We shake our heads in bewilderment at a world where everything seems turned upside down. Wrong has become right, equal opportunity has become racism and justice has become unjust. At one time liberals accused Christians of believing in a 'sky fairy' of our own imaginations. Today progressives deny science and believe that men can become women by wishful thinking.
Violent compassion
Progressives proudly see themselves as being compassionate and caring people, the virtuous sector of society. Yet they applauded and defend a convicted kidnapper and attempted murderer who incited violence at a Trans+ LGT march in London.
Sarah Jane Baker, who served 30 years in prison, told the crowd in Hyde Park: 'I was going to come here and be really fluffy, be really nice and be really lovely and queer and gay and laugh.' Then continued, to cheers and applause, 'If you see a TERF, punch them in the f****** face.'
We might assume our elected MPs, charged with making and upholding laws, would condemn this. Sadly Baker was supported by Labour MP Clive Lewis who excused the outburst with the most spectacular bit of whataboutery. 'Advocating violence against others is wrong and this is no exception,' he tweeted. 'But as you'll be aware, violent language and actions are not unique to one side on this issue.' There has yet to be a feminist who has assaulted or incited violence against trans people, but facts don't matter in the upside-down progressive world.
We have become used to the Wonderland nature of progressives where words mean whatever they choose them to mean. It is more disturbing when this attitude is found in the Church. We have become accustomed to leaders in mainstream denominations performing theological gymnastics to justify stands which go directly against Scripture. What is new is church leaders being embarrassed by Jesus. In the last week alone, two significant church leaders have said or implied that Jesus got it wrong.
Jesus lacked pastoral sensitivity
Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell told the Church of England's General Synod that the Lord's Prayer could be 'problematic' due to its 'oppressively patriarchal' connotations. The gospels of Matthew and Luke recount the disciples asking Jesus to teach them how to pray: his answer was the Lord's Prayer which begins with 'Our Father'. In the Bible we find Jesus continually referring to God as his 'Father', whose preferred pronouns seem to be 'he' and 'him'. Perhaps Jesus was not pastorally sensitive enough, or he didn't fully understand what he was saying.
To confuse the issue further the Revd Christina Rees, a campaigner for female bishops, threw in a straw man adding that Cottrell had 'put his finger on an issue that's a really live issue for Christians and has been for many years. The big question is, do we really believe that God believes that male human beings bear his image more fully and accurately than women? The answer is absolutely not.'
Is there a single theologian or church leader at any level who thinks that males are more fully in the image of God than females? Unfortunately liberal Christians have a need to be seen to be virtuously furthering the progressive fight, even if it means tilting at windmills of their own imaginations.
The General Synod, the ruling body of the Church of England, legislates for the church. In February it launched a commission to examine 'gendered language'. With Cottrell's statement it doesn't take a prophet to realise the big question to emerge will be whether the CofE should stop referring to God as 'He' and use 'gender-neutral terms' instead. They must be asking themselves, 'How did Jesus get it so spectacularly wrong?'
No conversions here
What the CofE can do the Roman Catholics can do just as well. The Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon, Americo Aguiar, has been created a cardinal by Pope Francis. This means Aguiar will be eligible to vote in the College of Cardinals at the next papal vacancy. Francis is trying to assure a liberal succession.
In a complete rejection of Jesus' command to 'go therefore and make disciples of all nations' (Matthew 28:18-20), Monday's National Catholic Register reports Aguiar, head of World Youth Day (WYD) Lisbon 2023, as saying, 'We don't want to convert the young people to Christ or to the Catholic Church or anything like that at all.' In the interview, the new cardinal said that in his opinion the intention of WYD was to have young people journey together, respecting their diversity.
He said he wanted to enable each young person attending WYD to be able to say: 'I think differently, I feel differently, I organise my life in a different way, but we are brothers and we go together to build the future.' He added: 'This is the main message of this encounter with the living Christ that the Pope wants to provide to young people.' Aguiar stressed that it's important 'that we all understand that differences are a richness'.
In this he is in lockstep with the Pope. In 2019, Francis signed, along with a prominent imam, the Abu Dhabi statement which proclaimed: 'The pluralism and the diversity of religions, colour, sex, race and language are willed by God in his wisdom, through which he created human beings.'
The Roman Catholic church now parrots the progressive mantra 'Diversity is our strength'. For Francis and Aguiar diversity comes before Christ; it is acceptable for youngsters to live Christ-less lives as long as they are nice and accepting. Observing diversity and inclusivity matters more than truth, matters even more than salvation.
The topsy-turvy world of the progressive has gripped the Church, the one institution which should be able to say that there is such a thing as truth 'and the truth will set you free' (John 8:31-32). Traditional Christians may be disparaged as throwbacks and out of date, we may be termed many kinds of 'phobe', but unless we hold fast to the truth of Christ, especially against those who would distort the message of the gospel, there will be no bulwark against the progressive insanity turning the world upside down. It is time for us to fight back.
Campbell Campbell-Jack is a retired Church of Scotland minister. He blogs at A Grain of Sand.
