Christingle becomes transphobic. Apparently.

[Defaultname]

Christingle, which I'd never heard of, meant a lot to this family until...

",,,as the queer and transgender father of a two-year-old, I visited the church’s website. I was hoping to find a message of inclusivity, something to reassure me that the welcome I had taken for granted my whole life still applied to the person I am and the family I have today. The “What we believe” sections were vague. So I tried a reverse approach, since it has the kind of graphic design and web presence that suggest affiliation to bigger, well-endowed networks. Google pointed me to a UK organisation called the Evangelical Alliance. I typed my postcode into its “Find a church” tool and the first result was our Christingle church.

In the EA’s news archive, I found a press release about the importance of rejecting Gender Recognition Act reform, a process that was aimed at making the lives of trans adults less bureaucratic. There were pieces about why “gay cakes” are a threat to free speech and then there was a video.

It started off very gently and compassionately, talking about “inclusion” and “understanding”. Just as I started to feel reassured, the presenter began describing “transgender” as “confused” and an “ideological movement”. He talked ominously about genitalia and so-called spectrums, and questioned whether, if a trans person were to call a church to ask about gender-neutral toilet provision, it might well be “a coordinated effort to catch the church out”. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/dec/16/i-used-to-love-christingle-until-i-discovered-what-my-church-thought-of-trans-people

So the church exists to provide entertainment for this person and their child
And they haven't even bothered to find out what this festival is about, but they HAVE bothered to research if the church is woke enough to be graced by the presence
I'm sure if they'd wanted to they could have gone 'had fun' and nobody would have noticed......but then that would be a bit pointless, wouldn't it Freddy?

This can be summarised as: I went looking for offence in an extremely conservative, religious organisation, and, reader, I found it! Aren't I oppressed! Christmas is cancelled! Whaaaah!

No chance this person could have just found a nice, run of the mill, liberal church I suppose? And the sheer hypocrisy of them not being a Christian or a regular church goer at this church or any - using them for Christmas entertainment value only - but wanting this church to bend their rules for them nevertheless.

X-post with StillWeRise. Agree with you 100%

How many times does the word 'I' appear in this article. Just a bit self-centred / self-involved perhaps and the very opposite of what the Christingle is about.

There’s someone determined to feel oppressed.

Speaking as a Christian, I am fully aware that the Church is not always the nicest of organisations.

looking at you, section of the Bible that says slavery and rape is absolutely fine

Evangelical church not happy with LGBTQIA+ issues. Shocker.

They don't believe in queer theory - fair enough, if you do it may not be a perfect fit.
They do believe in God, if you don't...etc..

God is transphobic - shocker. I thought they was gender queer

It's an evangelical church. What the fuck did he expect?

If he wanted inclusivity, he'd be better off heading for the nearest Quaker Meeting Hall.

I think "coordinated effort to catch the church out" applies here.

For a conservative organization, the Evangelical Alliance seem to have educated themselves and realised what sorts of entrapments might lie in wait for the.
Oh, and for people who make great play of how they reject the evidence of their own bodies with regard to their sex, sometimes having sex organs removed, it's a bit rich for gender activists to talk about others being obsessed with genitalia!
Speaking of which, loved the author's reference to "well-endowed networks". And no, they don't mean trans ones.

@BlueCatRedCat

This can be summarised as: I went looking for offence in an extremely conservative, religious organisation, and, reader, I found it! Aren't I oppressed! Christmas is cancelled! Whaaaah!

No chance this person could have just found a nice, run of the mill, liberal church I suppose? And the sheer hypocrisy of them not being a Christian or a regular church goer at this church or any - using them for Christmas entertainment value only - but wanting this church to bend their rules for them nevertheless.

Nailed it!

He talked ominously about genitalia
The mind boggles, sort of.

I'm confused, the Christingle is a particular service in the Anglican church (and maybe other denominations too) but they are talking about a Christingle "church" which makes it sound like a type of Christian church. If it's on the evangelical side it won't be pro gay/ trans rights because their beliefs aren't just as Islam isn't pro gay rights. I'm surprised he's surprised by this. It sounds as though he's after something like the Unitarian church

Oh, it's by Freddy McConnell.

@Clymene

Must be absolutely exhausting constantly looking to find ways in which you have been victimised

Oh it's Fred. The most oppressed middle class white person in all Christendom

Indeed. They are perpetually, professionally offended.

There are MANY very inclusive churches. They picked on one that isn’t. Not everything needs to be inclusive.

I'm shocked at the Guardian publishing these unresearched complaining articles. A personal whinge rather than a properly investigated article.

As my Granny said "Don't go looking for offence, you'll always find it"

The arrogance is utterly breathtaking.

Honestly, it reads like a meat-eater gatecrashing a meeting of the Vegan Society for the free booze and then having a tantrum because no-one will serve him a hamburger.

I mean, it's fair enough to be caught by surprise if you, say, go to your local Anglican church expecting it to be a typical Anglican parish church and then it isn't... (Happened to me when DS was little - he wanted to go just to see what the church was about. I lost my faith many years ago, but thought "well, if he's interested," and took him along. We were pretty much shown the door, presumably because I was a mum with a toddler and no wedding ring - it was only later that a liberal Christian friend explained that particular church was notorious - very high, homophobic and misogynistic).

But to actively seek out the most extreme, narrow minded church you can, then complain when it turns out to be extreme and narrow minded. That takes a special sort of professional offendedness.

@cheeseismydownfall

The arrogance is utterly breathtaking.

Honestly, it reads like a meat-eater gatecrashing a meeting of the Vegan Society for the free booze and then having a tantrum because no-one will serve him a hamburger.

Nailed it.

I feel so sorry for Freddy's child, and anyone else who has to spend time with Freddy. It must be like walking on eggshells all the time. So much offence taken.

So he doesn't actually go to church, except once a year for the Christingle because it makes him feel Christmassy.

He knows absolutely nothing about their beliefs, contributes nothing to their community, doesn't turn up at any other time but then gets the rage that they turn out not to like him????

Now I would be the first to say the Evangelical Alliance are a bunch of shits childhood experience dies hard but churches don't actually exist for entertainment.

Especially as a short walk down any road and he'd have found a nice liberal church falling over themselves to accept the trans person. Might not have had such a nice building or looked so Christmassy though which clearly were Freddy's main selection criteria

It's church. They are allowed to have their own beliefs even if others don't. I mean sticking cloves in an orange and thinking it's something to do with the birth of god is a particularly odd belief for starters.

I would have thought it a perfect fit 🤔 - both Freddy and the church have faith in unsubstantiated things. This church in a god of some kind and Freddy in that one can change ones sex.

Both require some mind leaping, blind denial and disregard of fact.
Still, the church have their beliefs and Freddy has theirs. Both should respect each other's point of view