This article originally appeared on Premier Christianity
I had originally entitled it ‘The End of Liberal Britain?’ but I prefer the Premier title!
David Robertson argues that Tim Farron’s resignation proves the Church needs to take a firmer stance on biblical truth
The prophecy was quickly fulfilled! On the 26th of April I blogged here on Premier Christianity that Tim Farron’s apparent U-turn on gay sex would not prevent continual attacks on him and his faith and that it would not help the Lib Dems because it would make them look illiberal. It didn’t take long.
There will be much written about Farron’s extraordinary resignation, but I would like to stress the major lessons we can learn from this, because it’s a message that I have been trying to proclaim to a largely deaf Church for the past 30 years.
Farron’s statement, the treatment of Russell Vought by Bernie Sanders this week and the mockery and abuse of the DUP are all evidence of a disturbing trend within contemporary society – the deliberate attempt to exclude biblical Christians (and anyone else who disagrees with the current liberal zeitgeist) from the public square.
Its Been a Long Time Coming
Many years ago I experienced this coming. In 1982 I was pursuing a political career, as a Social Democrat (eventually to be merged with the Liberals to form the Lib-Dems) and was the favourite to be elected as the Senior President of Edinburgh University Students Association, when I was suddenly faced with the religious litmus test that now seems to be required for politicians in the UK and as we shall see increasingly in the US. There was the mocking comment from the editor of The Student newspaper – “when did God ask David Robertson to stand?” followed by the hatchet job in the editorial guide to the Student election, accusing me of being a homophobe. Election over.
I saw then what is happening today. Christians are being systematically excluded from the public political sphere by a kind of secular inquisition, using shibboleth issues like same sex marriage, aided and abetted by an ignorant and prejudiced media.
Bernies Theology Test
Take another example from across the pond. Bernie Sanders’ extraordinary interviewing/interrogating of Russell Vought.
Britain Ushers in the Bigots
The DUP are currently in negotiations with the Conservative party about forming a government in the UK. And the Twitterati and much of the secular media have gone berserk. Not about the fact that the DUP want to preserve the triple lock on
pensions, or keep the Northern Irish border open. No, what really upsets them is that the DUP doesn’tsupport same sex marriage or abortion. This is apparently enough to send the media and political elites into a hysterical fit whereby they equate being against same sex marriage as only one step away from ISIS and the Taliban! Cue headlines such as the HuffPost’s ‘Britain Ushers in the Bigots’!
Not so liberal after all
Farron’s resignation statement is so important because he names the elephant in the room. He did not just go quietly into the night. He said that he was resigning because he could not reconcile his Christian faith with the demands that were being made of him as a political leader. It is vital to remember who is saying this. It is a politician who (in my view wrongly) has said that he is in favour of same sex marriage and believes in a woman’s right to choose. But even when he said those things he continued to be hounded, because the illiberal thought police didn’t really believe him. The policies he supported wasn’t enough. They want to know what he thought.
The irony is the Liberal party are being illiberal. The old Liberal party (like the Labour party) used to be proud of its Christian foundations – now it can’t get rid of them fast enough. Conscience, free speech and human rights (except as defined by the ‘social progressives’) have been pushed aside and replaced with a fundamentalist secular ‘religion’ that will brook no opposition and permit no dissension. I know many politicians, and I know of Christians in all parties who have been forced from office, or prevented from being in office, because of their faith. This is not accidental.
Kicking a Man When he’s Down
What if we’ve brought this upon ourselves?
The Deaf and Blind Church
The Secularised Church
Steve Chalke tweeted “It’s extraordinary that religious belief is still used as an ‘right’
There is a familiar pattern that is repeated here. First we are told we must permit something in the name of inclusion because it is the loving thing to do. Then we are told that if we not accept that same thing we are to be excluded!
The Irrelevant Church
And there are Christians who just don’t see the seriousness of the problem. We seem more concerned about church order than faithfulness to the scriptures. Last week the Scottish Episcopal Church voted to change the Anglican canon law on marriage in order to allow same sex marriage. Several churches refused to go along with this and stated their intention to place themselves under a GAFCON missionary bishop. Archbishop Welby was reported to be angry at this and let his displeasure be known. But where was the displeasure and anger at the Church going against explicit Anglican, and more importantly, biblical teaching? An Important Vote – The SEC on SSM
Distorting the gospel
There are those in the Church who overreact the other way. For them everything becomes about issues of sexuality and faithfulness to the scriptures on that one issue. The result is often distortion, ugliness and perversion of the Gospel – all done with the intention of preventing that very perversion.
What we need are churches and Christians who while not being afraid to stand for biblical truth on every issue, and especially those issues where the culture is attacking and deconstructing; are also churches that are not sidetracked by cultural issues but instead remain focused and centred on Christ and his good news.
We need Christians who will be faithful – even to the point of committing political suicide
Tim Farron has done us all a big favour.
His warm, clear and impassioned plea for religious tolerance is what needs to be said – and acted upon. His example of giving up his role as leader of the party when faced with
the choice of his Christian faith or his political career is shining: “I joined our party when I was 16, it is in my blood, I love our history, our people, I thoroughly love my party. Imagine how proud I am to lead this party. And then imagine what would lead me to voluntarily relinquish that honour. In the words of Isaac Watts it would have to be something ‘so amazing, so divine, (it) demands my heart, my life, my all’.”
We need Christians who will get their hands dirty and get involved in politics (we really don’t need the opposite – politicians who get involved with and seek to use Christianity for political ends). We need Christians who will be faithful – even to the point of committing political suicide. The love of Christ demands our heart, our life, our all. And we need a Church which, instead of turning itself inside out in order to fit the culture, seeks to turn the world upside down.
Footnote: I got a phone call from the BBC asking me to appear on the Kaye Adams show to talk about Tim Farron and the intolerance shown to Christians in politics. I don’t know if the programme went ahead but because I am in Australia and the BBC Skype was not working they decided not to go ahead. But in the providence of God, guess what I am here to speak on at the Onward Conference in Sydney next weekend?