Private Frazer, the undertaker in the TV sitcom Dad's Army, was laughed at for his catchphrase: "We're doo-oomed!" But a survey by LGBT lobby group Stonewall shows his catchphrase could well apply to orthodox Christian freedom of expression in the UK.
The Stonewall survey found that a quarter of younger people now identify as LGBT. Only 71 per cent of Gen Z respondents (those aged 16 to 26) identified as straight, with 14 per cent identifying as bisexual or pansexual. This contrasts with 91 per cent of Baby Boomers (those aged 56 to 75) identifying as straight.
Translate these figures into voters and the political trajectory becomes visible. Gen Zers are far less committed to freedom of speech than Baby Boomers such as Toby Young, the general secretary of the Free Speech Union (FSU).
Sadly, all the indications of Gen Z students on college campuses are that many of this generation are coming out of secondary education downright hostile to the expression of opinions that go against wokery and political correctness.
The FSU has been winning victories recently. Young's effective media and political campaign forced US payments company PayPal to restore the FSU's accounts after it suspended them for alleged "violations" of its "Acceptable Use Policy". The FSU is a prominent defender of academics who question the dogmas of the transgender lobby.
But if the Conservatives lose the next General Election and a coalition of Labour, the Lib-Dems and the Scottish Nationalists forms a government, Young would have fewer friends in Parliament.
The tendency of the New Left is to restrict freedom of expression through tougher "hate speech" laws.
At a fringe event at Labour's recent Conference, deputy leader Angela Rayner displayed this tendency. After ITV This Morning hosts, Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, faced heavy online criticism for allegedly queue-jumping at the Queen's lying-in-state, Rayner called for legislation to force social media companies to censor comments.
No Christian should defend online abuse or engage in it, but it is easy to see how tougher hate speech laws could be used against orthodox Christian views on marriage, sexuality and gender.
Young defends orthodox Christian freedom of expression and frequently urges Christians to join the FSU. In an interview in August with the Christian Institute's deputy director, Simon Calvert, he was eloquent on the difference between the new public morality that now prevails in Britain and the Christian ethos it has replaced:
"We've embraced this new secular public morality, which is much more censorious and authoritarian than the seemingly much more gentle Christian public morality, which at least allowed for forgiveness and a path back.
"That's why if you don't sign up to the shibboleths of the 'woke Church', you end up cast out and, curiously, lots of people who do find themselves at odds with the articles of faith of the new public morality are orthodox Christians.
"One of the attractive things about modern Christianity is this distinction between the sin and the sinner. And if you transgress, but you are penitent, then you can be readmitted into the community.
"But in the 'woke Church', there is no forgiveness. Once you've transgressed, that's it. You're cast out, and there's no way back."
The political power Stonewall wields now is enormous with companies, institutions and public sector organisations dancing to its tune.
Stonewall launched in the UK in 1989 and back in the early 1990s was in a similar position to the FSU, which launched in 2020. It was gaining media profile and political traction. It was beginning to win legal victories. But the difference between Stonewall's position then and the FSU's now is that the LGBT agenda was becoming increasingly acceptable to the electorate and popular with younger voters.
That is not the case now with the FSU's agenda. Free speech is not a cause close to the hearts of younger voters and if Stonewall's survey is right, growing numbers of them are likely to be very intolerant of politically incorrect opinions on issues like marriage, sexuality and gender. The legislative trajectory is therefore not looking good for the FSU.
Say it again, Private Frazer. As far as free speech generally is concerned and orthodox Christian freedom in particular, you are probably right.
Julian Mann is a former Church of England vicar, now an evangelical journalist.
