How will Stonewall training affect theology?
by Carys Moseley, Christian Concern:
Last week I looked at how academic freedom is being threatened by transgender awareness training given by the LGBT charity Stonewall in over 40 universities in the UK. As several of these universities have departments of theology which either train ordinands for Christian ministry or accredit such training by independent theological colleges, we need to discern what sort of effect this Stonewall training could have. Specifically, we must also ask why staff in theology departments are not saying anything.
The silence of the theologians
Absent from the list of 30 signatories to the original letter calling on universities to challenge Stonewall were the names of any theologians or known Christian academics. However, several theology lecturers did sign the counter-letter supporting Stonewall and LGBT ideology.
It appears that theologians are out of touch with the reality of the threat that transgender ideology poses to academic freedom, free speech and religious freedom. Either that, or they know it all too well and prefer to hide rather than speak out.
Why does Jordan Peterson outshine theologians?
The School of Divinity at Cambridge University famously disinvited Canadian psychology lecturer Jordan Peterson from taking up a visiting fellowship in the Psychology of Religion, on the grounds that he did not truly respect ‘diversity’. Peterson responded with a searing attack on the school, saying that it deserved to decline into irrelevance and die off due to its lack of respect for free speech.
Peterson shot to media fame precisely because he objected to the gender identity law being passed by the Canadian Senate (Bill C-16) in the first place, on the grounds that it would coerce academics like him to use preferred pronouns or get sacked – exactly what the Stonewall transgender awareness training is accused of doing.
Interestingly, none of the staff of the Cambridge Divinity School signed either letter for or against Stonewall’s transgender training for university staff. Perhaps they are now lying low after being put in such a harsh spotlight. Maybe they have been discouraged by administrators from speaking out.
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