Orthodox Christians opposed to the Labour Government’s Conversion Practices Bill should expect no support from the 26 Church of England bishops in the House of Lords.
The Bishop of Manchester, David Walker, a prominent supporter of the LGBT agenda in Parliament, fired a warning shot across the bows of any fellow bishop feeling lukewarm about the draft Bill, which the government published on June 25.
In rather gushing terms, The Church Times reported Walker’s warm support for the measure: “The Bishop of Manchester, Dr David Walker, has welcomed the Government’s ‘long overdue’ move to protect LGBTQ+ people in England and Wales from physical and psychological abuse by proposing a legal ban on conversion practices.”
Walker said: “These have harmed LGBT+ people over many years, leaving many with lifelong trauma. This work is long overdue and comes after the General Synod of the Church of England voted, by a very large majority, in favour of the Government bringing forward a ban in 2017. I am pleased that this will bring an opportunity for consultation and scrutiny, so that substantial progress can at last be made.”
Walker’s reminder that back in 2017 the C of E’s General Synod voted overwhelmingly in favour of a conversion therapy ban was calculated. Any bishop who expresses concerns about the implications of the Bill for free speech or religious freedom risks being isolated by his or her episcopal peers.
The Free Speech Union (FSU) has serious concerns about the Bill and has just launched a petition to stop the conversion therapy ban.
The FSU says: “The Government has announced it intends to press ahead with a ban on conversion therapy. Like most 'bans', this sounds benign. How could anyone not want to ban giving electric shocks to gay kids?
“But the fact is, that's already against the law, as are all the other coercive practices conjured up by the phrase 'conversion therapy'. So what is it the Government wants to ban, exactly? The answer is 'converting' children who think they're trans to being 'cisgendered'. That's where the impetus for this ban has come from - well-funded pro-trans lobby groups like Stonewall and Mermaids.”
The FSU warns: “Any parent who ‘misgenders’ their confused adolescent daughter, or tries to talk them out of embarking on an irreversible medical pathway, could face criminal charges for trying to 'convert' them.”
It adds: “It won't just be parents and medical professionals who will risk imprisonment for trying to talk gender-confused children out of mutilating themselves. Any religious leader who shares the teachings of their faith on issues like homosexuality and gay marriage could also face prosecution. That's what this authoritarian Government wants to ban - any dissent from radical progressive orthodoxy when it comes to sex and gender.”
The General Secretary of the FSU, Toby Young, is a member of the House of Lords. A convivial character, he may well be able to flush out an episcopal doubting Thomas about the Bill over a drink in the Lords’ bar. But Walker’s intervention has ensured that such a bishop would be as frightened as a rabbit in a car’s headlights. He or she may well confess their reservations to Young but would be very unlikely to stick their head above the parapet.
It is a sad indictment of the spiritual state of the established Church that such a draconian, anti-family and frankly anti-Christian piece of legislation is set to go unopposed by the so-called Lords Spiritual in Parliament. But, who knows? The Lord to whom every person ultimately answers might raise up an episcopal dissenter.
But if such a character emerges, he or she should expect a very cold shoulder from the largely Left-wing cohort on the bishops’ benches.
Julian Mann, a former Church of England vicar, is an evangelical journalist based in Lancashire.
