It's a dangerous place, London. The air quality leaves a lot to be desired, there are parts where the crime rate is altogether too high, and there's the occasional murder or stabbing. And the Northern Line at Angel is unbearable at around 5pm.
It's a big city, in other words.
A couple of weeks ago it was a particularly sad city, because there was a terrorist attack. Three malevolent and misguided inadequates killed eight people and wounded 48 before being shot dead themselves.
It's this event, rather than the pollution or the crime, that persuaded John Hagee Ministries to cancel its forthcoming event at Westminster Chapel. The long-planned Night to Honour Israel and subsequent weekend conference won't go ahead because JHM thinks they might be targeted by terrorists: ' Although no specific threat has been received, we have been advised that our events could be targets.'
Well, here's the thing. Life in London goes on. No one is minimising what happened on London Bridge, and I know talk of keeping things in proportion risks sounding callous. But let's keep things in proportion.
Out of curiosity, I called the conference centre based at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster – a stone's throw from Parliament, a Christian building and surely a prime target for terrorists if they were particularly going after Christians. Had anyone cancelled a conference because of the London Bridge attack? The nice lady who answered seemed to think it was a rather odd question; not as far as she knew.
So why did JHM cancel its Westminster event? This is what it said: 'Islamic [sic] extremists have called for the specific targeting of Christians and Jews during the month of Ramadan, during which our events were set to take place...
'It is with wisdom and not fear that the leadership takes this responsibility for the protection of those that would attend, bearing in mind the Night to Honour Israel would be the largest pro-Israel event of the year with both Christians and Jews meeting at a location just a short distance from the two recent London attacks.'
In other words: JHM thinks that because it is pro-Israel, its conference is more likely to be attacked.
It goes without saying that there's absolutely no evidence for this, and it's hard to imagine what evidence there could be. But taken at face value – JHM is afraid of a terrorist attack – this decision is quite illuminating.
Given the entire absence of any sensible rationale for the cancellation (or 'postponement'), it's easy to write it off as a piece of transatlantic foolishness – not to say offensiveness. Donald Trump has notoriously blamed London Mayor Sadiq Khan for not keeping Londoners safe; JHM may just have bought into that narrative.
But there's perhaps something darker underlying this. There's a kind of Christian Zionism that thrives on the idea that Israel itself is surrounded by a sea of enemies and that Christians who align themselves with Israel are joining the fight of good against evil. It's a lonely struggle against the forces not just of terrorism but of liberalism too. And to reinforce the loyalty of supporters, Christian Zionism has to stress not just the righteousness of the cause, but the strength of the enemy. Israel is in danger, and it's up to us to save her.
What better way of proving this than to cancel a pro-Israel conference because it's just too dangerous to go ahead? All that planning, all those hopes and expectations dashed – and all because Islamist terrorists hate Israel and anyone who supports Israel.
To be clear, I'm not suggesting staff at JHM sat down and put that forward as a recruitment and retention strategy. I'm just saying that's how it works. And it's fake news. It's a mythical peril that bolsters an ideology. Worse: it co-opts – unintentionally, I'm sure – the deaths and injuries suffered in London and in Manchester into a PR campaign.
It's too late now, but what would really have struck a blow against terrorism would have been to keep calm and carry on, as we say over here. I'm not a fan of Christian Zionism, which seems to make God more of a nationalist than I think he actually is, but I'm all in favour of prayer. I'm also in favour of truth, which is the first casualty of war – and JHM's decision makes it harder to have honest conversations about what will really bless Israel. All it does is convince more people they're in a sort of End Times battle to the death, between Good Israel and Bad Islam.
It shouldn't need saying that the truth is more complicated than that. But it does.
Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods
