{"id":1735,"date":"2008-07-30T19:15:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-30T19:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/?p=1735"},"modified":"2019-11-22T16:54:55","modified_gmt":"2019-11-22T16:54:55","slug":"my-correspondence-with-j-mark-brewer-updated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/?p=1735","title":{"rendered":"My correspondence with J Mark Brewer (updated)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am publishing this because I believe it is in the public interest for this information to be widely known.<\/p>\n

On 25th July I received the following e-mail:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

CONFIDENTIAL:<\/span><\/u><\/b><\/p>\n

NOT TO BE REDISTRIBUTED TO ANY PERSON<\/span><\/u><\/b><\/p>\n

OR PUBLICLY POSTED<\/span><\/u><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Reverend Norton:<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I have visited your web page[1]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> which you brazenly have set up to carry on for the \u201ccartoon church\u201d blog site. As such, you appear to be dedicated to the destruction of my personal reputation and that of Saint Stephen the Great\/Saint Stephen the Great Charitable Trust. I am absolutely appalled and devastated that a member of the clergy of the Church of England would engage in such inappropriate and defamatory behavior, by what you<\/u><\/i> have written as well as by what you have posted and by encouraging others to do the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I am dumfounded that any Christian, especially a clergyman, honestly believes that this is consistent with his faith. You would know better than I, a layman, how many places defamation is spoken against in the Holy Bible.[2]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Re-publishing the material from \u201ccartoon church\u201d has nothing to do with what you call \u201cfree speech.\u201d Instead, you are invading my privacy by putting my name on your webpage, and you are defaming me. You are also interfering with the Charitable Trust\u2019s efforts to salvage what remains of the charitable<\/u><\/i> business of the Christian<\/u><\/i> bookshops with scorn. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Your libel of me and your invasion of my privacy have deeply hurt me. Because of your position as a clergyman, the pain of the words on your web page is greater. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not right and you have gone too far. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Your statements are false and I categorically deny them \u2013 both for me and SSG\/SSGCT. Many of them are defamatory per se (e.g., \u201c. . . <\/span>incompetence<\/span><\/i> and injustice<\/i> of the people who have taken over the SPCK chain.\u201d<\/span>)<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I reiterate: am a private individual and I value my privacy. I am not a public figure and you have no right to drag my name through the mire. I do not consent and object to you invading my personal privacy by maintaining web pages about me, SSG, SSGCT, ENC Management, my brother, my wife, or my family. I do not consent to you posting blogs or enabling and encouraging others to blog us on the internet. I do not consent to you defaming me to any other party or person by \u201csharing\u201d your false allegations. At this point, even were you to remove my name from your web page, my personal identity would still be clear to a majority of readers.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Legal Demands<\/span><\/u><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

1. I hereby demand that you cease and desist from doing any of these things any more. I specifically demand that you deactivate your webpages, websites and\/or blogsites which mention me, my brother, my family, SSG and\/or SSGCT IMMEDIATELY. I also demand that you not post this email, paraphrase it or refer to it in any way.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

2. I hereby demand that you issue to me a retraction and apology on your webpage stating substantially the following: <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I have removed from my website all of the material about Mr. Mark Brewer and the Saint Stephen the Great Charitable Trust as I have determined that it unfairly violated the personal privacy of Mr. Brewer and because it was defamatory. I acknowledge that I did not have any factual basis for any of these defamatory statements and that this is the reason for this retraction and apology. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I sincerely apologize to Mr. Brewer for the hurt I have caused to him, his family and to Saint Stephen the Great. I urge my readers to refrain from any public postings on the internet about Mr. Brewer in respect of his privacy. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I also request and urge my readers to refrain from writing or saying anything about him, his family or Saint Stephen the Great which is or reasonably could be interpreted as false or defamatory.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

3. I hereby demand that you contact all persons with whom you have communicated about me or the charity, sending them the above apology with a blind-copy to myself so that I know you have complied.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

If you do meet the terms and conditions set forth above and if you fail to remove the defamatory material from your website by noon GMT July 25, 2008<\/u>, I will seek an injunction against you and those with whom you have collaborated in your activities. I also will take legal action against you for damages for libel. In that event, I will also subpoena all records relating to the persons whom you have allowed to post defamatory material on your website in order to add them as defendants.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Please acknowledge your receipt of this correspondence and your intent to comply with this demand by reply email.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

J. Mark Brewer<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n
\n
\n

[1]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> http:\/\/elizaphanian.blogspot.com\/2008\/07\/we-are-all-dave-walkers-now.html<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[2]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> Exodus 20:16 \u2013 the Ninth Commandment; Psalm 101:5 \u2013 \u201c<\/span>Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.\u201d Jesus also preached against slander; e.g., Saint Mark 7:22.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

I replied firstly in this manner:<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear J Mark Brewer,<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n


I acknowledge receipt of this e-mail. I shall take legal advice and make a substantive response within seven days.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
Sam Norton<\/span><\/div>\n

To which I received the response:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
Sir<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span> <\/div>\n
Thank you for your acknowledgment. <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span> <\/div>\n
Seven days is too long for me to continue to be the victim of this outrage. You could at least have the Christian decency to take down the offending material pending your ‘legal advice.’ Will you do that or do you require that legal action force you to?<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
J. Mark Brewer<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

Houston, Texas 77056<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

I have this evening replied further:<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear J Mark Brewer,<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span> <\/div>\n
Following our earlier correspondence this is now my substantive reply to your original e-mail of 25th July 2008.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span> <\/div>\n
I believe that my blog contains only material which is either true or “fair comment” upon truthful matters.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span> <\/div>\n
If there are particular aspects of the material published on my blog which you believe to be neither true nor fair comment I am prepared to look again at specific items. <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span> <\/div>\n
Please be aware that I consider the making public of this correspondence to be in the public interest, and that I shall share, via my blog and other media, both your original “cease and desist” request, and any subsequent correspondence.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span> <\/div>\n
I would assure you that I have no personal malice towards you in this regard. My concern is that an innocent man (Mr David Walker) has been victimised by your actions. Should you be willing at any point in the future to make a public apology to him, leading to him reinstating his blogposts concerning SPCK, then I shall certainly cease and desist any further writings on this affair.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span> <\/div>\n
You do, of course, have recourse to the secular courts of the United Kingdom if you wish to take this further in that manner. Should you wish to do so, I shall be pleased to explain my position in open court.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span> <\/div>\n
Yours sincerely,<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span> <\/div>\n
Sam Norton<\/span><\/div>\n

I have now received this reply to my above e-mail:<\/span><\/p>\n

RE: your cease and desist request to me<\/p>\n

Sir<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Neither<\/span><\/span> English<\/span><\/span> nor American law permits you to engage in what you term “fair comment” with respect to a private company, nor with respect to a private<\/span><\/span> individual<\/span><\/span> – namely, me. <\/span><\/span> Obviously<\/span><\/span> the law does not allow one to<\/span><\/span> cloak<\/span><\/span> his<\/span><\/span> conduct with such sophist<\/span><\/span>ry<\/span><\/span> and then go about defaming<\/span><\/span> someone. <\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Your unreasonableness in the face of my request that you stop defaming me is appalling. <\/span><\/span> Your persistence in doing so without even seeking to know the truth, by talking to me for example, proves that you are in fact acting out of<\/span><\/span> complete<\/span><\/span> malice.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span> Libel with m<\/span><\/span>alice<\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/span> a<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> malignancy<\/span><\/span> of heart<\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> is intolerable in civilized societies.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Walker is in no way a victim of anything done or not done, said or not said by me. I have no idea what you are on about<\/span><\/span> in saying such a thing<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span> I cannot fathom your judgmental presumptiveness in telling<\/span><\/span> me<\/span><\/u><\/i><\/span> to apologize to<\/span><\/span> him<\/span><\/u><\/i><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I reiterate my demand that you stop your defamatory blogging and invasion of my privacy.<\/span><\/span> If you do not, I will seek redress in the courts of the<\/span><\/span> country<\/span><\/span> where I live – the United States<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> A<\/span><\/span>s y<\/span><\/span>ou<\/span><\/span>r solicitor will have told you, you<\/span><\/span> are subject to jurisdiction<\/span><\/span> here as you knowingly libeled me on the worldwide web,<\/span><\/span> you<\/span><\/span> know me to be a resident of the USA<\/span><\/span> and you know and intend to injure me where<\/span><\/span> I<\/span><\/span> live in the USA<\/span><\/span>. <\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

You<\/span><\/span>r solicitor also will<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> have told you<\/span><\/span> that you are<\/span><\/span> subject to service of process<\/span><\/span> for a<\/span><\/span> suit in the United States<\/span><\/span> under the Hague Convention<\/span><\/span>. You will then have to answer for your conduct in the venue where you intentionally caused me harm.<\/span><\/span> I hope you understand this.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark Brewer<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am publishing this because I believe it is in the public interest for this information to be widely known. On 25th July I received the following e-mail: CONFIDENTIAL: NOT TO BE REDISTRIBUTED TO ANY PERSON OR PUBLICLY POSTED Reverend … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25,88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autobiography","category-spck"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3npsc-rZ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1735"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6455,"href":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735\/revisions\/6455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}