Times: Transman minister reports fellow clergyman for hate crime as they said that a relationship between a woman and a Transman was a same sex relationship

[334bu]

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/police-investigate-alleged-hate-against-trans-clergy-qsqfrhskd?shareToken=f6674117c86e923858da90ebb3baa616

Rather odd article as there is certainly an element of homophobia in clergyman reported as they think homosexuality is wrong. However, that is not what they are being accused of. They are accused of making this Transman feel unsafe because they are not acknowledging that they have changed sex.

@334bu

A theological argument involving the police??

It does rather beg the question what is freedom of belief?

I don’t know how the government is going to work out these issues.

Most churches do teach only heterosexual marriage is acceptable. Islam teaches the same. Is it going to become a hate crime to publish religious teaching on this?

The bit I like best is where whatshisname says

I’m not trying to exclude people who identify as conservative evangelicals

I think if I were a conservative evangelical, that’s where I’d blow my top.

The transman in question believes that safeguarding is another word for 'safe space' and 'feeling safe'. There's a thread on facebook where this transman and many others with significant influence in the church (and thus schools and government) discuss what they think 'safeguarding should look like' in the context of the church discussing LGBTQ+ people and issues. Not one person on the thread has any idea what safeguarding is, they all define it as 'making sure I never or only rarely encounter something which upsets me, and ensuring punishment or re-education for the perpetrator when my feelings are hurt'.

Obviously, Ben John, like many conservative evangelicals, is very anti-homosexuality and that is shitty. But it can hardly be news to the transman that the Church has a strand of theology that disagrees with homosexuality, and exactly how is it progressive to criticize that, while saying that you're not homosexual yourself because you are claiming to be male. It's just exactly the same religious bigotry dressed in a pretty blue and pink flag.

Hypocrisy

The transman in question believes that safeguarding is another word for 'safe space' and 'feeling safe'.

This is abundantly clear from listening to the BBC Sounds link above, as well.

And theres lots and lots of conflation of feeling safe with being safe and the actual harm with having one's feelings hurt.

My favourite bit - Clare-Young claims to not want to silence anyone. Not sure how you square that with calling the police.

Either utterly clueless or deeply mendacious.

William Crawley then grills the Bishop of Coventry on how he's going to protect people from being (in effect) upset - I'm not sure how the poor Bishop is going to manage that!

In the Times article, Ben John is quoted as saying:

But the reality is that some views should not be accepted or tolerated.

It seems to me that on this, Alex Clare-Young is in 100% agreement with Ben John.

Aren’t Christians meant to forgive each other rather than run to the police ? Surely it’s a theological debate and whatever your view ends up you either are a conservative evangelical or go to a different church which interprets Christianity in a different way. The real issue for me is that there shouldn’t be a state church like the c of e at all. You are then free to have whatever views you like no one has to agree with you but you should not have any say so in laws or rules for others who aren’t part of your sect

Oh and I should add the state should not fund any religion or give relations special privileges. Then those are free to believe without the state endorsing the views of any particular theological school of thought. If you think something is bigoted or not for you then there’s lots of different religious groups out there

The misuse of the word safeguarding is also in a letter that a number of bishops have signed about this dispute.

This is probably the start of the redefinition of the word until it is rendered meaningless and puts children and vulnerable adults at risk of more abuse.

I think this is the same Alex who was on Songs of Praise on 19th April.

Alex was asked to leave a church youth group aged 15 when Alex was seen kissing a girl.

Now in a different church.