posted 02-27-2004 03:04 PM                       

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Pastor Jack Glass, who has died aged 67, was the founder of the Zion Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Glasgow and a pastor in the ranting, fire and brimstone tradition of John Knox.

Glass would go anywhere to anathematise the ungodly, and his targets included the Church of Scotland, Billy Connolly, religious satires, pornography, homosexuality and, of course, the Roman Catholic Church. Even Ian Paisley considered him an extremist.

Glass's finest moment was undoubtedly during the visit of Pope John Paul II to Scotland in 1982, when he led protests against the 'Antichrist' from Rome, proclaiming that the Pope had 'no right to set foot on a Protestant island' and that his visit 'violated the British Bill of Rights'. Glass stood as a candidate in the Glasgow Hillhead by-election on the issue.

When he heard of a proposal to fell some trees in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, to clear a space for a papal platform, he suddenly developed a passionate interest in arboriculture and his supporters threatened to chain themselves to the trees. When it was rumoured that the Pope intended to visit the ecumenical community at Iona, he turned up one lunchtime in the abbey, mounted the pulpit, informed those present that they were 'the lickspittle of the Antichrist', then departed to catch the ferry.

Not that the Pope had a monopoly on Glass's attentions. When Leah Tutu, wife of Archbishop Desmond, opened the Macleod Centre on Iona, Glass bellowed from the crowd 'Hang Mandela!', a suggestion which Mrs Tutu took as testimony to British traditions of free speech.

His enemies branded Glass a 'bigot', but he gloried in the description: "In the days when Protestants were burnt alive by Roman Catholic priests, the reformer would say: 'By God's grace we will not give in to false religion. By God's grace we will stand for Jesus and contend for the faith'," he explained. 'Papists started to call them bi-Godites. Over time it became bigot. This is not a badge of shame.'

Jack Glass was born in 1936 and joined the Salvation Army as a child. After studying moral philosophy and English at Glasgow University, he founded his Zion Baptist Church in 1967 and began his unrelenting one-man mission to lead the people of Scotland away from Satan.

From his pulpit in Glasgow's Govanhill, he soon became known for his hellfire sermons. A reliable 'rent-a-quote', he was often to be seen on television leading protests against 'the sins of an increasingly ungodly generation'.

Over a period of some 30 years, he picketed shows by the comedian Billy Connolly in protest at a sketch in which Connolly translated the Last Supper to the Saracen's Head pub in Glasgow's East End. "Connolly depicts Christ as wearing a jaggy bunnet and entering a pub, steamin' drunk," Glass fulminated. 'We call upon every Christian who loves The Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to organise a protest outside the halls in Scotland where Connolly - the blasphemous buffoon - will be performing,' adding that: 'If the Forth was lava, I would throw him in.'

Connolly regarded Glass and his followers as his 'lucky mascots', since the more they ranted, the bigger his audiences became. The protests prompted the comedian to lead a counter-demonstration to Glass's church with a banner proclaiming 'Jack is a wee pastor'.

At the 1999 Edinburgh Festival, wearing a crown of thorns, Glass led an 80-strong demonstration to picket the opening night of Terence McNally's play Corpus Christi, in which the Son of God discovers his sexuality with Judas.

Protesting that the Lord had been 'spoofed as a poof', Glass confronted the actor who was playing Judas in front of the assembled television cameras and hurled a bag of money at him with the words: 'There's your 30 pieces of silver, you Judas!' When the coins were counted, there were found to be only 29.

Thanks to the efforts of Glass and other protesters, the show, which had received unfavourable notices, became, by Fringe standards, an unmitigated triumph, selling out at every performance. When the American 'goth' rock singer Marilyn Manson came to Glasgow in 2001, Glass led a placard-waving crowd of protesters urging fans to listen to God rather than 'Satan-worshipping Marilyn Manson'. His followers clashed with fans before being bundled away.

When not bawling, and if he could be tempted off the topic of religion, Glass was said to be a charming, affable man who did not mind being told he was 'batty'. Paisley, who fell out with him over unspecified doctrinal differences, called him 'a man of great honour who had a great love of the Bible'.

'I don't hate anyone,' Glass said recently. 'I'm just trying to bring people to Christ. Glasgow has turned its back on God. Sadly, God will have to punish it.'

When he was diagnosed with lung cancer last year, he regarded the tumour as a 'personal attack' by Satan, who was trying to steal his voice 'to destroy Christ's message'. When doctors gave him the all clear around the turn of this year, he proclaimed his recovery an 'amazing miracle'. The Devil had suffered a tremendous defeat. 'I've lived to see the Devil run away. I'm like Lazarus, who rose from the grave.'

But a few weeks later it emerged that the cancer had spread to his brain.

Jack Glass died on Tuesday and is survived by his wife, Peggy, and by two daughters and a son.

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posted 02-28-2004 11:46 AM                       

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At the 1999 Edinburgh Festival, wearing a crown of thorns, Glass led an 80-strong demonstration to picket the opening night of Terence McNally's play Corpus Christi, in which the Son of God discovers his sexuality with Judas.

Protesting that the Lord had been 'spoofed as a poof', Glass confronted the actor who was playing Judas in front of the assembled television cameras and hurled a bag of money at him with the words: 'There's your 30 pieces of silver, you Judas!' When the coins were counted, there were found to be only 29.

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Very entertaining. Thanks for sharing that.