Why is Tesco letting a cult fundraise in its shops

[WhyIsTescoSupportingACult]

obviously NC for this

went to the big Tesco in Beckton, east London, earlier today. 2 young men were enthusiastically dancing and singing whilst holding those fundraising buckets. They were collecting donations for the UKCG ‘helpline’.

UKCG is a Christian cult, started in Brazil, but now present in a number of countries. Their leader/founder has spent a significant amount of time in jail. They are a dangerous organisation.

why is Tesco allowing a cult to fundraise in its shops??

Organisations are made up of individuals. For example:

Sheriff John N McCormick has found that the Scottish Event Campus Limited discriminated against Billy Graham Evangelistic Association by terminating an agreement on the basis of a protected characteristic in terms of the Equality Act 2010 following a hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court. The court awarded damages to the extent of £97,325.32

https://judiciary.scot/home/sentences-judgments/judgments/2022/10/25/billy-graham-evangelistic-association-v-scottish-event-campus-limited

please Complain to a Tesco. There is plenty of evidence to show this group are dangerous.

This church was recently the subject of a Panorama investigation into the use of ‘heavy prayers’ and its attempts to pressurise young gay people into conversion.

It was investigated by the Charity Commission in 2022.

It was heavily criticised for safeguarding failures in the official inquiry following the death of Victoria Climbie who was brought to the church for exorcism by the family members who were abusing her and later caused her death. All of this is a matter of public record.

There is no way that a high street retailer like TESCO, in whom we all place a degree of trust, should be allowing this group to fundraise to members of the public on their premises.

I remember seeing them myself at another TESCO in London a few years ago (same logos, same brown suits) so this isn’t a new thing.

However, some of these approaches are not unique and are shared with other Pentecostal and evangelical churches.

There is currently a huge scandal involving Mike Pilivachi, who ran Soul Survivor camps for teenagers as an evangelical offshoot of the Church of England. This involves clergy misconduct, spiritual abuse of young men and a lot of questions about the use of funds. The Church of England has upheld the religious concerns and found them to be substantiated. The Charity Commission is investigating.

If you are someone who is concerned about the general approaches of Pentecostal and evangelical churches please join this thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/philosophy_religion_spirituality/4892353-soul-survivor-thread-2 or send me a message.

"Under the Equality Act 2010, religion and belief is a “protected characteristic” meaning that a person is discriminated against where they are treated less favourably due to their religion or belief."

You're making a bit of a tit of yourself now dear xx

I think people from this organisation were collecting in the high street of my rather small , northern town yesterday. There was a small group of them on each side of the street and they were all dancing about .

They wear red tabards which I think impersonated Christian Aid a bit because I thought it was them at first. That's a bit deceitful cos I bet it's deliberate.

My husband put money in their bucket

In terms of people putting their pics /videos on line , it is rather common to photo people dancing and singing in public and post it on social media.

In terms of people putting their pics /videos on line , it is rather common to photo people dancing and singing in public and post it on social media.

Less common to accuse them of being part of a dangerous cult though, which is what OP has done!

Exactly as the pp said, the legislation refers to "a person". Not an organisation.

It's completely routine for companies to exclude all religious charities from eligibility from their Corporate Social Responsibility programmes, because religions frequently have views that are "problematic"/less than inclusive and it's unreasonable to expect Muslim/ Jewish/atheist staff to support a Christian charity, or vice versa.

These guys are all over the place this Christmas. The members are giving it 100% singing and dancing with huge grins and I can only think "you're the people who exorcised Victoria Climbie" (obviously not literally, the people sent out to sing and dance and laugh for coins weren't born when she was murdered).

Not sure who you think is making a tit of themselves. But if this was a reference to me, please explain why Billy Graham Evangelist Association, clearly an organisation not an individual, was awarded just shy of £100k for being discriminated against on the basis of religion in breach of the Equality Act?

We had the same charity outside our M&S on the high street the other week. They were there for days, lots of singing and dancing with people watching. My dad even donated! Didn't know anything about them, just assumed it was worth donating to if they were a charity 🤦‍♀️

Another Organisation that was discriminated against on the basis of belief, though this time it was an individual who was impacted by the discrimination against the organisation who bought the claim and won as an out of court settlement: https://didlaw.com/nottingham-city-council-apologises-to-ms-bindel-for-instigating-unlawful-procedure

There is a clause that applies to organisations not being discriminated by businesses. I'm guessing that's how that court case was brought.

The Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010) prohibits businesses who provide services to the public (for payment or not) from discriminating against, harassing and victimising certain classes of persons. The Act also places an obligation on such businesses (referred to as ‘service providers’) to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people.

https://www.claims.co.uk/knowledge-base/discrimination-law/equality-act-effect-on-businesses

This is the place Victoria Climbie was taken to for an exorcism.

Sorry I've just seen someone else has already said the VC connection.

They're not exactly chuggers, they don't ambush you for a direct debit....they just play recordings of Christmas songs like Last Christmas etc and sing along and wave their buckets.

I can't stand them. They were severely criticised in the Victoria Climbie enquiry for trying to exorcise the demons from her instead of involving police/social services. Victoria's family took her to an exorcism in their Finsbury Park church just before she died, then ordered a taxi back to Tottenham where they lived. Apparently she was so thin and scarred the taxi driver refused to take her to Tottenham instead going straight to A&E but she died soon after. That driver had more empathy towards the poor child than UCKG.

i'm in North London (Haringey is my local council) and they're all over the place. I want to scream "scammers" every time I see them.

You could have hit the "Watch" icon at the bottom of the page.

The real issue is that they're registered as a charity and if you feel strongly about it take this up with the Charities Commission. Tesco , like many businesses, allow charities to fundraise and can't police their activities.

Not sure there’s a reasonable expectation of privacy whilst in a Tesco whilst singing/dancing/shaking buckets (ie, inviting attention) but am trying to edit my post to blur their faces anyway, but can’t find the edit button

So bloody true

I didn’t actually know they were involved in the Victoria Climbie case. That’s horrific

@mnhq can you help me edit my post to replace original pictures so their faces are blurred, please?

It's not their privacy that's the issue – no person has reasonable expectation of privacy in a supermarket. It's the fact you've very publicly alleged they are part of a cult.

I didn’t. I said they were fundraising for this UCKG. That is different from alleging they are part of UCKG.

they were fundraising for UCKG. It’s a fact.

Your title is: Why is Tesco letting a cult fundraise in its shops

Followed by the text: 2 young men were enthusiastically dancing and singing whilst holding those fundraising buckets. They were collecting donations for the UKCG ‘helpline’.

Even your username accuses them by juxtaposition.

There's a clear inference they are part of it and an inference/juxtaposition is all that's needed in defamation law.

I'm not having a pop, just urging you to take the photos down or make them less identifiable for your sake.

We don't need blurred photos just ask for the photos to be removed all together

Exactly it's legal hot water