Is it any longer acceptable to be a Christian? News reaches me of a strange case involving the Liberal Democrat party. Ordinarily, I would pay no more attention to happenings within the Liberal Democrat party than I would to a golf tournament. But this case is a telling one.
It involves somebody called David Campanale, who has been deselected from the Lib Dems’ parliamentary candidate list. You would have thought that is quite a difficult thing to do. First because it is extraordinary that anyone would want to join the Lib Dems – the party is hardly bursting with talent. Secondly, since the party and its predecessor have traditionally been led by alcoholics and dog-murderers, I should have thought selection is a tricky thing to fail.
Kate Forbes was treated as though she was not just some kind of anomaly, but some sort of monster
But Mr Campanale is a Christian. And not just a Christian but a Christian who was involved with the Christian Peoples Alliance – a political party which has anti-abortion and anti-gay-marriage views. I’ve met people from this party and thought them very nice. Nevertheless the fact that Campanale was once a member (he left in 2012) means that the usual deranged activists demanded he be deselected. Various LGBT activists apparently joined the charge.
Campanale is now in touch with the Equality and Human Rights Commission claiming that the Lib Dems committed ‘multiple alleged breaches of equality law’ and that he ‘was driven out from his democratically elected position not because of any objective failings or wrongdoing but because a vocal group within Sutton Borough Liberal Democrats refused to tolerate his Christian worldview’.
Among other things this can be chalked up as another victory of the ‘be kind’ and ‘tolerance’ brigade, and yet another example of the way in which those who now pass as gay activists are not good at abiding by the ‘boot on the other foot’ rule. For a long time in the past Christians were able to rob gay people of rights because some Christians thought that it was part of their religious duty to do so. Their argument was pushed back by campaigners insisting that somebody’s private beliefs or actions shouldn’t be the business of anyone else. Now the inheritors of the campaigners who made those claims go: ‘Ta-dah – now we have the power we’re going to be at least as intolerant and bossy as you ever were.’ This is not a good look.
But it is a pattern. When he was Lib Dem leader Tim Farron found it hard to break through on any policy issues during the 2017 general election campaign. One reason was that interviewers only really wanted to talk with him about gay sex. Farron is one of those Christians who believes gay sex is a sin, and throughout the last few weeks of his leadership he was forever being asked to clarify this. The struggle-sessions seemed intended to force a reversal out of him: something the struggle-session leaders in the media finally achieved. None of which helped poor Mr Farron – or made an iota of difference to the lives of anyone in Britain, gay or straight.
It was the same with Kate Forbes. When I first met Forbes I swiftly overcame the aversion and bigotry I generally feel towards any Scottish Nationalist. She is a delightful and intelligent woman in a corner of politics which – once again – is hardly spilling over with talent. When the job of first minister came up recently there was talk of her being a contender. Perhaps she decided not to go for it given the mauling she and her family underwent the last time she tried. As a member of the Free Church of Scotland, Forbes was treated as though she was not just some kind of anomaly, but some sort of monster. Everybody now knows which questions to ask and how to push an avowedly Christian candidate into a position where they either have to succumb to the moral absolutes of our time or be cast into outer political darkness.
I thought the treatment of her back then was outrageous. Scotland – like the rest of this country – has traditionally been Christian. We have established churches. Our national institutions and customs are intrinsically tied up with the Christian faith. And for the time being at least, Christianity is the most practised religion in the UK.
We simultaneously live in an era that is keen to discard tradition and to celebrate all religions and practices which have historically not been part of national life.
Consider the man who actually rose to the position of first minister of Scotland: the now departed Humza Yousaf. After a leadership election in which Forbes had been dragged through hell for believing in the place, Yousaf seemed positively exultant about celebrating his Muslim religion while in office. One of his first acts as first minister was to have himself and his male family members photographed praying at his new official residence of Bute House. There was no outcry. No questions about where the women were. Just a respectful silence.
In March, shortly before leaving office, Yousaf released videos of the Islamic call to prayer being performed in the first minister’s official residence to mark the end of that day’s Ramadan fast. Ask yourself what would have been the outcry if Kate Forbes had celebrated a Free Church service at Bute House.
Comments