The power of unity

What we believe

For Carter, the biggest danger is the growing trend among Protestant denominations to have uniformity in theology between the congregations. For him this is a violation of basic Christian principles. "I think that once you try to have a unanimous compliance with a controversial issue, that is inherently and inevitably going to create divisions that separate one Christian from another and one congregation from another."

To explain what he would do to fight this, he uses a personal experience from his address to the Baptist World Alliance in Birmingham last year, a Bible lesson that drew one of the largest crowds in history. "The main thrust of my talk was that Christians were inevitably going to disagree, but that Paul advised, not only the Corinthians but also the Galatians, 'Don't let those things come between us.'

"If you take the Baptist World Alliance as an example, we have members from I think 180 nations. And we don't get involved in what I consider to be minutiae of theological discussions. One of the things that divides a lot of members of the Baptist World Alliance from others is whether or not women should play a major role in the Church - whether they can be pastors or deacons and so forth. And so the Baptist World Alliance doesn't define membership on whether you do or do not permit a woman to be a preacher in your church. So that's a harmonious thing.

"We believe this: that we are saved by the grace of God through our faith in Jesus Christ. Period. And if you believe that, to me that is adequate as a definition of a Christian. And then you can decide; individual communities can say we're going to have women preachers or we're not going to have women preachers, we're going to accept homosexual members or we're not."

This sparks a discussion of the current two-pronged controversy in the UK regarding same-sex marriage and the ordination of gay priests within the Church of England. And Carter applies the same principles here. "I think that the different denominations in Britain - if they want to emphasise the question of homosexuality, for example, I think it's an unnecessary, counterproductive emphasis by definition of what a fellow Christian ought to be. And at the same time it's directly in violation of the scriptural messages that Paul advocated in the early Church years. And that was the main message, by the way, that Paul emphasised all the way through, because he saw that, 2,000 years ago, as a basic threat to the unity and effectiveness of the Christian Church."

Hot potatoes

The sexuality debate features strongly in Carter's book, alongside other contentious issues like divorce, abortion, the death penalty and the role of women. He describes these issues as being a distraction to the central truth of the Gospel. Yes, they're important issues, but we often tend to elevate them far above the essential truth, which leads inevitably to conflict both within the Church and with the society around us.

"As a matter of fact, Jesus never mentioned homosexuality or any aspect of it in his many listings of sinfulness for which humans need to be wary or to avoid," Carter says. "I know that it is mentioned by St Paul and also in several places in the Old Testament. But when Paul mentions homosexuality, it's always in a litany of other things including selfishness and so forth."

He's not afraid to explain his own opinions, even if they may sound controversial: "I don't endorse gay marriage, but I think a civil union between homosexuals should be completely acceptable, and also that they should not be the subject of condemnation or discrimination in any way because of their sexual preferences. I am also careful not to endorse the right of homosexual marriage within the churches. I believe that individual congregations should have the ability to make their own decisions."

But that’s not the point. The issue here, for Carter, is that "lately the fundamentalists have escalated homosexuality to be the driving point in their entire effort to define what a Christian is. In other words, that is the element that is most important to them in their public statements and the debates within different denominations," he says. "And I don't believe that it should be. I think it should be just one of the fallibilities of some human beings that we should address with compassion and with love. And I don't think that anyone should be excluded from acceptance as a fellow Christian within a community just because they happen to be a homosexual."

So how can we as evangelicals speak publicly with compassion and also with the mind of Christ on these thorny issues? "Well, I think the mind of Christ was expressed very clearly in His specific warning: 'Judge not that you be not judged'. And He also said, 'Don't look at the mote that's in your neighbour's eye when you have a beam, or a two-by-four, in your own eye.' "