An orchestrated campaign to silence Christian teaching on marriage is well underway in the UK, led by secularist groups like the National Secular Society (NSS).
Just last week, activists reported Speke Baptist Church in Liverpool to the Charity Commission for a sermon delivered nine years ago. Pastor Steve Casey had simply taught biblical views on marriage, pointing out that many people “don’t feel any peace” about laws permitting same-sex marriage.
Carryduff Free Presbyterian Church in Northern Ireland was reported for a sermon titled “The myth of gay marriage”, which affirmed longstanding Christian teaching. Likewise, Tabor Baptist Church in Wales faced investigation simply for preaching traditional marriage doctrine.
Current attacks coincide with a major symbolic shift witnessed recently within the Church in Wales, which last week appointed its first openly lesbian Archbishop. This troubling development emphasises just how far institutional attitudes to marriage have moved away from the historic position.
Echoing the original Gay Liberation Front manifesto’s aim of “abolition of the family”, the NSS openly seeks to strip churches that proclaim traditional views about marriage and sexuality of their charitable status. Such actions are a direct assault not just on Christian doctrine, but on marriage itself and our fundamental freedoms.
As a former US Attorney General has observed, “This is not decay; it is organised destruction. Secularists and their allies among their ‘progressives’ have marshalled all the force of mass communications … in an unremitting assault on religion and traditional values.”
Coalition for Marriage will not bow to this pressure. We urge all churches to remain steadfast and fearless in proclaiming real marriage publicly. The Humanists and NSS should be reminded: defending man-woman marriage is not up for negotiation. We must continue to speak boldly, clearly, and courageously – whatever it costs.