I watched Spotlight on the BBC last night which was dealing with Iris Robinson's comments about homosexuality. It has caused me to think.How do we determine what opinions are unacceptable? Can an opinion be deemed as unacceptable simply because it suggests that another person's actions are immoral? What then of freedom of conscience?
I don't know everything about Iris Robinson's particular comments. However I have heard the opinion of many mature evangelical Christians on this issue. I have never heard any of them say that people should act with violence towards people who are gay. Indeed an informed Biblical take on this subject will say that it is the act not the orientation that is forbidden and that Christians are to act with love towards all sorts of people whose behaviour they feel is wrong.
I don't think that the majority of young thugs who call homosexuals 'queers' and attack their property are doing so because they were at a youth fellowship that told them same-sex intercourse is wrong. Rather I suspect that they are motivated by a dislike of those they see as different, the same dislike that has seen Christians harassed too. This is not to say that all Christians have acted faultlessly and I am sorry about those who have been spiteful and hate-filled!
Last night I felt that what annoyed people most was the thought that someone might declare how they live to be immoral. People claim the right to believe they are right but do I not have the right to say I think they are wrong? Many come to an opinion based on experience but do I not have a right to come to an opinion based on Scripture? If the Bible says that same-sex intercourse (and indeed all sexual intercourse outside hetrosexual marriage) is wrong, which I believe it does, will the Bible become a banned book? Indeed have some of those who claim Iris Robinson is guilty of hate-crime been guilty of stirring up hatred against her?
2 comments:
I think the issue here is that she is an elected representative who made some of these comments in a legislative assembly. I agree that everyone should have the right to express their opinions within reason, and she is entitled to make those remarks, however much I disagree with them. The bigger issue is that she made the remarks in the process of carrying out her elected resposnibilities and as such the remarks carry much greater weight than those made by a private citizen. Religion and politics should never be mixed, you only have to look back on the last 40 years in this country and the continuing divisions to see why.
Dear anonymous
Thanks for your comments. One thing that I have struggled with since moving to Northern Ireland is the link between religion and politics. This is partly because those who claim to represent the religious grouping I come from often voice political opinions different from my own. I also have felt that there has been an assumption by some that this is some sort of Christian state when in fact it is a secular state. Yet I have not figured out how the interface of religion and politics should work.
Paul
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