The reaction to my letter to Nicola Sturgeon has been very revealing. Especially from the Establishment. The Ultimate April Fool – An Open Letter to Nicola Sturgeon
(I wrote a summery article about all of this on the Christian Today website as well – you can get that here Gender Politics and the Gospel
Firstly the Media did not really get the point.
They largely bought the spin from the First Minister’s press release and the various LGBT groups which all went along the lines of ‘more rights for gay and transgender people’. Nobody questioned, analyzed or seriously thought about it. As Goebbels pointed out, the bigger the lie, the more people are likely to believe it. I was quoted in virtually every newspaper as the sole token voice of opposition. Some papers just made things up – i.e. ‘the moderator of the Free Church reacted with fury’ – which made me react with mild frustration!
The BBC were a classic example of how this is spun. They sent up a film crew to do a short interview (just after a wedding I had done at St Peters). I was asked five questions of which 12 seconds was used in a piece lasting over two minutes that was entirely sympathetic to the government’s position. The narrative that the liberal media use is clear – this is about poor weak vulnerable people and if you have a heart at all you will want to care for and help them. Anyone who opposes this is some kind of out of touch religious bigot. There is nor can be no other position.
Then the political leaders were more like sheep than leaders.
When is a debate not a debate?
When it is organized by LGBT groups such as the Equality Network and Stonewall.
All the party leaders (with the exception of David Coburn of UKIP) were there and there was no dissent, no questioning, no attempt to discuss the questions involved. Perhaps that is not surprising when four out of the six party leaders are gay – a fact which incidentally does away with the ‘victim’ card that is constantly being played in order to guilt people into accepting the latest government LGBT initiative, re-education campaign, or splash of government cash. There are of course politicians who do not agree but just as with SSM they regard the whole issue as a sideshow that does not really affect them or the majority of people, and it is certainly not worth their committing political suicide by daring to question the powers that be. Anyone who has experienced the mob rule that the liberal elites employ to anyone who dares to break ranks knows exactly what I am talking about. Chairman Mao’s Red Brigades could have learned a thing or two from them!
What about the church leaders?
I expected the media and politicians to follow the party line. They are after all dominated by the socially liberal lobby, and those who are not part of it just can’t be bothered with the hassle and hate that comes from daring to stand up to it. But it has been really disappointing to be left virtually on my own in speaking out on this issue. The Church of Scotland as usual were silent. The Catholic bishops are reluctant to speak out, especially on sexual issues because of the troubles they have had. – although I was glad of the following from one Catholic blogger – http://www.scotscatholic.org/blog/2016/04/04/We-need-to-stand-against-ludicrous-and-whimsical-gender-pledge.aspx and amused to receive a message on Sunday morning from another saying that they were going to pray for me at Mass! I am hopeful that the Catholic bishops at least will step up to the mark. And I was not aware of anything from anyone else. I suspect that most are just seeking to survive – or maybe they said things but they were just not publicized.
At a personal level it was great to get so many messages from ordinary people (Christian and non-Christian) who were thankful for what was said, but where are the church leaders? The ones who are supposed to shepherd the flock and care for the weak, the poor and the vulnerable? I find it depressing that the church leaders are either too scared, or too slow to speak out – although I suspect that far too many are just part of the liberal political establishment anyway and actually would not agree with the stance I am taking.
As a result it has been far too easy for the media, atheist secularists and LGBT groups to attempt to silence what little opposition there is by mocking and marginalizing. Those who are proposing this know that they can follow the usual pattern – make a proposal, suggest that anyone who does not support it is an uncaring bigot who doesn’t care for, or understand transsexuals, have a ‘consultation’ (whose result is pre-determined) and then put it into legislation and proudly declare this to be yet another example of ‘progressive Scotland’ leading the world into a tolerant, equal Nirvana. Never mind the reality. It looks good in the media and even better on the CV.
It is trans issues that are the next big challenge.
NICOLA STURGEON, FIRST MINISTER
Remember what is being proposed here. People will be able to change their gender without medical or psychological consultation. And this is not just about transgender, people changing from male to female or vice versa. No this is about creating a whole new gender (and why just one? – that is so tri-genderist!). And then it is about imposing this new doctrine on all of Scotland’s children – through the education system. Teachers will be re-educated so that they can be even more LGBT+ friendly and primary school pupils will be told that they can choose their own gender. They can be whoever they want to be. This has not a shred of evidence in science, logic or history. It is a confused mess put forward by people who largely just do not know what they are doing. I came across the following from The Times this weekend. Pinker could hardly be called a friend of religion!
“Stephen Pinker’s The Blank Slate… comprehensively demolishes the notion that a human life is self-authored. We are all biological creatures too and one of the characteristics we inherit is gender.”
The vast majority of people in Scotland know that this pick your own Heinz 57 gender is nonsense. But we no longer have government by the people for the people. We have government by the 1% for the 1%. We have government by lobby and special interest groups. We have an increasingly intrusive and authoritarian state determining what people should eat, wear, drink and think. We have a political class with such hubris that they think they can re-make humanity according to their dictate. In terms of sexual ethics we have moved from SSM to transgender. Now we are moving from transgender to gender fluidity. I have a suspicion as to where we will go next in this never ending path to Nirvana/destruction. And it is the poor, as always, who will suffer the most.
After I did one interview, the journalist said to me ‘off the record’ that this was all very confusing. Indeed it is. Babylon means ‘confusion’. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not the author of confusion. He does not lie, deceive or manipulate. The devil is the father of lies and the cause of confusion. There are spiritual forces at work, who delight in seeing people stumble in the darkness. We are meant to challenge these forces. To speak truth. To bring light.
My prayer is that there will be some in the normal media who will have the courage to challenge the narrative imposed upon them and dare to question and speak a different word. And that there will be politicians who do not wait to write their memoirs before speaking out. There are many good people in politics and media but for evil to succeed it is only necessary that good people do nothing. There is nothing inevitable about this. This is not the march of history. This is the walk of lunacy. It is the responsibility of those who have been called to public service, to be the voice of sanity in such a mad world.
As for church leaders, we have a choice.
We can hide in our pietistic holes, wait for the official government consultation and then complain when the deed is done – from the safety of our own keyboards and spiritual sanctuaries; or we can proclaim truth – not for our own sake and protection, but for the sake of our children. Will we betray them as well?
Church leaders are remarkably good at speaking out about world issues, pontificating about peace in other countries and making grandiose statements about issues which they can do very little about and which cost us nothing.
We are experts at virtue signaling. But we could stop this nonsense. Think about it. Why do the liberal elites not (yet) dare to take on the issue of faith schools? It is because they fear the Catholic Church – who have, rightly, been great defenders of their schools. If the rest of us were to take a united stand with the Catholics against this gender fluid nonsense, we would probably defeat it. And even if we did not we would have spoken truth into a corrupt culture.
I note with interest that the Church of Scotland’s pre-election forums are entitled ‘Speaking Out’. What a marvelous idea! But will it actually happen?
