The hounding of Tim Farron about his attitudes towards gay-sex reveals, however, much more than a personal tragedy. It exposes the deep intolerance of contemporary liberal secular society to those who do not subscribe to its dogmas. This has been highlighted especially clearly because Tim has been a consistent champion and supporter of civic rights for the LGBT community. Even if he did believe that gay sex was a sin, this had not led him to discriminate against the homosexual community, nor to pursue the removal of the freedoms they have been granted in the fifty years since homosexuality was decriminalised between consenting adults. Tim was, in this sense, a committed Liberal in the true sense of this term, defending freedom for others irrespective of his own personal moral beliefs.

The resignation of Tim Farron as leader of the Liberal Democrats was, in the light of the relatively poor showing of the party in the General Election, hardly surprising. However the way in which he has been treated by the media, those in other parties, and some members of his own party, has revealed just how difficult it is for Christians with orthodox biblical beliefs about human sexuality to hold public leadership roles in our increasingly aggressive secular society.

The hounding of Tim Farron

In part Tim Farron brought this upon himself by his failure to give a clear and direct answer when questioned about whether he regarded gay sex as sin. It was well known that Tim was an evangelical Christian, and the vast majority of evangelicals would regard any kind ofsexual activity outside of heterosexual marriage as sinful and wrong in the eyes of God, irrespective of the gender of the other consenting adult involved. Tim was thus faced with an invidious choice between denying a key teaching of the faith he professed, or of being castigated as an intolerant bigot and therefore undermining the Liberal Democrat election campaign.

It is hard not to conclude that there was a concerted campaign to discredit Tim and force the scrutiny of his personal beliefs onto the political agenda. As far as I recall, the question was first raised by Nigel Evans, a gay Tory MP, during the debate in the House of Common whether to override the provisions of the Fixed Term Parliament Act and allow a General Election. The element of hypocrisy and inconsistency is palpable given that no-one would dare to ask Nigel Evans whether his homosexuality would make it impossible for him to defend and uphold the rights and liberties of the people in his constituency who would, for religious reasons, regard gay relationships as sinful

Evangelical Christians were deeply disappointed that, when pushed to state his beliefs, Tim chose to say that he did not believe that gay sex was a sin, a position that contradicts the clear teaching of the Bible. It remains to be seen whether Tim’s answer was an understandable case of “mis-speaking” under pressure, or whether it reflected his true convictions. As the well-known failure of the apostle Peter, who denied Jesus three times, reminds us, there is ample grace in the gospel for those who publicly deny the truth they believe under pressure but subsequently repent, and there are few Christians who have not needed this mercy at some time in their life. Let those who have not sinned cast the first stone.

The intolerance of progressive liberal secularism

The hounding of Tim Farron about his attitudes towards gay-sex reveals, however, much more than a personal tragedy. It exposes the deep intolerance of contemporary liberal secular society to those who do not subscribe to its dogmas. This has been highlighted especially clearly because Tim has been a consistent champion and supporter of civic rights for the LGBT community. Even if he did believe that gay sex was a sin, this had not led him to discriminate against the homosexual community, nor to pursue the removal of the freedoms they have been granted in the fifty years since homosexuality was decriminalised between consenting adults. Tim was, in this sense, a committed Liberal in the true sense of this term, defending freedom for others irrespective of his own personal moral beliefs.

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