09/12/2012 UK (Virtue Online)-In using the 'B' word against opponents of same-sex marriage, the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP, has revealed the depth of his hostility towards Christians and others who wish to retain the current legal definition of marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman.
And yes Mr Clegg has called us bigots because that is the word that appeared in the Cabinet Office press release he approved in advance of last night's reception marking the end of the Coalition Government's same-sex marriage consultation.
British Christians would be to wise to note the strength of Mr Clegg's moral abhorrence against those he perceives as guilty of homophobia. In 2006, the Labour Government of Tony Blair tried to pass a religious hate speech law which, according to some legal experts at that time, could have earned British Christians who criticised Islam a seven-year prison sentence. Mercifully, it was narrowly defeated in the House of Commons.
It is surely quite conceivable that a future Labour government would want to outlaw criticism of same-sex marriage as 'homophobic hate speech' with the offence carrying a custodial sentence. Given the depth of hostility against opponents of same-sex marriage within the British political establishment, why should Christians who criticised the innovation not expect to risk prison?
Jesus told his disciples in his Sermon on the Mount: "But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;" (Matthew 5v44 - Authorised Version).
So, however resentful one may feel at the unjust suppression of freedom of debate in our country (which I for one have no wish to see meted out on supporters of same-sex marriage), the right response as a British Christian, now and in the likely much more difficult future, is to pray for the redemption of Mr Clegg.
And to continue graciously and faithfully to uphold the biblical teaching that marriage, as God created it and as Jesus hallowed it, is exclusively between one man and one woman for life.
The above constitutes the two-fold Christian duty to God and to our country, even though the second part is perceived as bigotry by the political establishment. And may well become illegal to fulfill under the politically correct new moral order engulfing Britain. The Christian calling to pray, however, as the Apostle Paul wonderfully demonstrated in his prison epistles, is impossible to outlaw even in jail(Source).
And yes Mr Clegg has called us bigots because that is the word that appeared in the Cabinet Office press release he approved in advance of last night's reception marking the end of the Coalition Government's same-sex marriage consultation.
British Christians would be to wise to note the strength of Mr Clegg's moral abhorrence against those he perceives as guilty of homophobia. In 2006, the Labour Government of Tony Blair tried to pass a religious hate speech law which, according to some legal experts at that time, could have earned British Christians who criticised Islam a seven-year prison sentence. Mercifully, it was narrowly defeated in the House of Commons.
It is surely quite conceivable that a future Labour government would want to outlaw criticism of same-sex marriage as 'homophobic hate speech' with the offence carrying a custodial sentence. Given the depth of hostility against opponents of same-sex marriage within the British political establishment, why should Christians who criticised the innovation not expect to risk prison?
Jesus told his disciples in his Sermon on the Mount: "But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;" (Matthew 5v44 - Authorised Version).
So, however resentful one may feel at the unjust suppression of freedom of debate in our country (which I for one have no wish to see meted out on supporters of same-sex marriage), the right response as a British Christian, now and in the likely much more difficult future, is to pray for the redemption of Mr Clegg.
And to continue graciously and faithfully to uphold the biblical teaching that marriage, as God created it and as Jesus hallowed it, is exclusively between one man and one woman for life.
The above constitutes the two-fold Christian duty to God and to our country, even though the second part is perceived as bigotry by the political establishment. And may well become illegal to fulfill under the politically correct new moral order engulfing Britain. The Christian calling to pray, however, as the Apostle Paul wonderfully demonstrated in his prison epistles, is impossible to outlaw even in jail(Source).
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