When the BBC’s long-running Songs of Praise TV programme focused on church weddings last Sunday, it was inevitable that they would include a same-sex ceremony in their ‘diverse’ round-up.
After all, celebrating LGBTQ+ is all part of their commitment to equality and inclusivity - it’s a wonder this has taken so long to penetrate the popular programme.
When joyful Christians really praise the Lord when they sing, it makes make good television. Many are inspired by happy people singing glorious truths put to exquisite words and music. A photographer friend of mine, who has gently mocked my faith over the years, is addicted to the programme.
Yet even Sunday’s show was, in a sense, a witness to Christ as it was clear, in my opinion, who the real believers were.
The Church has Caved in
We’re in this tawdry mess in the first place because the Church hasn’t spoken out. The BBC had a perfect excuse for extending their propaganda into Songs of Praise in view of the mixed messages given out by the Church over the same-sex issue.
Even some evangelicals have caved in. In California, for example, a former head of the National Association of Evangelicals in the US, Dr Kevin Mannoia, has backed a resolution passed by the California State Assembly forcing church leaders to endorse LGBTQ+ ideology.1
We’re in this tawdry mess in the first place because of mixed messages given out by the Church over the same-sex issue.
But a radically transformed former lesbian has vowed to redeem the rainbow – originally a sign of God’s covenant with mankind but now hijacked (minus the colour indigo) as the flag of homosexuality. Nichol Collins lived as a lesbian and drug dealer for 20 years, but after a brutal attack became a Christian and now stands up for God and her faith.2
Dr Lisa Nolland, who leads the marriage, sex and culture group within Anglican Mainstream,3 agrees with Nichol, adding that the Church’s silence over the issue speaks volumes. In a letter to Heart newspaper, she suggests we should hold church leaders to account:
This is happening on their watch. What are they doing about it? If they cannot lead here, then financially support those who will. Vote with your credit card. Tell LGBT-supporting Sainsbury’s they have lost your business, for instance, and thank non-Pride shops for staying out of the culture wars by shopping with them.4
Faith on Display
Pride marches and parades have taken over the West, it seems. Notice the subtle dropping of the word ‘gay’ so that it is now simply seen as a happy family carnival, luring in the unsuspecting masses.
Whatever happened to 'March for Jesus' – those joyful town centre parades that saw banner-waving Christians proudly put their faith on public display? They are still held in South America – in Sao Paulo, three million took part this year, including Brazil’s new president! But the LGBTQ+ movement swooped in to hijack the idea. Why have we been cowed into silence?
Even the rugby world has been affected, with the game’s bosses now rating politically-correct orthodoxy above talent. This was evidenced by the sorry saga of Israel Folau, sacked by the Australian board for his admittedly insensitive Instagram warning of hellfire for sinners including homosexuals.
Now the England authorities are crying foul over Saracens star Billy Vunipola, in hot water for agreeing with Folau’s views, reminding him of his responsibilities as ambassador of a game “which values inclusivity and respect”.
Defending him, an Evangelical Alliance spokesperson asked: “As rugby celebrates diversity and inclusion, does this allow for orthodox Christian beliefs, or is that the one view you must not have?”
Why have we been cowed into silence?
One Certainty
As Christian writer and editor Andrew Halloway indicated, we are not just dealing with insensitive comments, but with blatant bias against the Bible:
The Chief Executive Officer of Rugby Australia revealed the organisation’s anti-Christian bias by suggesting that she would have terminated Folau’s playing contract even if he had merely photocopied the ‘offending’ Bible passages and posted them on social media, with no comment of his own.5
We’ve come a long way down the slippery slope since former Conservative leader William Hague said he would like to see moral issues play a bigger part in political debate. Answering questions in 2007 after lecturing on the life of William Wilberforce to mark the bi-centenary of slavery’s abolition and the launch of a biography on the great man, Mr Hague said he didn’t believe British people would go along with an American kind of faith-politics, but added: “I think it would be good if we had a bit more of that.”
In his lecture, given at a Yorkshire school in aid of Selby Abbey’s restoration, he said of Wilberforce: “He was dominated by a fear that he would have to account to God for how he spent his life.”
Christians today should also bear this in mind as they consider the Pride movement. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ…” (2 Cor 5:10).
References
1 Heart newspaper, Aug-Sept 2019.
2 CBN News, 30 July 2019.
3 Committed to promote the Scriptural truths on which the Anglican Church was founded.
4 Heart newspaper, Aug/Sept 2019.
5 Ibid.