Tim Farron is a liberal who has been forced to give in to social illiberalism. And that’s not ok

Apr 27, 2017 by Jill

by James Macintyre, Christian Today:

Amid all the cross-party fighting that will go on at Westminster during this extended general election campaign, there is a stark consensus among all the major parties on one area of policy: human sexuality.

This blanket social liberalism was demonstrated last night when, for better or worse, it finally swallowed up Tim Farron, the leader of the Liberal Democrats and an evangelical Christian. After several years of dodging the question posed by broadcasters of whether gay sex is a sin, choosing the formula that ‘we are all sinners,’ Farron sought to draw a line under the troubling line of questioning on the BBC’s PM programme by saying ‘I don’t believe gay sex is a sin’.

The change of position, aimed at giving Farron a clear run at what he hopes will be a revival of his party’s fortunes based on its clear opposition to a ‘hard’ Brexit, was that rare thing in Westminster: a U-turn which did not result in uproar. For by conceding ground to the socially liberal position, Farron was falling into line with a consensus that today sees the former Conservative leader David Cameron name gay marriage as the prime ministerial achievement of which he is most proud. Indeed, it was gay rights and gay rights alone that awarded Cameron the priceless media title ‘moderniser’ in the run-up to the 2010 general election, despite leaving his party unreconstructed on the major issues of the day, from the economy to immigration to, as we have discovered, Europe.

On sex and sexuality, the media and politicians are unusually united: it is not just Channel 4’s Cathy Newman, who first asked Farron the question in 2015, the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme’s John Humphries, who was accused of ‘sneering’ questions about faith early on in Farron’s leadership, or Radio 4’s PM programme which may have resolved the issue last night.

Read here

Read also: We all face the Farron test at some point, Fr Ed’s blog