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Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
Dr John Coulter ✍ As the number of migrants and asylum seekers entering the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland increases on a daily basis, the spotlight will soon fall on the Christian Churches as to how to react to this crisis - another ‘what would Jesus do’ moment for the faith.

This is a delicate spiritual issue I have addressed in the past using the Biblical New Testament parable of the Good Samaritan as an example: 

Indeed, the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments instructs Christians to treat foreigners with love, compassion and justice, mirroring how the Israelites were once treated in Egypt.

In the Old Testament Book of Leviticus chapter 19 and verses 33 and 34, we read:

Do not take advantage of foreigners who live among you in your land. Treat them like native-born Israelites, and love them as you love yourself. Remember that you were once foreigners living in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. - New Living Translation.

Again, from the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 10 and verses 18 and 19, we read:

He ensures the orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. So, you too, must show love to foreigners for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. - New Living Translation.

Indeed, Biblical scholars can point out that there are some two dozen texts which emphasise to Christians how they should treat foreigners, and many churches in Northern Ireland have been adopting these verses as their agenda towards legal asylum seekers and the overall migrant community.

But this does not mean that the Christian Churches should turn a blind eye to the cost of living crisis on their own front door steps. With the pressures on the NHS, and the cost of fuel and food, the austerity crisis can no longer be simply dismissed as a lower working class dilemma. It is hitting all sections of society.

How many people, who before the Covid pandemic of 2020 would have considered themselves to be middle class, are now an integral part in the cost of living crisis, having to visit clothing and food banks previously seen as the domain of the lower classes?

How many among the elderly in society, in spite of giving a lifetime of service to their country, have to make cost-cutting decisions as to whether they heat their homes or enjoy a warm meal - the so-called ‘heat or eat’ dilemma?

Is a silent majority of folk having to swallow hard when they see some asylum seekers and migrants walking around their community with back packs filled with clothes, sporting new trainers and state of the art mobile phones, living in top hotels with a guaranteed three good meals per day?

The people helping the asylum seekers and migrants would point out that they came to the UK and Southern Ireland with nothing and perhaps all that is in the back pack constitutes their entire life’s possessions.

However, in spite of all the help which organisations, and especially Christian Churches, have been providing for asylum seekers and immigrants, there is still an underlying growing perception that foreigners are being given preferential treatment when it comes to housing, education and health care over locals who have lived in their communities for generations.

While the Christian Churches can quote the various passages from Scripture which tell Christians to treat foreigners with love, compassion and respect, some folk have also been quoting other verses from the Bible which essentially tell people to start looking after their own kind properly.

While the passage from Leviticus is often quoted in relation to the treatment of foreigners, folk who want to see supposed equal treatment for locals often quote from the same chapter, but verse 32:

Stand up in the presence of the elderly, and show respect for the aged. Fear your God. I am the Lord. -  New Living Translation.

This has been interpreted by some Christians as a war cry for the Churches to focus primarily on the needs of the existing congregations and fellowships who have been a cornerstone of their communities for decades.

An accusation which has constantly been levelled at some places of worship is that they see themselves as a ‘cut above’ the people in the community, more concerned with their social image and more interested in creating a self-contained ‘holy huddles’ than leaving the pews to address the pressing needs and challenges of the local communities they are supposed to serve.

In this respect, some places of worship could find themselves walking a very delicate tight rope - wanting to fulfil their Christian duty towards asylum seekers coming into their community locality, but at the same time addressing the needs of local families suffering under the strains of the cost of living crisis.

The local family who can no longer afford to rent a home and has to either sleep rough, or sofa-sleep with relatives could be forgiven for getting angry when they see asylum seekers being put up in quality hotels. Why can’t these same hotels cater for the home-grown homeless?

Why can’t the places of worship open up their vast number of buildings as temporary accommodation for the homeless? At the moment, with the various summer heatwaves, helping those who are forced into sleeping rough may not seem too big a challenge for the Churches.

However, what happens if the summer heatwaves are followed weather-wise by very severe winter storms when sleeping rough becomes a challenge of mere survival?

By all means, Christian places of worship should comply with their Biblical duties in looking after legitimate asylum seekers and migrants who are forced to come into our communities because of the tyranny they have faced back home in their native lands.

But these churches cannot shirk their Christian responsibilities in looking after their own local flocks.

In this respect, the Churches need to be careful that in looking after legal migrants, they do not inadvertently fuel the very racism they are seeking to combat by giving the false impression that asylum seekers are some kind of ‘privileged elite’ - especially if there is a snap Westminster General Election and the opinion polls are accurate and Reform UK becomes a leading party of Government.

In the delicate balancing act of providing for both the needs of their local flocks and legitimate asylum seekers, this social tight rope seems to be getting higher and higher. The question then becomes, who will rescue these places of worship if they fall off that tight rope?
 
Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
John is a Director for Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. 

Christian Churches Face Huge Dilemma Over Migrants

Dr John Coulter ✍ A question I’m often challenged with during my decades in journalism is - how can you call yourself a born again Christian and be a journalist; surely the two are Biblically incompatible?


Mind you, when I reflect on the Christian folk who pose this question to me, the vast majority of them are militant fundamentalists who seem to have the perception that working in the media is “off the devil”.

Such militant fundamentalists, whilst entitled to their warped opinions as part of freedom of expression, are a mirror image of the ethos of McCarthyism which swept America during the Fifties and Sixties.

Then the big scare was from communism under the guise of ‘Reds under the bed’; now with the militant fundamentalists of the 2020s it is ‘Satan under the sofa’!

During my time in the tabloid press, I remember a fundamentalist elder challenging me as to how I could call myself a born again Christian, yet write a national newspaper column which was bedecked with scantily clad women. I simply asked this elder - how do you know there are scantily clad women on my column? The conversation ended rapidly with the elder walking away red-faced!

My answer to the militant fundamentalists is that I can show my Christian faith in journalism through a strict adherence to the Biblical ninth commandment - thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

I interpret this practically as ensuring that every article I publish or broadcast adheres 100 per cent to the codes and conventions relating to media law and journalism ethics. Whilst I have covered many controversial stories and written or broadcast in a contentious manner at times, I have - thus far - never ended up in a defamation court case for my work.

There is also the concept of trust. Rule 14 of the Editors’ Code of Practice relates to source protection. It states: “Journalists have a moral obligation to protect confidential sources of information.” If I was to breach this code, either verbally or in writing, who would ever trust me again?

Moreover, given my strong church background, I have no doubt that if I ever fell into the pitfall of breaching Rule 14, people would say - you just can’t trust that Christian Coulter! Any breach will reflect not just on me personally, but on my Christian faith.

This, of course, had led to challenges to me of ‘what if-ery’ What if you found out your source was about to commit a crime; what if your source is involved in paramilitary or terrorist activity. Or, the most challenging ‘what if’ - what if your source was involved in child abuse?

In this respect I am a militant. Once I give my word on anonymity to a confidential source, I will not break that pledge - and I am prepared to suffer the consequences.

This was especially the case when working for a documentary in 1991 for the Channel Four series, Dispatches, investigating allegations of collusion, I was interviewed by police officers about the identity of my police source.

This Rule 14 has not only thrown up challenges in relation to covering the Irish conflict, but also in church life whereby fellow Christians over the years have tipped me off about alleged scandals in churches. Indeed, some of these confidential sources have been clerics themselves.

I often draw the analogy - you see your fellow Christian in church on Sunday mornings when it’s all ‘praise Jesus, hallelujah, God bless you brother and sister!’ But I again see these same people on Monday morning when they are in my office dishing the dirt on their fellow believers!

There has been one place of worship where I investigated allegations of promiscuous sexual activity among Christians. Ethically, I was unable to publish the story - not for legal reasons - but because I could not guarantee the anonymity of my source inside that specific place of worship.

In this example, it was a case of ‘too much information’. I showed my source three drafts of the story I wanted to publish and on each occasion, my source told me if I published it in that grammatical manner, folk in the place of worship would most likely be able to work out who had provided me with the information. I was not prepared to sacrifice the source simply to get the story published.

Fellow Christians can, at times, be very quick to judge me about the coverage of scandals in places of worship. Their preferred line of criticism is from the New Testament, St Matthew’s Gospel Chapter 18 when Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother. Should it be seven times?

Jesus’ reply in verse 22 is very poignant: “Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven times, but until seventy times seven.”

And here’s the ultimate dilemma for the Christian working in the media. Applying these words of Jesus to my role as a journalist, I should constantly forgive the Christian who can’t make up their mind whose bed they should be in! In this case, I’d never get any story published!

When I operate as a journalist, I leave my Bible outside the newsroom door. I focus purely on observing the ninth commandment. And yes, when I stand before the Lord on judgement day, I will have to answer for that decision to leave my Bible outside the newsroom.

Mind you, as a member of the pressure group Christians In Media, I get alarmed when militant fundamentalists try to brand all of the media with the same satanic brush.

For example, in my honest opinion, the Pentecostalist magazine Elim Life as well as The Presbyterian Herald, the voice of the mainstream Presbyterian Church in Ireland, are two of the most professionally produced magazines in Ireland - and I’m not just saying that because I’ve had a few articles published in Elim Life and am a subscriber to the Herald as a communicant member of PCI!

When militant fundamentalists brand the media as being part of some satanic deception, are they seriously including the openly evangelical Elim Life and Presbyterian Herald magazines in their criticism?

In terms of Christian ethics versus journalism ethics, I would summarise my own personal situation with the observation that when I die, two coffins will be cremated - one for my earthly remains and the other for the secrets of my sources that I take with me into eternity.
 
Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
John is a Director for Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. 

Christian Ethics Versus Journalism Ethics 🪶 My 47-Year Debate!

Labour Heartlands ☭ Written by Paul Knaggs.

Tony Benn, the conscience of the British left for over half a century, emerged from a family deeply rooted in radical Christian tradition. His maternal lineage traced back to nonconformist dissenters who rejected established church hierarchies in favour of a more democratic and egalitarian approach to faith. This religious heritage would profoundly shape his political philosophy throughout his remarkable forty-seven years in Parliament.

Benn’s mother, Margaret Wedgwood Benn (herself descended from the progressive Wedgwood family), was no ordinary theologian. As a founder of the League of the Church Militant—the organisation that would later evolve into the Movement for the Ordination of Women—she embodied a Christianity that challenged patriarchal power structures and institutional rigidity. In their household, scripture was interpreted through a revolutionary lens.

“My mother taught me that the Bible was essentially about the struggle between the kings who had power and the prophets who preached righteousness,” Benn would later recall. This framing—positioning Jesus among the prophets who confronted unjust authority rather than among those who wielded power—became fundamental to his worldview.

Though Benn would eventually describe himself as a “Christian agnostic,” his relationship with faith remained nuanced and profound. 

The Revolutionary Jesus 🪶 Tony Benn On Christianity And Socialism

Dr John Coulter ✍ Sure its only a bit of fun! That’s an answer many Christians give when asked if they mark Hallowe’en.

Ironically, Hallowe’en night also usually coincides with the school half-term break with many pupils attending events in their schools and the community.

However, in spiritual terms, Hallowe’en is viewed as one of the main events in both the pagan and satanic calendars, so why should Christians be indulging in such commemorations?

After all, would you get satanists commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ as part of Christianity’s traditional Easter celebrations?

Christians are already facing an uphill challenge to reclaim the Christmas period from commercialism. Ask many folk in an increasingly secular society what Christmas means, and you will be told tales of Santa, family get-togethers, presents under the tree, decorations around the home, school holidays and turkey dinners.

However, there may be fewer folk talk about the birth of Christ, even though the traditional nativity plays remain a central part of school activities. Hallowe’en Night will be on 31 October and already the back to back Christmas movie TV channels are in full swing, and many restaurants have been advertising their Christmas meals since July!

The same commercialism also applies to Easter. So what can Christians practically do about Hallowe’en apart from ignoring it or be branded as kill-joys for not joining in festivities, such as fireworks displays or trick or treating around the homes?

Surely Christians parents are not going to demand that schools open their doors on 31 October so that their children can sit in lessons instead of having it as a day off as part of half-term?

One place of worship I was once linked with decided to have a Hallelujah Party instead of a Hallowe’en party in which children and adults came dressed as Biblical characters rather than traditional ghosts, monsters, vampires and demons.

Although on one occasion, one wee fella came along dressed as the devil! This is technically correct as the devil is mentioned in the Bible.

What is needed is for all Christian Churches to adopt 31 October as Salvation Day, with the key theme being the New Testament text of St John chapter 3, verse 16.

Instead of children of Christian parents indulging in the traditional trick or treating, those same children and parents could organise a leaflet drop whereby a Gospel tract is put in every single home in Northern Ireland.

Events, such as the traditional Presbyterian soirees and bring and buy sales, could be organised in church halls so that 31 October becomes a new date in the Christian calendar and emphasises the role of the churches and places of worship in the community.

But as usual, how do you get all the various Christian denominations and independent places of worship to sign up to this campaign? Christians, and especially the militant fundamentalist brands, love to bicker, criticise and argue so getting a common front may be almost impossible.

There are even a minority of Christians who even view Christmas itself as a pagan festival, maintaining that according to them, Jesus Christ Himself was not born on 25 December, blaming the Roman Empire for trying to broker a deal between Christianity and paganism.

But Hallowe’en rebranded by the Christian Churches as Salvation Day would represent a very welcome start in trying to re-establish the role of the Christian faith in today’s increasingly secular and woke society.

With many denominations reporting falling numbers in the Sunday pews, there is the real possibility that many places of worship may have to merge to survive financially if the Christian faith is to remain as a relevant presence in some rural and urban communities.

If the slide in pew numbers continues throughout this decade, the perception may be fuelled that the only roles for places of worship attendance is for so-called ‘hatch, match and dispatch’ - a crude reference to child baptisms, wedding ceremonies, and funeral services of thanksgiving.

Indeed, setting aside the growth of secularism, the British Isles geographically is rapidly becoming a multi-faith society containing religions that don’t even celebrate Christmas or Easter, let alone recognise the existence of Jesus Christ.

Commercialism is very good at inventing marketing ploys to sell goods, such as grandparents’ day, or even pets days. So why can’t Christians begin the campaign to rescue Christmas and Easter from commercialism - they could also begin by taking back Hallowe’en and making it a Christian festival, too, under the banner of Salvation Day.

Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
John is a Director for Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. 

Should Christians Celebrate Hallowe’en?

Dr John Coulter ✍ A question I’m often challenged with during my decades in journalism is - how can you call yourself a born again Christian and be a journalist; surely the two are Biblically incompatible?

Mind you, when I reflect on the Christian folk who pose this question to me, the vast majority of them are militant fundamentalists who seem to have the perception that working in the media is “off the devil”.

Such militant fundamentalists, whilst entitled to their warped opinions as part of freedom of expression, are a mirror image of the ethos of McCarthyism which swept America during the Fifties and Sixties.

Then the big scare was from communism under the guise of ‘Reds under the bed’; now with the militant fundamentalists of the 2020s it is ‘Satan under the sofa’!

During my time in the tabloid press, I remember a fundamentalist elder challenging me as to how I could call myself a born again Christian, yet write a national newspaper column which was bedecked with scantily clad women. I simply asked this elder - how do you know there are scantily clad women on my column? The conversation ended rapidly with the elder walking away red-faced!

My answer to the militant fundamentalists is that I can show my Christian faith in journalism through a strict adherence to the Biblical ninth commandment - thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

I interpret this practically as ensuring that every article I publish or broadcast adheres 100 per cent to the codes and conventions relating to media law and journalism ethics. Whilst I have covered many controversial stories and written or broadcast in a contentious manner at times, I have - thus far - never received a solicitor’s letter for my work.

There is also the concept of trust. Rule 14 of the Editors’ Code of Practice relates to source protection. It states: “Journalists have a moral obligation to protect confidential sources of information.” If I was to breach this code, either verbally or in writing, who would ever trust me again?

Moreover, given my strong church background, I have no doubt that if I ever fell into the pitfall of breaching Rule 14, people would say - you just can’t trust that Christian Coulter! Any breach will reflect not just on me personally, but on my Christian faith.

This, of course, had led to challenges to me of ‘what if-ery’ What if you found out your source was about to commit a crime; what if your source is involved in paramilitary or terrorist activity. Or, the most challenging ‘what if’ - what if your source was involved in child abuse?

In this respect I am a militant. Once I give my word on anonymity to a confidential source, I will not break that pledge - and I am prepared to suffer the consequences.

This was especially the case when working for a documentary in 1991 for the Channel Four series, Dispatches, investigating allegations of collusion, I was interviewed by police officers about the identity of my police source.

This Rule 14 has not only thrown up challenges in relation to covering the Irish conflict, but also in church life whereby fellow Christians over the years have tipped me off about alleged scandals in churches. Indeed, some of these confidential sources have been clerics themselves.

I often draw the analogy - you see your fellow Christian in church on Sunday mornings when it’s all ‘praise Jesus, hallelujah, God bless you brother and sister!’ But I again see these same people on Monday morning when they are in my office dishing the dirt on their fellow believers!

There has been one place of worship where I investigated allegations of promiscuous sexual activity among Christians. Ethically, I was unable to publish the story - not for legal reasons - but because I could not guarantee the anonymity of my source inside that specific place of worship.

In this example, it was a case of ‘too much information’. I showed my source three drafts of the story I wanted to publish and on each occasion, my source told me if I published it in that grammatical manner, folk in the place of worship would most likely be able to work out who had provided me with the information. I was not prepared to sacrifice the source simply to get the story published.

Fellow Christians can, at times, be very quick to judge me about the coverage of scandals in places of worship. Their preferred line of criticism is from the New Testament, St Matthew’s Gospel Chapter 18 when Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother. Should it be seven times?

Jesus’ reply in verse 22 is very poignant: “Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven times, but until seventy times seven.”

And here’s the ultimate dilemma for the Christian working in the media. Applying these words of Jesus to my role as a journalist, I should constantly forgive the Christian who can’t make up their mind whose bed they should be in! In this case, I’d never get any story published!

When I operate as a journalist, I leave my Bible outside the newsroom door. I focus purely on observing the ninth commandment. And yes, when I stand before the Lord on judgement day, I will have to answer for that decision to leave my Bible outside the newsroom.

Mind you, as a member of the pressure group Christians In Media, I get alarmed when militant fundamentalist try to brand all of the media with the same satanic brush.

For example, in my honest opinion, the Pentecostalist magazine Elim Life is one of the most professionally produced magazines in Ireland - and I’m not just saying that because I’ve had a few articles published in it!

When militant fundamentalists brand the media as being part of some satanic deception, are they seriously including the staunchly evangelical Elim Life in their criticism?

In terms of Christian ethics versus journalism ethics, I would summarise my own personal situation with the observation that when I die, two coffins will be cremated - one for my earthly remains and the other for the secrets of my sources that I take with me into eternity.

Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
John is a Director for Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. 

Christian Ethics Versus Journalism Ethics 🪶 My 46-Year Debate!

Dr John Coulter ✍ Christian Churches in Northern Ireland need to ‘man up’ regarding sex education and deliver lessons themselves through Sunday schools and Bible classes rather than leaving it to the education system.

Known as Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE), from January 2024, it will be compulsory for all post-primary schools to teach pupils about access to abortion and prevention of early pregnancy.

Naturally, this move has many Christian denominations up in arms with all four of the main denominations - Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist - voicing strong opposition to the move.

With the new school year starting in September, teachers assigned to deliver RSE will probably use semester one to prepare lectures for the January 2024 launch - a move which will leave the churches lagging behind in second place yet again when it comes to sex education.

But the churches have only themselves to blame for the looming RSE requirement because if they had used their Sunday schools and Bible classes to teach the morals of responsible sex education, the various denominations would not find themselves in this theological and spiritual dilemma.

Put bluntly, sex education talks for young people by the churches was for generations seen as a taboo subject, never to be mentioned.

For the vast majority of couples, the first time sex education was addressed by the churches was in marriage guidance classes - and that only applied to the couples who bothered to attend such classes!

Indeed, I have come across two churches where the marriage guidance classes - including the sex talks - took place after the couples returned from honeymoon!

The perception was that addressing the issue of post-primary sex education in Sunday school or Bible class was nothing short of ‘dirty talk’.

The general view for many generations was that if a woman became pregnant outside of marriage, she was seen as a whore; if a man made a woman pregnant, he was to be shunned by the church.

Judgemental church gossips would have a field day wiping the floor with their condemnation if they even suspected a couple was having sex before marriage. Indeed, according to many churches, sex is only for marriage, therefore, the issue does not need to be addressed until the couple have become engaged at the earliest!

But if the churches are to have any relevance in the RSE debate and content, they need to get their acts together and start the sex education debates well before the time for marriage guidance classes begins.

In practice, the clergy or those in charge of post-primary age Sunday school or Bible class pupils need to urgently start sensible debates on RSE before the January 2024 deadline kicks in.

Churches cannot moan about a deterioration in moral values or condemn sexual immorality among young people if they are not prepared to have such debates on RSE in their Sunday schools, Bible classes, youth clubs, youth fellowships and even Christian uniformed youth organisations, such as the Boys’ Brigade and Girls’ Brigade.

And churches should not adopt a ‘pass the buck’ attitude by side-stepping the issue, stating that it is up to the clerics to deliver Hell-fire sermons on the sins of sexual immorality.

The bitter medicine which churches must swallow is from January 2024, they will be in serious competition with the school curriculum for the hearts and minds of young people on the topic of sex education.

Likewise, the churches will be no longer in a position where they can duck the RSE issue with the pathetic excuse that it is the role of parents and guardians to teach children about the facts of life.

If the churches are serious about wanting to address the issues of abortion access and the prevention of early pregnancy then they should have the courage to explain their Biblically-based agendas in face to face discussion groups, not through roaring sermons from the pulpits.

Many Christian denominations are already in a spiritual pickle over issues such as same-sex marriage and gender identification because they lacked the courage to tackle such controversial topics at an early stage in a person’s relationship with the church.

To quote the secular proverb, it is no use trying to close the barn door after the horse has bolted. The churches need to recognise that they will have to address RSE topics before the problems arise, not in the midst of a crisis.

The modern Christian churches are still polluted with far too much Biblical Pharisee-style hypocrisy when it comes to sexual sins. In the New Testament, Christ Himself told the Pharisees - let he who is without sin cast the first stone - in relation to the woman caught in the act of adultery.

If the churches want to be taken seriously in the ongoing RSE debates, they will require a supportive agenda, especially towards young people.

As the presenter of a theological discussion programme on Christian radio, I have explored the actions of some churches on this issue. Their spectrum ranges from genuine Christ-like compassion to outright Puritanical persecution.

Perhaps it is this wide range of interpretations on sexual relations which makes it so difficult for the Christian churches to agree both a common agenda and united front.

In one church, there were a number of single mums. There was no condemnatory verbal ‘stoning’. The church recognised a baby had been born and the child, mother and her family circle were supported by the Christians in that place of worship.

But in another church a few miles away, a lad was accused of fathering a child out of wedlock. He was sacked from all posts in the church and driven out of the country by judgemental fundamentalist bigots.

Which of these two churches showed genuine Christian compassion and mercy and adopted a responsible attitude to the situation which the young people found themselves in?

With the RSE debate, the churches cannot afford to make it a hat trick of bumbling agendas. They have messed up over same-sex marriage; they are still locked in a debate over trans rights.

If the churches cannot get their acts together of providing a Biblically based alternative to the schools’ RSE curriculum, then there is the real danger that the churches will drive many young people away from the pews and that would be a crisis which could affect many denominations for years to come.

Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
Listen to commentator Dr John Coulter’s programme, Call In Coulter, every Saturday morning around 10.15 am on Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. Listen online. 

Churches Should Take Control Of Sex Education

Dr John Coulter ✍ with the latest ruling from the Church of England on same-sex marriages set to split the world-wide Anglican Communion, a new row involving trans rights is brewing for Christian Churches.

Liberals and social conservatives, not just within the Anglican Communion, but across many Christian denominations and churches, have locked horns for years over the issues of same-sex marriages, blessings and partnerships.

While some ‘pass the buck’ to individual clerics, other churches have a clearer guidance on same-sex relationships and there is a huge debate among theologians and lay people in the issue as the battle rages over the interpretations of Bible verses and passages. Sort this one out for yourself.

Basically, this game of theological ping-pong revolves around the practical interpretation of these verses between social conservatives who maintain that the institution of marriage is between a man and woman, versus the liberals who maintain Scripture should be applied with the ethos of God’s Love, and ‘what would Jesus do?’

Most churches and denominations are trying to find a workable ‘half-way house’ solution - welcoming LGBT folk into a worship service, but muddy the waters theologically when it comes to sacraments, such as baptism, marriage, and communion.

However, even if churches and denominations can reach an ‘accommodation’ (if that is possible) between lesbians, gays and bisexuals, another major row is about to break out over the issue of trans rights and gender identity in the Christian Church.

Traditionally, there has always been a gender issue with many Christian churches over the generations, especially over the role of women in the church.

For example, in Catholicism, only the male priest can say Mass. In many Protestant denominations and churches, women are instructed to wear hats, or have their heads covered. Women have traditionally had a raw deal, especially in the evangelical and fundamentalist wings of Christianity.

While some churches have ordained women as ministers, elders or deacons, some other churches will only allow women to speak if they are ‘giving their testimony’ explaining how they became a born again Christian, or at women’s events in the church.

In the Sixties and Seventies, it was not uncommon at church functions for a male to announce - ‘the ladies will now leave and make the tea!’

Even in the 1990s, a woman could be refused formal membership of a fundamentalist church if she did not wear a hat.

Trans rights will once again focus a very glaring spotlight on the church. Take the scenario. A man and woman are getting married, but it is discovered that one or other of them was off a different gender at birth. So, in reality, both partners were the same gender at birth. Would the Christian Church be dogmatic and demand the folk getting married be different genders at birth?

For example, in the scenario above, the man was a male gender at birth, but the woman was also a male gender at birth, but transitioned to female, so technically, according to Scripture, this is a wedding between a man and woman. Will the Church start demanding proof of birth gender before the sacrament of marriage can be fulfilled?

Or, will it be a case as with same-sex relationships, there will now be another debate as to whether a trans person can have a marriage, blessing, or any of the other terms which the Church has used in the same-sex theological debate?

Pope Francis, as the leader of one of the largest Christian denominations in the world Catholicism, could ease the situation by scrapping the celibacy rule allowing ordained priests and nuns the right to chose to marry or remain single.

It has been suggested that the main reason the Vatican is dragging its heels on this issue of choice regarding marriage, is what happens if the marriage breaks down - would the woman, for example, have the right to own half of the parochial house?

There are already married priests within the Catholic Church, namely ordained priests, for example, from the High Anglican Church who were married and defected to Catholicism.

Likewise, for many years, some fundamentalist denominations would not marry a person if they were a divorcee.

And there are even some fundamentalist denominations which would frown heavily if someone tried to marry ‘outside’ the denomination. For example, a person from the Exclusive Brethren denomination wanting to marry a person from mainstream Irish Presbyterianism.

Trans rights and gender identity are certainly issues which have been recently to the fore on the political front, especially in Scotland.

The Christian Church may still be struggling with how to deal with the issue of same-sex relationships, But it needs to realise an even more thorny issue is rapidly coming down the tracks in terms of a theological debate - and perhaps, yet further rifts and splits.
 
Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
Listen to commentator Dr John Coulter’s programme, Call In Coulter, every Saturday morning around 10.15 am on Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. Listen online. 

Trans Issue Set To Spark New Row For Christian Churches

UnHerd ✒ Even in the bedroom we are shaped by the past.

 Tom Holland

It was 20 years ago today. On 1st April 2001, same-sex marriage became legal in the Netherlands. The Dutch, liberalism’s most celebrated trend-setters, had done it again. Where they led, others quickly followed. Scenes of gay couples cutting wedding cakes and spraying champagne over each other became common around the world. 

Today, same-sex marriage is recognised as legal in 29 countries. What even 30 years ago would have seemed to most gay people an impossible dream has come to be widely accepted — and not only by gay people — as entirely normal. The most startling thing about the institution, it can often seem, is that people ever found it startling.

Except, of course, that there are large stretches of the world where the idea that men might legally marry men, or women legally marry women, continues to be seen as abhorrent, grotesque, immoral. The list of countries that license same-sex marriage is a highly distinctive one. All of them, with the sole exception of Taiwan, are culturally Christian. All of them, to a greater or lesser extent, have witnessed a decline over recent years in church-attendance.  

Continue reading @ UnHerd.

Homosexuality’s Christian Roots

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