Product Code Database
John Thomas Atkinson Glass (8 September 1936 – 24 February 2004), often known as Pastor Jack Glass or simply as Jack Glass, was a Scottish people Protestant preacher, evangelist and political activist. Glass is most readily associated with his strong views on unionism in Northern Ireland, his Anti-Catholicism speeches and his association with his friend and colleague Ian Paisley. According to his obituary in The Times, Glass was seen as Scotland's answer to Ian Paisley. Jack Glass Obituary, Times Online
Glass was "born again" at the age of 11 in a Salvation Army Sunday School. These events shaped the rest of his life.
He married Margaret (Peggy) in 1958 at the age of 21; the couple had three children.
He was the editor of the Scottish Protestant View, an evangelical Protestant newspaper started by him in 1969. He was also Chairman of the Twentieth Century Reformation Movement which was reported as being considered by him to be the 'political arm' of his church.The Times, 20 March 1972
This culminated in a series of protests against the Papal visit to Britain in 1982, the first time a reigning Pope had set foot on the nominally Protestant island. For added publicity, Glass had put himself up as a candidate in the Glasgow Hillhead by-election on 25 March 1982. Under the description 'Protestant Crusade against the Papal Visit' he got 388 votes. Glass had stood for Parliament before; having been a candidate in the Glasgow Bridgeton constituency, a safe Labour seat, at the 1970 general election. Standing as an Independent Protestant, he received 1,180 votes (6.7% of the poll).
On 1 June 1982, Glass and Ian Paisley jointly led a protest march through Glasgow which culminated in a demonstration near the landing site of the Papal helicopter in Bellahouston Park. Glass and Paisley are said to have led the crowd in shouts of "The Beast is Coming", "No Surrender" and "Down with the Pope of Rome".The Times, 2 June 1982 Alongside this, Glass had debated at many Scottish and English universities, including Durham and Cambridge. He was recognized as a Biblical literalist.
Glass protested against ecumenism and, as he perceived it, the sins of an increasingly ungodly generation. He regularly preached four sermons a week.
He campaigned against perceived blasphemy on many occasions. He protested against films ( The Last Temptation of Christ), plays ( Corpus Christi), and comedians (notably Billy Connolly's crucifixion skit). When protests by Glass led to an increase in ticket sales for the Glasgow performance of the comic stage version of The Bible by the Reduced Shakespeare Company, the company announced they would like to offer Glass a free ticket as thanks.
Glass often joined Paisley in his protests against Irish Republicanism and against the Irish Republican Army and papal authority in Northern Ireland. Paisley however once noted that Jack Glass was "a bit of an extremist".
|
|
