Many of us will have followed the recent developments of the Sexual Orientation Regulations, (SORs) which have provoked increasing anxieties for our civil and religious liberties.
Our Public Affairs team has been working on these issues for many months and you can find full details of that work on our website, and access further excellent information and action points from our specialist members.
The Evangelical Alliance is committed to prophetic political engagement and welcomes the new level of political activity now evident across our membership. So let me make a few points that I trust may be a helpful contribution.
Firstly, all of us who have followed the legislation share legitimate concerns. There are tangible threats to civic and religious liberties; it will be difficult to accurately interpret the proposed exemptions in a court of law; freedom of conscience could be eroded in the provision of public services.
Secondly, I believe that effective and prophetic protest must recognise that these regulations are symptomatic of the dilemma all of us face in a democracy, where freedom has to be balanced against justice and equality.
But thirdly, we are citizens as well as Christians. We have made the Government aware that whatever the outcome of this legislation, Christian citizens will continue actively to monitor its implementation to ensure that it is equal and just.
So finally let me offer some constructive pointers for all of us in the challenging days ahead.
- We need to remember that we share the same concerns – even where we have different responses to it.
- Our unity in response is as critical as the debate itself. As an Alliance of evangelical Christians, these regulations may offer us an opportunity to experience unity in diversity.
- As we pray, lobby and protest on these regulations, our primary mission is to help our world know Christ better. As a result of our words and actions over this issue, will MPs and the watching world come to know Jesus better? Our rights are very important, but they must not become bigger than our Christ.
- Can we urge Christians to act with grace? I have been very disturbed to hear evidence from Christian MPs and policy advisors of the malicious letters which are being sent to Government ministers. This does not reflect the character of Jesus.
- We need to choose our battles carefully. I am convinced that we must raise our voice, but I am not convinced that the SORs are the battle to die for. There will be many more struggles and we must do nothing which tells the world that our faith is so fragile that its future is dependant on the outcome of this matter.
The erosion of Christian values increasingly reflected in our legislation is an indication that Britain has lost its Christian soul. In this post-Christendom Britain, we cannot afford to neglect prayerful and Spirit-led strategies for long term change, for there is much work to be done.
Some of that work will be to defend our liberties. But my prayer is that much more energy, resources and prayers will result in Britain becoming more familiar with a vibrant church acting alltogether with uncompromising love – so that people will know Christ on the streets even more than they know about our legitimate anxieties in the Houses of Parliament.
I would be happy to hear from you at any time.
With every blessing
JOEL EDWARDS
General Director
Evangelical Alliance
