This weeks Christian Today article
Transgender ideology and the rise of the thought police
Transgender ideology is apparently an issue of some importance for the Scottish government. A government elected for the purpose of obtaining Scottish independence has double the number of civil servants working on its proposed Gender Recognition Act, than it does working on the proposed independence referendum, which it hopes to have done by the summer.
Part of this is because of the pushback against promises made by Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP about allowing people to self-identify. Feminist activists and others are rightly concerned about where this is all going to lead. There has been significant opposition within the governing party itself – with the finance minister, Kate Forbes, herself a committed Christian, warning that many people are being silenced and intimidated from speaking.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) warned that the proposed GRA should be paused because not enough account has been taken of women’s rights.
Nicola Sturgeon denies, despite all the evidence, that there is any conflict between transgender rights and sex-based rights. Anyone who dares to question that is automatically labelled ‘transphobic’ – but when even the Guardian is warning the Scottish government that they are going too far, you would think that this might give pause for thought.
The Census where facts don’t matter
Not that this has stopped the Scottish government from acting as though its policy were already law. In the upcoming census the government are allowing people to put down whatever sex they want (as far as I am aware this does not apply to whatever age you want, wherever you want to live or whatever ethnicity you want to be).
Given that government policy is based upon the census this is a serious issue. The Fair Play for Women organisation is taking the Scottish Government to court, arguing that sex is legally defined in law and cannot just be arbitrarily overridden by a government committed to this strange ideology. The government argues that we ‘need to evolve with the times’.
It is somewhat puzzling as to why this issue is seen as so important. But Scotland is both an example and a warning to other Western liberal democracies when the governing parties are taken over by the Woke progressives. Social ‘justice’ issues – from their perspective – are their primary concern. Sometimes it seems as though when one ‘progressive’ country goes so far, the next wants to go even further.
The Anti-Christian anti-Conversion Therapy Bill
One aspect of this is seen in the proposed anti-conversion therapy legislation. The Christian Institute recently warned that the Scottish Parliament’s Equalities Committee was proposing “the most extreme legislation on conversion therapy in the world”.
Seeking to emulate Victoria (in Australia) and Canada, they are determined to go even further. For example, they propose that ordinary religious teaching which deals with LGBT issues should only be permitted if it is done in a non-judgemental and non-directive way. They also suggest that religious communities should be ‘re-educated’ to accept what the Government thinks about LGBT issues. Who knows? Perhaps church summer camps will now become ‘re-education camps’ run by government officials who have received the appropriate doctrinal training?!
The irony and folly of the policy is seen when they argue that having everyone believing the same state doctrine is “crucial to promote diversity”. It appears that we can believe and practise only what the government decrees.
What Are You Thinking?
Meanwhile it has become even more Orwellian. In a story that seems almost impossible to believe – but is true – Edinburgh charity worker Nicola Murray was recently visited by police who wanted to question her about a statement she made on social media concerning the Edinburgh Rape Crisis centre.
Mridul Wadhwa, a trans woman and CEO of the centre, has stated that woman who do not believe that a man can become a woman and who do not want to see men in a rape crisis centre should ‘be challenged on their prejudices’ and undergo re-education to deal with their bigotry. Understandably Nicola Murray said that her own charity, which supports domestic violence victims, would not be referring clients to the rape centre – and so the police came visiting.
Here is where it goes full ‘thought crime’. The police accepted that Ms Murray had not committed a crime or said anything hateful, but that they needed to speak to her to ‘ascertain what your thinking was behind the statement’.
In today’s Britain police are being sent out to assess whether a thought crime has been committed – and because a woman questioned whether a biological male should be in charge of a women’s refuge!
But it’s not just the intimidation of those who don’t buy into the new ideology that is concerning. The Scottish government is determined to indoctrinate this ideology into children. The education system is being used not to educate but to indoctrinate children into this new State ideology.
Questioning Pupils about Sex
At the end of last year there was considerable parental concern about a questionnaire and survey that asked secondary school pupils about specific sexual practices. All of this was being done of course for ‘health and safety’ reasons, but when Scottish government ministers were asked to answer these questions themselves, they refused.
Each of these incidents is in and of themselves concerning. But taken together as a whole, they indicate an ideology that is out of control and a state culture which will end up doing enormous harm to children, women and indeed men.
Progressive ideology may sound fine in the halls of academia, the corridors of power and the dining rooms of middle-class suburbia. But the people who pay the price are the poor, the young and the vulnerable. I think Jesus had something to say about that – I wonder if his professing church will?
Remember this? – The ‘Hate’ Police are Now Here
Code Red for Scotland’s Children – Scottish Government Sanctions Child Abuse – CT
As always, most evangelical Ministers, Pastors , Elders and Deacons will remain silent, because they are too comfortable as inward looking leaders of Christian social clubs.
And just how deep and wide a study did you do to come up with the accusation of “most” do you not see yourself on the hate agenda of Christianity, or is it your own way to eliminate Christianity.
Andrew
I think this comment is unfair and untrue. I know many, many of those you describe as “evangelical Ministers, Pastors , Elders and Deacons”, who are appalled by what is going on and who are voicing their objections and concerns through such groups as Christian Institute as well as directly to their elected representatives. One of the biggest problems, as I know from my own experience, is that our elected representatives are simply not listening and not willing to engage in dialogue, none more so than members of the SNP.
Deeply disturbing what is happening in Scotland. If you look up the ‘Glasgow Cabbie’ on Face Book you will see the support this man has from parents in his fight against the snp regarding the propsed Sex Questionairre to be distributed in schools. Some of the videos are quite honestly X rated. How we have fallen as a nation.
You have ‘hit the nail on the head’ again David. This is the sad reality of regressive SNP run Scotland and what damage this will cause to our society in the years down the line. Unfortunately, apart from some excellent exceptions, we now don’t have the challenging and investigative journalists of the past. It is all too cosy and safe together in the Scottish Parliament ‘club’. God, have mercy on our Nation!
I suffered my way through the Scottish education system in the 80s and 90s. It was dreadful then and I can’t even imagine how bad it is now. How can a nation which produced so many fine philosophers, scientists and engineers now have a generation of kids who are barely literate?
My biggest surprise in reading this article was to read that Kate Forbes, a committed Christian, was a member of SNP.
I know a lot of committed Christians who are members of the SNP – some are Labour, Liberal and even Tory!
You cannot serve God and the anti-God SNP.
Miss Forbes has previously declared her full confidence in John Swinney, one of the architects of the perverted sexual ‘education’ material. Nor can one, as a Christian, mislead people about who is responsible for paying pensions in hypothetical independent Scotland.
Miss Forbes has already been warned that, if she wants to become leader of the SNP at a future date, she will have to ditch her Christianity.
I rest my case.
Its a very poor case! By that standard no Christian could serve in the Tories, Labour or Lib Dems as well!…Meanwhile back in the real world…
Disagree David. As far as I know, no other party requires someone to set aside their convictions in order to advance. If they did I would make the same point.
Every party involves compromise. Do you really think you would advance in Labour or the Tories if you were for example opposed to SSM? But you should be really careful about accusing a fellow Christian of hypocrisy just because you don’t like their political party.
I don’t think I have accused her of hypocrisy. I think she is in a conflicted situation in which the direction of travel in her party is diametrically opposed to the values of the faith we share, based on the word of God. Would you not agree?
If there is any truth in the reports that she would have to choose between her faith and advancement in the party, I would like to think she would make the right choice.
And that is also true for members of the Labour, Tory and Lib-Dem parties. Why just pick on the SNP?
The trajectory is deeply damaging to children, democracy and all those opposed to these political aims. The future for the Scottish church looks bleak. The future is grave for a Scottish society where the renewing and liberating light of the gospel is severely curbed. May God be merciful.
Well said David, yet again. “Because wickedness abounds, the love of many grows cold”, said the Lord Jesus; warning about the conditions leading to His return when He will judge all.
Praise God for those with the courage & integrity to stand for the truth against the lies & wickedness. The Christian Institute are standing against this, and have a U Tube presentation by 2 Ministers who have written to the Government in Westminster along with hundreds of others stating clearly they will even go to prison if these laws are introduced, as they have no alternative than to preach & teach & pray and minister the Biblical Gospel.
Our Governments & Assemblies & Parliaments are going to become every bit as oppressive & totalitarian as North Korea, China (CCP) and Russia, not to mention the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Just FWIW the Guardian doesn’t seem particularly in favor of trans equality, despite being the only (?) left leaning serious newspaper in the UK they have written a number of articles opposing trans rights so its no surprise.
I have to confess that I don’t understand the logic of the claim that trans rights are in conflict with human rights because if you believe in gender equality then it surely should not matter whether birth certificate, DNA, gonads and presentation all match or not, ie surely either rights are gender dependent or they are not?
George Orwell was very much into precision with language, akin to the Church Father who said words were “precious cups of meaning”. I hold out little fear for the church around SSA, where it often feels (at least to me anyway) as if a fair compromise is slowly being reached. Was the Nazi treatment of gay people deplorable? Well, Yes! Was there horrific homophobia across Western society in the past? Well, Yes!
Gay or lesbian friends often seem accepting of evangelical or Catholic sensitivities around sexuality. I was even invited to a civil partnership party a few years back, joking that the couple needed to invite one evangelical to show they were not prejudiced. It was as good “a wedding party”/”CP party” as I have ever attended. My friends appreciate it would have been different if their union was being blessed by a church and I would not have attended.
Is the radical transgender group need to close or narrow debate very telling? These terms should stir alarm: “non-judgemental” and “non-directive way”. When you read some of the analysis of worldview, by authors like Sire, a conclusion like this maybe bubbles up: all speech and comment is set and influenced by context, so that only dead or unconscious people (provided they are not dreaming) can be fully “non-judgemental” in a “non-directive way”. It’s even ‘judgemental and directive’, arguably, to accuse someone else of being ‘judgemental and directive…….’
Precision of language?
Well , Ancient Hebrew , a language upon which Christians must surely rely , contained no vowels , so some guesswork is surely required.
Ancient Hebrew did ‘contain vowels’. But, yes, READING it (as READING any text in any language) did require ‘some guesswork — no problem to anyone ‘knowing’ the language.
Time to join the Scottish Family Party!
A political party that a Christian can join with a clear conscience.
Check out their website.
The problem is that the Scottish Family Party won’t define what a family is! In their own words, “Our stance is that defining “family” is not a helpful approach. For example, if a child is asked about her family and she says she has two mums, does anyone really want to reply that that isn’t actually a family? The normal usage of the word family now encompasses various family forms. A better approach, in our view, is to be clear that we regard natural family life, with children being brought up by their own mother and father, as the ideal. The SFP does not have a policy on Same Sex Marriage (though most of our supporters probably oppose it) as we decided that it would not be a fruitful issue to focus on. Instead, we put forward the positive ideal of natural family life.” Very vague and unhelpful