You may remember I blogged a few months ago about Stephen Sizer’s interview with Mark Dankof of the American Free Press, and the wider connections between Sizer and the American Far Right.
In a letter published this week in The Spectator, Sizer claims:
I have never knowingly, to use her words, ‘given interviews to, endorsed or forwarded material from American white supremacists and Holocaust deniers’. My publishers in the USA, InterVarsity Press, occasionally arrange interviews for me. I trust their judgment.
Ignoring all the evidence to the contrary for the time being, let’s concentrate on Sizer’s claim that InterVarsity Press USA, a mainstream evangelical publisher, arranged the interview with Mark Dankof, a fan of David Duke who has previously given airtime to a Holocaust denier.
Did IVP USA really organise an interview for Sizer with the horribly antisemitic American Free Press? Given the immense success of Christian Zionism: Road Map To Armaggeddon and Zion’s Christian Soldiers?, surely there would be enough mainstream interest in Sizer’s theology without having to advertise it to an audience of antisemites, neo-Nazis, 9-11 truthers and Holocaust deniers?
Seismic Shock 
Sizer claims to have spoken out against Holocaust denial.
In an interview with Iranian-backed tv, he says that Richard Williamson could have been ‘ignorant’ of the Holocaust, and that if so he might need ‘reeducation’. He said this just after chastising Williamson for Holocaust denial.
Sizer wants it both ways: to be *seen* to criticise Williamson’s Holocaust denial but in the same breath to put forward the possibility that Williamson was ignorant.
In the same interview – which was about the Israeli comedian who made jokes about Jesus and Mary, Sizer claimed that jokes about Jesus were worse than Holocaust denial in the eyes of Christians.
This isn’t just crass, it’s theologically stupid. Jesus is not only human but also divine. As such, statements about Jesus are not truly comparable to statements about human beings. (This does not make crass jokes about Jesus excusable). But it is evident that Sizer is wanting to play a nasty tit-for-tat game with regard to the Israeli comedian’s joke. It does look like a form of revenge, which is NOT something non-Christians, especially not Israeli non-Christians, should be seeing from a Christian minister.
A joke, however much in poor taste, is simply NOT comparable to Holocaust denial.
Sizer certainly trivialises the Holocaust and damages Christian witness when he makes such statements as these.
Re: IVP, a responsible author would arrange his or her own interviews, not leave it up to the publisher.
I have never heard of an author taking their cue from their publisher in this way.
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