanist who writes for the Belfast Telegraph".[9]

Campbell’s website also recounted tales of Catholic clergy in various countries making the news for involvement in crimes of a sexual nature. The Church of Rome, he argued, was carrying out a jihad against the Protestant religion. He directed his ire towards Tony Blair on account of the Prime Minister’s spouse being a Catholic.[10]

Campbell opposed miscegenation. In a lecture in the US, he stated that the races had separate origins and distinct biblical destinies and that black people were the "beasts of the field" referred to in the Bible.[11] He supported apartheid in South Africa, was critical of unionist politicians meeting Nelson Mandela and called Desmond Tutu a "little black man".[12] Campbell used his website to promote the views of Sheldon Emery, an author with white supremacist views. He also faced the charge of supporting racist opinions held by a South African colleague who argued that God did not want different races to be joined together.[13]

A racist, Campbell employed terminology such as non-white Christians needing to keep to "their own little Negro Churches".[4] In autumn 2003, he told a gathering in London that the threat from Islam was not make believe.[14]

Campbell attended Drumcree in 1995-96, taking advantage of the gathering of thousands of loyalists and the high-profile nature of the protest to restate his uncompromising credentials. Another longtime fundamentalist preacher stressed that Campbell had never played a central role in loyalism, on account of his extreme non-biblical views, but had resurfaced at Drumcree.[15]

In summer 1996, Campbell, then chaplain of a branch of the Apprentice Boys named after UVF man and politician George Seawright, observed that the loyalist ceasefire had been a betrayal. He considered the IRA ceasefire insincere and a threat to unionist hegemony.[16]

Three years later, an unknown group called the Nationalist Defence Force sent a bullet to Campbell, apparently as a threat to his life.[17]

Campbell joined other loyalists in a protest against the Ulster Unionist Party discussing peace moves in spring 1998.[18] Following the Good Friday Agreement, Campbell urged a gathering in England to reject the forthcoming referendum and never to countenance the sharing of power or giving the Irish government a say in Northern Ireland. Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble was denounced by him: "He is to Ulster what De Klerk was to South Africa. He is the traitor of all traitors".[19] Campbell continued to campaign for a referendum vote against the agreement.[20]

Campbell was a participant in the loyalist Harryville Church street protests in Ballymena in the late 1990s.[9]

Campbell participated in, and was photographed at, loyalist street protests in 2013 in Belfast city centre at a decision not to fly the Union flag each day over Belfast City Hall.[4][21]

Journalist Henry McDonald, an authority on loyalism, considered Campbell on the periphery of the loyalist agenda for many years. He was of the strong opinion that Campbell was an "agent provocateur", who inflamed sectarian feelings among young unionists.[3] However, another source notes that Campbell advocated the use of weapons in defence of Ulster.[15]

Campbell was spotted paying a visit in early 2001 to loyalist Clifford Peeples, who was serving a ten-year term in Maghaberry jail for possession of weapons.[22] Campbell, described as a virulently anti-Catholic figure who was connected to groups advocating the primacy of the white race, had known Peebles for a long time. While Campbell kept a low profile, his veneer of respectability, it was alleged, was destroyed by the extremist content of his online publications.[10]