Over the last four months I’ve been looking at the so-called “clobber” passages used by various churches over the last few decades to deny that salvation is available for those who identify as being part of the LGBTQ+ community, and additionally apply unreasonable requirements to be recognised as part of the church. We completed that short series last month, so this month I wanted to pick up one or two issues that have “crossed my desk” (monitor!) recently.
The main issue from an LGBTQ+ perspective, is that both the Westminster and Holyrood Governments are putting forward legislation to ban conversion therapy. The UK government bill is a very short private members bill introduced by Baroness Burt of Solihull, and defines ‘conversion therapy’ as “any practice aimed at a person or group of people which demonstrates an assumption that any sexual orientation or gender identity is inherently preferable to another, and which has the intended purpose of attempting to—
(a) change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, or (b) suppress a person’s expression of sexual orientation or gender identity.”
If you are interested in watching the progress of the bill through the UK parliament you can check it here. The paragraph above is basically the meat of it. And, equally simply, the first paragraph says: “A person commits an offence if they practise, or offer to practise, conversion therapy.” It’s short and concise – yes, something I could learn from! 🤣
As I write this, it has passed its first and second reading in the Lords, and now goes to the committee stage. It has yet to go through the Commons. However, given the state of the current Government, I guess it could get kicked into the long grass if an election were called —but, as I’m not sure exactly how these parliamentary processes work, I don’t know how final that would be. My current understanding is that the Bill would be killed, and a new one would need to be brought forward in any new Parliament. The Government has been trying to get a bill on the books since about 2018, but because the Conservative party is so badly split into factions, they have failed to agree whether, or indeed, what, to bring to Parliament, particularly given interventions by MP’s with a conservative (in the non-political sense) faith background, hence the initiative now taken by Baroness Burt in the Lords.
Meanwhile, in Scotland, because Holyrood has got fed up waiting for Westminster to act, they have started their own process to ban Conversion Therapy. On the Scottish Government website, they say: “We continue to promote equality and human rights and support strong communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe, where human rights are respected. This, of course, includes the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning and intersex people, and all gender identities and sexual orientations (LGBTQI+).
Conversion practices are undertaken with the intention to change or suppress the sexual orientation or gender identity of another person. Conversion practices are harmful to individuals subjected to them. They are promoted within an ideology that views LGBTQI+ identities as wrong and believes that they can be changed.”
So, between 9th January and 2nd April 2024, people in Scotland have an opportunity to express their thinking and offer feedback as part of the consultation process. If you live in Scotland why not be part of the debate? There is a full explanation of the proposed legislation to ban Conversion Therapy which I’ll now refer to simply as CT. Recently they have made available an easy-read version. Both documents can be downloaded either in Word or PDF formats, and although they encourage you to complete the form online, you may also complete the Word version, and then email it back to them at: EndingConversionPractices@gov.scot before 2nd April 2024.
Many church and faith groups are in a high state of anxiety about this because they see this legislation as a very real threat to their expression of faith. For example, one Christian group expressed fears that Christians won’t be able to teach their faith to others, that people and won’t be able to pray for their friends, that pastoral advice could get tricky, and that evangelism will become a minefield. However, this is just scaremongering as the Bill doesn’t threaten any of these – if they had read the text of the Bill! Sadly, some Christians will simply believe the headline scare tactics. Earlier today, I found one article in a popular Christian publication, defending Christians who reject Trans issues, by quoting Matthew 5: 10-12 and 1 Peter 3: 14 – clearly the idea of Christian martyrdom is not dead! The only threat this Bill presents is to those whose current behaviour harms so many, which is as it should be.
Their whole shtick is fundamentally flawed. As I’ve said many times before, if those identifying as LGBTQ+ chose their sexuality, you might be able to make a case that there is a problem. However, the medical profession including psychology, has, for decades, recognised that homosexuality is a natural part of the created order — although they might choose a different word there to “created”! 😊 We also know that there is no verifiable evidence of anyone being changed from gay to straight, resulting from prayer. Once again, if there was verifiable and clear evidence that a high percentage of people were being changed to straight as a direct result of prayer/talking “therapy”, this discussion would be very different, but the evidence is simply not there.
The UK Government research confirms this, since one of the main findings in October 2021, was that: “there is no robust evidence that conversion therapy can achieve its stated therapeutic aim of changing sexual orientation or gender identity”
Indeed, as Baroness Burt said in the Lords at the Second Reading on the 9th February 2024:
“First, we need to define what we mean by conversion therapy because, in reality, it is not therapy at all. As defined in my Bill, conversion therapy is any practice with the predetermined purpose of changing or suppressing a person’s expression of their sexual orientation or gender identity. These practices are based on the belief that there is a right way to behave and live your life. …
… What the practices do achieve, however, is deeply harmful to the recipient. It was summarised eloquently by the UN Independent Forensic Expert Group, which concluded that: “All practices attempting conversion are inherently humiliating, demeaning and discriminatory”, and that they “generate profound feelings of shame, guilt, self-disgust, and worthlessness”.
The Baroness continued: The consequences can be grave. One 2020 study found that people who had undergone conversion therapy were twice as likely to have suicidal thoughts, and 75% more likely to plan a suicide attempt than the general population. We cannot leave the LGBT+ community unprotected against these harms for any longer.”
I believe that some Christians are being deliberately deceptive, and deception is something no Christian should ever be accused of. It runs counter to the character and teachings of Jesus that we are encouraged to model. Jesus is the absolute model of Truth, and we should be seeking to look for the truth wherever we are. Sadly, some Christian organisations are peddling a kind of Christian Popularism, where verifiable fact-based truth is ignored because it inconveniently runs counter to their worldview of pre-conceived biblical theology. It has its roots in the right-wing American Evangelical Moral Majority founded by Jerry Falwell Sr. (and associates) in 1979 and ran through the ‘80’s during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, and then on through to the present day.
To state clearly, I am not against prayer. The Bible encourages us to pray in whatever situation we find ourselves: “16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. We pray for things that are in line with God’s character, and one example of how to pray is given us in the Lord’s Prayer. Additionally, God also wants us to pray when we, or others, are ill, or afraid, or for guidance. We should also be able to just chat through our days with God. We don’t pray for things that aren’t necessary, or selfish – “God please stop my body from aging!” LGBTQ+ people are not ill, so God will be saying to them, “Just go on being the best [gay/whatever] person you can, because I can use you to help others in a way that only you can.”
As I said just now, the Bible encourages us to pray when we (or others) are sick. Jesus went around healing the sick. And James, in his book writes: “14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up, and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.” James 5:14-16
We need to apply logic. In the light of that verse, we must conclude that: since God has not been seen to be actively changing verifiably gay people, to verifiably straight, over the past 60 years (especially given the volume of prayers that must have been offered), He cannot be regarding any LGBTQ+ identity as an illness. It is simply a part of the diversity that makes us a human.
Let’s take Jesus’s own words in Matthew 7: “7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” If we trust what Jesus says, you are driven to the same conclusion as in the previous paragraph. How many LGBTQ+ people have been asking, asking, asking, and knocking, knocking, knocking? How many people within the LGBTQ+ community cry themselves to sleep, when they first realise that they are different, and they implore God to make them straight. If they keep imploring God to change them, and God doesn’t, don’t we learn something about how he regards these identities? I’ve cited this before, but a few months ago on BBC’s “Countryfile” a young farmer who had discovered he was gay, was pleading with God that He at least made him bi-sexual, so he had a chance of hiding among the rest of society. God didn’t change him.
So, as I read the Bible and watch where God moves, I see that there are some things that God says: “No, I don’t need to do anything there. Far more blessing can occur if I leave things as they are.”
Instead, what I long to see is people saying, “look, these folk cannot change their sexuality, so have we understood those troublesome passages correctly? Have we got it right?” Instead, they turn it backwards and say “the Bible says” without checking whether this is what the Bible is really talking about – and we’ve been going through those passages in my blogs over the last few months.
Again, to use logic: if homosexuality occurs naturally in other species, why would it be strange if it naturally happens within ours? We know that it has been observed in more than 1500 species, and that it is recorded in 5% of mammal species and 50% of mammal families.
If homosexuality were a sin in God’s eyes, but it is impossible for the person to do anything about it, the responsibility falls on God to change the person at the point when they accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. In my own church, and this will be reflected up and down the land, I see gay/lesbian[/whatever] Christians evidencing the Holy Spirit in their lives. They are unchanged as far as their sexual identity is concerned, but totally transformed as far as their spiritual lives are concerned. If homosexuality [or whatever] was such an awful “sin” for God, God’s character requires that He changes them to straight at the point of conversion, or at least begins that process, but it simply doesn’t happen [at all].
In the meantime, the Christian church heaps guilt on the gay Christian, because they haven’t changed. “You need faith.” “You don’t have enough faith.” “God can’t accept you if you don’t change.” “Homosexuals will be excluded from Heaven.” [To misquote 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11 – don’t panic – read my previous blog!
In that context I must refer you back to the blogs of September and October 2021. This was where Don and Sarah told me their stories. Please read them again because you will be reminded of the real-life pain that so many people experience. You will read about Don’s experiences of CT, which is particularly pertinent in the light of this blog, and Sarah’s pain and rejection at “coming out” – again, within a Christian family. Why should anyone brought up inside churches experience these levels of pain? Especially inside churches. The church that Jesus wants, should be a place where people come to find love and healing, not a place where salt is rubbed vigorously into longstanding hurts. Luke 13:34 has Jesus saying: “how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”
It is these stories which I read again and again in so many places. On the resources pages of the website (both General and Trans Resources) I refer to books, podcasts and videos where people tell of their own experiences – many include stories of pain resulting from CT. How can any Jesus-loving Christian be okay with causing long-standing pain, including PTSD, to someone else, especially another Christian? (By the way it is not acceptable to cause pain to anyone, regardless of whether they are a Christian!)
So, although Christians will worry about the effect of the proposed legislation on preaching and teaching, evangelism, pastoral advice, parenting and in other areas, I kind of feel these churches only have themselves to blame. Many churches have been too scared to tackle the issues of sexuality for fear it will split the church – as we have seen in Anglicanism. They preach “unity”, but it must be on my terms – you’ll clearly be wrong! Many churches have had policies along the lines of “Don’t ask, don’t tell”, because they are too afraid of the fallout. Most Christians have a very tenuous grasp of the theology, and just “know” that it is very wrong to be a practicing gay person. I would also guess that based on my experience, probably less than 10% of church attenders have ever read the Bible completely. I hadn’t until my mid‑fifties, and I grew up in a Christian family, was involved with the leadership team in a church, and read the Bible with devotional notes most days!
Having said that, I have found it is relatively easy to read the Bible through in a year. You could make it something you do, starting this Lent, and finishing next Lent. If you read about 3 chapters each day, or 85 verses, which will take about 10/15 minutes, you’ll get through the Bible over the course of a year. The free YouVersion Bible App is good, because you can install it on your phone or tablet, create an account, and select one of their scores of free Bible reading plans. Alternatively, you can also use it directly from a PC or laptop, create an account, select a Bible-reading plan and off you go, and it’ll be ready with your next chapters when you log back in the following day. Did I mention that was free – so you don’t need to endanger your wallet! 🤣
As a Christian, I don’t want to see it made more difficult to be a Christian, but I don’t see either the Westminster, or Holyrood, legislation as being a problem that will limit my rights. I personally feel that we must at all costs protect people being harmed in the name of Jesus, especially when they are powerless to change themselves.
Moving on, there is a second issue that is closely related to this and frequently gets dragged into the conversation alongside the comment that is wrong to be gay, and that is that it’s okay to be gay providing you don’t practice your homosexuality, i.e. you remain celibate. This comment was one I, myself made about 35years ago – not quite sure exactly when, but I was wrong and deeply regret it, because of the damage it did.
To bolster this line, frequently the Christian media wheel out a gay contributor who will say how they were convinced that celibacy was the only true way to understand the Bible as a gay person, and that their relationship with God has grown so much deeper in the years that followed, with God continuing to bless their ministry.
I struggle with this position for two reasons:
One is that they do not make it clear whether what they are saying is that this is their own specific call from God, or whether they believe this is God’s call for every gay person. I fully respect the line if they say, I believe that God has called me to remain celibate. This is entirely consistent with Scripture. However, if they are saying — and the programs are often set up to implicitly convey this message — that all gay people, must remain celibate, then that runs counter to Biblical teaching. For both those positions let me point to Matthew 19 where Jesus teaches about divorce saying that it should not happen except for sexual immorality. In response, the disciples, when presumably chatting with Jesus sometime later: “… said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 But he said to them, “Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given. 12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.”
Jesus starts by saying “Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given.” Jesus therefore says this teaching is not obligatory for all, and He finishes with the comment that: “Let anyone accept this who can.” It is implicit that not everyone can or should – the word being anyone, not everyone. It is also implicit that Jesus expects many won’t. He is not including non-believers as He is talking privately to His disciples – His closest friends.
Furthermore Paul, when writing to the Corinthians in Chapter 7, writes: “9 But if they are not practicing self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.” Paul suggested celibacy would be good for those who could manage it (Paul was writing at a time of great social turbulence) but if they were struggling, it was best to marry. Hence you can’t make a case that celibacy was anything other than a highly individual, and specific, calling of God.
There are therefore two main stances held by LGBTQ+ Christians — Side “A” and Side “B”. “Side A” Christians are those who believe that LGBTQ+ individuals can fully participate in the church, including in leadership roles, and can enter into same-sex relationships, including marriage. They affirm and support LGBTQ+ rights within both the church and society.
“Side B” Christians, on the other hand, believe that LGBTQ+ individuals are called to abstain from same-sex relationships and live a celibate life or pursue heterosexual relationships (which are usually damaging, in the long term, as I have written about elsewhere). They hold the view that while same‑sex attraction is not sinful, acting on it is contrary to biblical teaching.
The second reason for my struggle with the concept that “it’s okay to be gay – providing a person remains celibate”, is that the message is mixed. Normally the person saying this, is non‑affirming of the LGBTQ+ person, and will passionately believe the person can and must change. So, it’s as if they have a niggling doubt, but just in case they are wrong, they grudgingly add “if you can’t change, stay celibate and you’ll be okay”. This is clearly wrong. They have no skin in the game, whereas the LGBTQ+ person faces a lifetime of shutting down emotions, and shutting out all relationships in case they find themselves drawn too deeply into one by mistake. This inhibits the good, God might otherwise bring through their ministry, as a result of fear.
So, in summary, if you have an opportunity to contribute to either the UK or Scottish Government consultations, please take it. And, in the meantime if you have any contribution to add, it’d be great to hear from you. Contact me here.
Changing Minds 