IRF Summit Panel: As Religious Freedom Erodes in the West, Christians Must Stick to their Convictions
by Joshua Arnold, Washington Stand:
Last year, an ostensibly evangelical college in England sacked a professor, Dr. Aaron Edwards, over a February tweet advocating a biblical view of sexuality and marriage. The incident was only one occurrence of religious persecution in Western democracies in 2023; dozens more are catalogued in Family Research Council’s updated report, “Free to Believe? The Intensifying Intolerance Toward Christians in The West.” That list is “not exhaustive,” noted Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. Rather, it’s “just making the point.”
Edwards taught Christian theology at Cliff College, a Methodist-affiliated school in England, which he described as “the last bastion of evangelicalism” in British Methodism (with the term “evangelicalism” here referring to those who still hold to the biblical gospel). During a panel discussion at the 2024 International Religious Freedom Summit (IRF), Edwards explained that United Methodism was enmeshed in controversy over an upcoming vote on same-sex marriage. The Cliff College faculty was divided, too, and Edwards had engaged his colleagues in many respective debates — that is, before a simple, viral tweet ended his teaching career.
“Homosexuality is invading the church,” Edwards had tweeted. “Evangelicals no longer see the severity of this b/c they’re busy apologising for their apparently barbaric homophobia, whether or not it’s true. This *is* a ‘Gospel issue,’ by the way. If sin is no longer sin, we no longer need a Saviour.”
Edwards explained the reason why he felt the need to take a stand on the issue. “People saw their sexuality as their identity, which makes it very difficult to argue about it theologically,” he said. “The age we live in is one where anthropology [the study of man] is the line of heresy in the public square.”
But the Cliff College administration wasn’t interested in hearing his explanation. After his tweet went viral, the college condemned it before even contacting him. The summarily suspended him, produced a 17-page investigative report on the tweet, reported it to the government as potential hate speech, and fired him.
Read also: It’s over – prepare for the future by Campbell Campbell-Jack, A Grain of Sand
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