Hyde Street Chapel
There appears to be a young and growing creationist movement in Winchester based at, and promoted by, the Independent Evangelical Baptist Hyde Street Chapel (http://www.hydestreetchapel.org).
The chapel appears to have only recently become active in promoting young earth creationism. This includes inviting leading creationist speakers to Winchester and organising "creation meetings" in the area "in order to expose the weakness of evolutionary teaching".
The chapel’s position on creationism (strictly speaking, young earth creationism) parallels a rapidly growing (but still small) creationist movement in the UK.
The preacher there is Pastor Richard Turner who was appointed in early 2004 but who appears to have played a major role in the re-opening of the chapel in 2000. The church/mission dates back to Victorian times but is understood to have been out of use between 1994 and 2000.
Between 1999 and 2004 it is believed to have been "under the wing" of a Salisbury Baptist church, the Emmanuel church.
Hyde Street Chapel is, indeed, a very small church about a mile from the centre of town (and the Cathedral complex) in a rather attractive residential area called Hyde.
Richard Turner became religious whilst he was in the RAF in 1972. According to Hyde Chapel's web site he trained for the ministry at the London Theological Seminary, and has a Masters degree in Theology from Trinity Theological Seminary, USA (there appear to be a number of institutions with this name in the USA). He held pastorates in Ripon and Glasgow prior to moving south to Hampshire in order work for the Protestant Truth Society. Over the past eleven years he has preached in churches in the south of England and further afield.
The London Theological Seminary, in Finchley, does appear to be a very fundamentalist institution. Its web site states that, amongst its core beliefs are "the inerrancy of the Holy Scriptures as originally given, their verbal inspiration by God and their supreme authority as the only rule of faith and practice."
According to Hyde Street Chapel's web site: "Hyde Street Chapel is actively involved with taking the gospel out into the streets with the help of the Open Air Mission. We also organise Creation Meetings in the area in order to expose the weakness of evolutionary teaching."
In early 2006 AiG's web site stated that its reader and preacher, Philip Bell*, would be giving speeches/presentations in Winchester on 14th and (from memory) the 15th October 2006. AiG's web site mostly reconfirmed this when visited on 28th April 2006. It stated that Bell would be speaking on 14th October at the Intech Centre (an educational and training centre on the outskirts of Winchester) and on 15th October at the Hyde Street Chapel.
The 15th October timing is 11am which is morning service time so, presumably, all Bell will be doing is preaching to a small captive audience.
However, the AiG web site does not make it clear that the 14th and 15th meetings are directly connected and both organised by Hyde Street Chapel. The Intech event is being held in the auditorium. The presentation is four one hour sessions, clearly suggesting that Bell will present his standard rebuttal of Evolutionary Theory.
However, we assume that the Intech venue has been chosen because the Hyde Street Chapel is so small (the other issue may be parking – there are severe restrictions in the centre of Winchester and it is some way away from a public car park.)
Both reasons, in turn, suggest that Bell and the Chapel expect a reasonable turn out. AiG UK expects to be paid around £150 for such a presentation which, in turn, suggests an expectation of at least 75 people attending. Hyde Chapel expects people turning up to each pay £2. The auditorium seats 200 people.
AiG will also sell books CDs/DVDs and pamphlets at the event.
The choice of Intech as a venue is surprising as this institution describes itself as a science and technology centre. Its web site states that its specific purpose is "promoting the knowledge and understanding of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)." Intech is targeted at young people (see its web site at http://intech.virtualschools.net) and also provides professional development for teachers. Amongst its sponsors are IBM and NTL. The DfES has also provided funding.
The complete list of sponsors appears to be: Alusett Ltd, B&Q, Baldwins Crane Hirs, British Telecom, Corus, David, Langdon and Everest, Denford, EEF South, Esso Petroleum, Exxon Chemicals, Ford, Gatsby Charitable Trust, Glaxo Wellcome, Hampshire Country Concil, HMS Dolphin, HMS Sultan, IBM (UK) Laboratories, Kee-Klamp, Kvaerner Process, LLSC, Marks and Spencer, Millennium Commission, Mitutoyo, Molex, Monsanto, NTL,, Portsmouth City Council, Portsmouth University, Roke Manor Research, SEEDA, SETNET, Southampton City Council, Southampton University, Southern Water, Sperry Marine, Stannah Starlifts, Thales, VT Group, Wheelers Travel and Winchester City Council.
It seems incongruous that an educational establishment so closely aligned to leading R&D establishments, two universities and, major defense contractors and IT corporations should be hosting a creationist event.
However, we have been told that Intech knows about the matter and sees the bookings of the auditorium as a useful addition to revenue.
Hyde Street Chapel also appears to have links to the Biblical Creation Society (http://www.biblicalcreation.org.uk). The BCS's Paul Garner was due to give a lecture on 24th June 2006 to Hyde Street Chappel which will "explode the falsehood" of the Da Vinci Code book and film. Whilst not directly related (as far as we know) to creationism, the talk seems to suggest a close working relationship between the groups. Unlike the Bell event, this will actually use the chapel in Hyde Street.
Background Notes: As far as we are aware, no other church in Winchester is (yet) active in promoting creationism. A search of the local newspaper's web site drew no information on either Hyde Street Chapel or its pastor. The newspaper is the Hampshire Chronicle and its web archive dates back to 1999. Nor am I aware how many people the chapel has on its roll. However, it appears that about 150 attended the 2004 ceremony inaugurating its pastor.
Whilst this short report is essentially intended as background material, the research behind it suggested a very active creationist movement in Hampshire. Much of this is centred on small non-conformist churches and chapels (the CofE appeared to be absent). However, it also includes a tiny number of academics in the region and the creationist movement and museum in Portsmouth.
Winchester is about 65 miles south west of London. It is a county town as well as the see of an Anglican Bishop. It has a population of approximately 35,000. It is a prosperous place and is well endowed with churches in addition to its Cathedral (the longest mediaeval building in Europe North of the Alps). The Church of England dominates the town although the main Catholic church is also a substantial undertaking. Our guess is that church-going in Winchester is significantly above the national average.
The main denominations are all present in Winchester as well as the Mormons and Seventh Day Adventists. It has a large, long established, Pentecostal church.
For historical reasons Winchester is also a very liberal town. Nowadays it has its own university and also one of the major specialist colleges of the University of Southampton. Winchester was once the capital of England.
- Bell has left AiG and has been replaced by Paul Taylor as speaker
Notes: There is an article here on Hyde Street Chapel - http://www.evangelical-times.org/etnews/mar04/mar04n07.htm.
