Illiberalism and the Strong Hand of the State

Theological and political liberals are undergoing a transformation. Once characterised by a kind of ‘live and let live’ mentality, their gentle benevolence is morphing into a chilling authoritarianism. Politically, we see the new Lib Dem leader in Parliament say she wouldn’t accept a second Leave victory in the second vote she currently campaigns for. How is this liberal or democratic? On the theological side, Jayne Ozanne, the senior member of the Anglican synod, is a practising lesbian on a mission to ‘deconvert’ evangelicals from their ‘homophobic’ assumptions. As Jules Gomes writes of her autobiography: “In sheer literary terms, Ozanne’s autobiography is an unqualified success. In theological terms, it is a car crash.” He continues:

“The title of her book is a dead giveaway: Just Love: A Journey of Self-Acceptance. “We are called to JUST LOVE,” she writes, “JUST LOVE! That’s all.” This is not the gospel of Jesus but a woefully reductionist and simplistic misrepresentation of the Christian faith. Paradoxically, we are also called to hate! “O you who love the Lord, hate evil!” exhorts the Psalmist. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple,” says Jesus. The gospel is NOT about self-acceptance, but about self-denial.”

-All Jayne Ozanne needs is “Just Love” and the gospel of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, September 11, 2018, Rebel Priest Blog. 

Of course, Ms Ozanne is entitled to both her beliefs and her right to share them. But see one of her tweets below, from May, responding to the Birmingham parents’ objections to teaching same-sex relationships to their primary aged children:

She wants to ensure that religious groups do not ‘enforce’ their morality and theology on their respective communities. Pastors and ministers with traditional views on sex need now need ‘educating’. There is something decidedly illiberal about the tone of this comment, something that sets a chill down the spine. She and her ilk may soon be calling on the state to enforce their theological perspective, which is unlikely to end well. She has recently campaigned against ‘conversion therapy’, the supposed practice of turning LGBT people into heterosexuals. I question whether such a conversion is truly possible, though my point here is the nature of her opposition to something which others may find helpful. Critiquing and objecting to it is one thing; having it banned by statute is once more using the authority of the secular magistrate to limit, control and supervise what Christians can do.

I’ve written before that civil government is God’s gift to a fallen race; the state limits wickedness and punishes offenders. Increasingly, there are calls from some quarters to have the British state legislate in matters of Christian conscience. When this happens, Bible believers can expect arrests, court-hearings, fines and imprisonment. I’m loyal to my country and I pay Caesar his due. I will not, however, heed his lessons in Biblical hermeneutics and theology, even when so-called Christians demand it.

Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”

Acts 5:29