In this morning’s Times:
Apart from the appeal for even-handedness (of which I approve), it is also worth noting this article’s analysis of the motivation for the doomed ‘ex-gay’ advertisements in the first place. Parris sees it as a response to aggression on the part of Stonewall, and I’m inclined to agree. But, like Mr. Tinkles, I don’t think that Anglican Mainstream and Core Issues Trust should have risen to the provocation.
For some time now, Stonewall has been running the following advertisement on London buses:
Recently, Anglican Mainstream and Core Issues Trust planned to respond with the following advertisement, which sought to draw attention to the existence of many people who claim (convincingly) that they have at least partially overcome homosexual inclination through therapy:
The advertisement was approved by Transport for London’s advertising agency CBSO and the Advertising Standards Authority. But then, after a predictable outcry, the mayor of London banned them.
While I wouldn’t have chosen the wording that AM and CIT did, I sympathise with many of their aims. Elsewhere, I have chosen the following wording:
Suppose I say, ‘When God calls us into his Kingdom, he also calls all of us to a radically changed way of life. The Bible teaches that sexual intercourse between people of the same sex is a sin. If you find that you struggle with this sin, I encourage you to seek out one of the dedicated ministries out there that are designed to help and support you’. As far as I can tell, that’s the kind of statement someone in a free society should be at liberty to make.
Obviously, such a statement is only going to hold any sway with someone who cares what God thinks or what the Bible says. But the existence of people who have benefitted from those dedicated ministries is indisputable. Apparently, in the society I live in, one is not free to make a statement pointing that out, at least not on the side of a bus. These are sad times for liberty in the UK.
