by Julian Mann, Christian Today
While it is not unprecedented for the widely-read political website Guido Fawkes to feature articles by conservative Christians, it was a pleasant surprise to find a piece by evangelical theologian Carl Trueman in its ‘Seen Elsewhere’ section last week.
Guido Fawkes, which in the week ending June 13 attracted over one million visitors to its site, highlighted a piece by Trueman in the American religion and public life journal First Things, headed ‘What is the Church of England for?’
Trueman, a British professor in the department of biblical and religious studies at Grove City College, Pennsylvania, US, described his experience of walking past a ‘progressive’ C of E church during a visit to central London in early June.
The church was not merely celebrating LGBT Pride Month this June but was promoting a “whole year’s worth” of Pride-affirming events.
These included a Q&A with “the next generation of queer priests” in March; a “queer movie night” in April; an evening of LGBTQ questions for clergy in May, followed by a screening of the film Pride; a Pride service in June; a “drag performance and then another queer service” in July; a “Drag Sports Day” in August; another Pride service in September; an evening denouncing conversion therapy in October; another “queer movie night” in November; and in December, a “queer Christmas Carol Service” where the public is invited to join the congregation to “celebrate the Nativity through song, blending its beauty with iconic queer anthems -from Cher to Ariana, Bowie to Gaga – for a truly unforgettable night”.
Trueman commented: “A month is clearly not enough for this parish as it hijacks the rainbow from God’s promise to Noah and attaches it to human confusion for a whole year.