Chapter 27
---At the Manchester Velodrome.
362
We were approached by a young American girl who was not happy with us being there. Another man, who described himself as an “atheist” began to engage in an argument as to the existence of god. Apparently he had been invited there by some Christians who thought he might convert. This particular man eventually walked out of the meeting later even more convinced of his convictions. It became apparent that not everyone would be able to receive a leaflet so Miguel began to preach against ecumenism. Some of the Hope 08 leaders had been expecting us to be there so a small contingent of law enforcement officers was dispatched to “Keep the peace.” They confided in us that they had been told, by the Hope 08 office, to expect a mass demonstration only to discover that there were only three of us. One of the officers approached and asked him if he was the person who organised this protest, which Miguel said he was, Miguel then shook his hands as the Police officer enquired as to what we were up to. Miguel duly obliged by explaining that we were there to explain to people about the ecumenical/Interfaith nature of the event. He showed the officer, from the copy of the official Catholic Catechism the things that we were trying to point out to people, and the dangers of associating with the Roman Catholic Church. The police officer explained that he was a Roman Catholic but that he had problems with the teachings of the Catholic Religion and that he had no problem with what we were doing. One of the Hope 08 organisers, who we have met on a number of occasions, approached Miguel and Miguel showed him the copy of the Catechism and challenged him twice to refute it and once to state it was an heretical book—he declined, laughed and walked off. Several times we were challenged concerning our actions and message. A number of people were very angry. The driver of one of the vehicles that stopped was an old adversary who had reported us to the police on several occasions. The young girl in the passenger seat took the leaflets and proceeded to cast them to the floor.