Cancel culture at the Cathedral
by Julian Mann, TCW:
IF the Free Speech Union were to imitate Stonewall and start giving out awards, Sheffield’s evening paper, the Star, would deserve one.
Last month it published a letter of mine pointing out that the US evangelist Franklin Graham’s countercultural views on sexual ethics are actually in the Christian mainstream:
‘Your news report on Sheffield Cathedral’s decision to hold a service to counter the Franklin Graham “God Loves You” event at the Arena described his views as “extreme”.
‘The traditional Christian sexual ethic, which Mr Graham is unashamed to defend, is also upheld by the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox churches, the majority of Anglicans around the world, and still officially by the Church of England.
‘I was a parish vicar in Sheffield Diocese for 19 years and attended many events at the Cathedral. It is sad to see it cutting itself off from the Christian mainstream and worshipping at the altar of neo-Marxist identity politics.’
Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, is a faithful communicator of the Christian message. But he was admittedly imprecise in his language in his notorious tweet in 2019, to which the Star drew attention in its news report about Sheffield Cathedral’s decision to hold an ‘Affirming Prayer Vigil’ against Graham on the night he preached in Sheffield (May 25). The Cathedral was holding the service, it said, because of his ‘statements over the years that are hurtful and damaging to many, especially to those who identify as LGBTQI+’.
His 2019 tweet said: ‘As a Christian I believe the Bible which defines homosexuality as sin, something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised or politicised.’
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