Learning from Scotland’s situation on state-influenced religion

This article first appeared in the Summer 2022 edition of the Social Issues Bulletin. Download the whole Bulletin.

State-influenced religion – how should churches respond? This is one of the major problems of our time, here in the United Kingdom and across the western world. Churches always face serious moral challenges and temptations as regards how to respond to the prevalent ideology of the state and the government of the day. Some churches willingly co-operate and even push state-influenced religion, at times to the detriment of other churches. A case in point is same-sex marriage and ‘conversion therapy’ bans, both recently endorsed by the Church of Scotland General Assembly as well as some other denominations in England.^[1]

Endorsing ‘conversion therapy’ ban risks criminalizing the faithful

Speaking up against a ban on ‘conversion therapy’ or ‘conversion practices’ is perhaps one of the most difficult issues in recent years for Christians to engage with. The reason for this is that the moment someone mentions conversion therapy we instantly think of some of the horrendous and abusive behaviour reported in the media such as electric shock treatments. However, by focusing on the more sensational elements around conversion therapy we can miss the bigger picture. Physical abuse and coercive conversion practices are already illegal. Accordingly, the question must be asked as to what any proposed ban on conversion practices is designed to prevent.

Within Scotland, the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee’s report on the Petition to End Conversion Therapy has identified the legislation enacted in Victoria, Australia as one of the “best practice examples”.^[2] This is concerning as the Victoria legislation seems to criminalise pastoral advice and prayer that upholds the Bible’s teaching on sexual ethics. The ban in Victoria is widely considered the most restrictive in the world so far. It is however sobering to realise that here in the UK there is now a government-sponsored Conversion Therapy Victims Helpline, run by GALOP the anti-LGBT hate crime charity.^[3]

Moreover, the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee’s report notes that the ‘legislation should not pose any restrictions on ordinary religious teaching or the right of people to take part in prayer or pastoral care to discuss, explore or come to terms with their identity in a non-judgmental and non-directive way.’^[4] While at first glance that seems reasonable the keys words are ‘non-judgmental’ and ‘non-directive’. What does that mean in practice? Jayne Ozanne, a leading campaigner for the ban, said in relation to prayer: ‘when there is a pre-determined purpose I think that must be banned’^[5].

The challenge to uphold the mind of Christ on creation

As Christians, we have pre-determined views of what is right and wrong based on God’s word, the Bible. If the test for whether you are engaging in conversion therapy is whether you have a pre-determined view on what is right and wrong then Christians will be caught by this ban and criminalised for our normal church activities such as prayer, pastoral care and, even potentially, preaching in some circumstances. Accordingly, a ban on conversion therapy amounts to the state determining what are ‘acceptable’ religious beliefs and practices. This is a serious threat to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. We might expect such a radical restriction of this freedom in a totalitarian state but not in a liberal democracy. The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion includes the right ‘in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching practice and observance.’^[6] A broad ban on conversion practices which criminalises prayer and normal pastoral care is a serious infringement of this right but seems to be what is envisioned in the proposals for a ban.

Given that proposals for a ban on conversion therapy seem to involve the state defining what are ‘acceptable’ religious beliefs and practices it is deeply concerning that the Church of Scotland at their General Assembly have now endorsed the Memorandum of Understanding on Conversion Therapy in the UK and committed themselves to advocating for a complete ban with no exemptions.^[7] The Church of Scotland is now advocating for the criminalisation of religious beliefs and practice and given the mixed economy which exists within the Church of Scotland on issues of sexual ethics, could actually find themselves advocating for the criminalisation of some of their own ministers.

Let’s take the example of the Memorandum of Understanding, which effectively normalises and perpetuates the rejection of embodiment as male or female in the mental health sector. The Memorandum prohibits counsellors and psychotherapists from preferring one ‘gender identity’ over any other.^[8] Translated into ecclesiastical terms, this is to say that a Christian counsellor or a parish minister should not tell parishioners that if they are biologically male, they should only live as men, or the equivalent for women. Any church denomination or network that has endorsed the Memorandum has effectively endorsed ministers who are prepared to play along with cross-gender identification. The problem with this is that the Bible makes clear gender is God-given and cannot be changed. Even more importantly, it clashes with the fact that Jesus Christ affirmed the truth that God created human beings male and female in his teaching about marriage (Matt 19:3-9).

To recapitulate what was said above, this very significant move within the Church of Scotland, following that of some other denominations, means that faithful pastors are increasingly left at risk of prosecution for working on the basis of the truth of creation. It is deeply ironic that all this has happened during a time when not only numerous Christians but many of no particular faith, and some of other faiths, have been working sacrificially and at risk to their reputations and livelihoods to defend the truth of biology in public policy and legislation. It is at times observable how people of no faith feel they cannot trust churches when they endorse the whole gamut of LGBT ideology on the policy level.

The importance of standing for Christian values

The situation may seem hopeless, but it is worth recalling an earlier example of good Christian influence in Scotland. Just before Christmas 2020 the Western Isles council voted to commend Christian materials for Relationships, Sexuality and Health and Parenthood lessons in schools instead of the inappropriate materials pushed by the Scottish Government.^[9] Some brave Christians had been speaking up before this, for the Church of Scotland Presbytery of the Isle of Lewis in 2020.^[10]

The key to the pushback in the Western Isles of Scotland was that parents, teachers, pastors and church members actually looked at the relationships and sexuality education material that was coming into schools. They did not turn a blind eye nor expect somebody else to do the work. In so doing they were able to disprove the extreme progressive canard of ‘bigotry’ usually aimed at conservative Christians on such issues. A journalist at the Times in London tried the usual liberal challenge to the councillors.^[11] Gordon Murray, leader of the SNP councillors in the Western Isles council, and a deacon in the Free Church of Scotland, was asked why did the councillors not endorse curriculum material that was being used ‘everywhere else’, as if its supposed use ‘everywhere’ was a moral justification for it. Murray replied thus:

If everyone is doing it, does that mean it’s right?…I looked at these materials and felt some were age-inappropriate. Western Islanders are very well-informed about these materials — are other parts of the country as well-informed?

The Times had no response to this, simply because there was no suitable response. It is also significant that the SNP and the Scottish Government stayed silent in the face of the Western Isles council’s stance. Surely if the new RSHP curriculum material was so wonderful it would be worth defending publicly?

In conclusion, the practical example of Christians in the Western Isles could well serve as an encouragement to other Christians in Scotland in the face of the religious endorsement of same-sex marriage and ‘conversion therapy’ bans. It is only by close scrutiny of the relevant policies that people can see how bad things really are. It is only then that the task of forging a united vision for the good of society, necessarily including resistance to all that is unrighteous and damaging in the current statist consensus, can be begun let alone accomplished. Churches are not morally bound to follow state-influenced religion in a fatalistic and ignorant know-nothing manner. The more people who have the courage to stand for a righteous vision, the more the so called ban on conversion therapy will be exposed as a direct attack on freedom of religion and belief.

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Footnotes

[1] https://churchofscotland.org.uk/news-and-events/news/2022/articles/general-assembly-approves-scheme-to-conduct-same-sex-marriages ; https://www.christiantoday.com/article/church.of.scotland.general.assembly.backs.calls.for.ban.on.conversion.therapy/138658.htm

[2] Report on Petition PE1817: End Conversion Therapy, published 25 January 2022 https://sp-bpr-en-prod-cdnep.azureedge.net/published/EHRCJ/2022/1/25/8c18e05c-08ab-4c7d-992b-4b0467541d70/EHRCJS062022R1.pdf

[3] https://christianconcern.com/comment/conversion-therapy-helpline-is-state-sanctioned-surveillance/

[4] Paragraph 79, Report on Petition PE1817

[5] Paragraph 68, Report on Petition PE1817

[6] Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. See online: https://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf

[7] https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/93359/faith-impact-forum.pdf

[8] https://www.bacp.co.uk/events-and-resources/ethics-and-standards/mou/

[9] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/28/western-isles-council-rejects-official-sex-ed-in-favour-of-catholic-teaching

[10] https://christianconcern.com/comment/scottish-council-votes-to-commend-christian-sex-education-materials/

[11] https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/western-isles-council-snubs-official-sex-education-teaching-for-catholic-guide-xgm32wxjc