Hi all,
Liberal democrat Tim Farron has resigned because he feels he cannot be a liberal leader and an evangelical Christian (in respect of abortion and gay sex).
What sprung out to me was :
To be a political leader – especially of a progressive, liberal party in 2017 – and to live as a committed Christian, to hold faithfully to the Bible’s teaching, has felt impossible for me. I’m a liberal to my finger tips, and that liberalism means that I am passionate about defending the rights and liberties of people who believe different things to me.
And :
I want to say one more thing: I joined our party when I was 16, it is in my blood, I love our history, our people, I thoroughly love my party. Imagine how proud I am to lead this party. And then imagine what would lead me to voluntarily relinquish that honour. In the words of Isaac Watts it would have to be something ‘so amazing, so divine, (it) demands my heart, my life, my all’.
[For those who do not know , the last bit is from a Christian liturgical hymn for Easter , we'd call them Piyyut in Judaism.]
I would never vote liberal democrat precisely because of this hypocrisy, i.e. you can be a liberal and be tolerant of views , providing these views are mine.
What I don't quite get is that black Pentecostals , Catholicism , orthodox Judaism and Islam also have similar views to abortion and gay sex to Mr Farron..... maybe it is a form of white man's burden? This lack of tolerance doesn't stop with the lib dems, as the other parties are quick on the wagon too. Have said that my hat is off to Mr Farron for standing up and putting his religious beliefs . One wonders if post Brexit we will get an equivalence of the cultural wars from the US...
What I don't quite get is that black Pentecostals , Catholicism , orthodox Judaism and Islam also have similar views to abortion and gay sex to Mr Farron..... maybe it is a form of white man's burden? This lack of tolerance doesn't stop with the lib dems, as the other parties are quick on the wagon too. Have said that my hat is off to Mr Farron for standing up and putting his religious beliefs . One wonders if post Brexit we will get an equivalence of the cultural wars from the US...
it is all well and good British politicians to gloat that we have no such things in the UK, but if this trend continues and there's a soft brexit with unlimited immigration and social conservatives feel squeezed from the main parties , then there will be a new political force ready to tap into social conservatism... then you will have a culture war .
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