The Advance of Conversion Therapy Bans – Part 2

An earlier article reviewed presentations of the Christian Institute in the United Kingdom regarding the conversion therapy bans advancing through the western world, which effectively prohibit religious opposition to homosexuality or transgenderism. In a CI webinar on the topic, Matthew Roberts, Minister of Trinity Church in York, England, and one of the authors of an open letter to the British Women and Equalities Minister signed by more than 2,500 British clergy questioning the ban, spoke regarding the religious significance of conversion.

He believes that the term “conversion therapy is very significant.” He noted that Jesus commanded people to “repent and believe the gospel.” He said that “basic Christianity” involves the proclamation that “something is wrong with us, and what Christ has come to do is rescue us from what’s wrong with us and to re-orient us away from what we naturally want and back to what we have been designed to be.” He said that by contrast “today’s radical individualism, it’s a gospel too and it’s quite similar” and yet “almost exactly the opposite.” Really, a mirror image. It says that “in the past, we were kind of enslaved by all these instructions that came from society or culture or from God.” But now the gospel is that we can be free “to do exactly what our hearts want to do.” And so, “really this issue is about whether Christian conversion is going to be allowed or not.” He noted that the proposed law would explicitly ban anything from physical assault to “talking therapy.” This, he said, is “preposterously broad.” A category that includes both “rape” and “talking gently, kindly, lovingly” is not reasonable. But physical violence is being cited to make moral admonition against homosexuality or transgenderism illegal. The physical violence, he noted, is already illegal. The real intent is to make Christian conversion illegal.

Roberts said that it is “a major category error” to regard Christian conversion as a kind of therapy. Sin is not an illness that can “be cured by therapy.” Christian preaching, counseling, and admonition attack sin. While the truth must be proclaimed, only God can give the grace needed for conversion. That problems in the life of the soul can be cured by therapy was “invented by nineteenth century psychologists.” He said that although “some Christian groups” have “tried to buy into” the idea of therapy, they are riding the coattails of secular thought. But what true Christian ministers and laypeople are trying to do is basic obedience to God. This involves “calling people to repentance and faith in Christ.” We are to turn from ourselves “and the natural desires of our hearts … to the living God.” This of course, covers not only sexual immorality, but also all areas of life – greed, lying, theft, or whatever. We must turn from these things, however much we might want them. He said that “the proposal, as drafted, would criminalize anyone who wanted to help anyone to live in that way.”

The proposed ban on “conversion therapy” does this by holding that “we never need to change.” It bans any talk “with the intention of changing a person’s sexual orientation, or changing them from being transgender.” This, however, is to use non-Christian categories. Christians do not try to “change someone’s karma, since they do not believe in karma.” But “a call to live by God’s laws, to say that ‘I’m not going to be defined by what I feel, I’m not going to follow my natural desires, but am going to follow God’s law instead, because Christ has saved me, and I want to live for him'” would be understood as “conversion therapy,” because it would be understood as an exhortation to “change sexual orientation.” But “it’s embedded in Christianity that we desperately need to change, that’s why Christ came to call us to repent.”

Another assumption, Roberts said, that is made by the proposed law is that “our desires are always good … particularly what we desire sexually.” He quoted the proposal as saying that “it’s vitally important that young people are supported in exploring their identity, without being encouraged towards one particular path.” But Christianity does encourage people “to follow the path of faithfulness to Jesus Christ.” Quoting scripture, he said that “we are required to say ‘no’ to ungodly passions.” More specifically, the proposal says that “anything that starts from the basis that being LGBT is a defect or deficiency would be guilty of conversion therapy.” He said that “being LGBT” is not a particularly Biblical way of thinking. Rather, “all sin is a defect and deficiency,” and homosexual behavior is clearly identified as sin. Anytime a Christian encourages someone to shun sin and follow Christ in the area of sexual morality, particularly if the person asked for help, it is specifically made illegal under the conversion therapy ban. He observed that “Christ gives us the spirit to remedy and control sinful desires (Gal. 5:17) …. and that would be criminalized.” The proposal would effectively make illegal “basic, standard, normal Christian doctrine.”

Roberts also said that the conversion therapy ban redefines the meaning of “conversion” to mean simply “a single one on one conversation among people.” He said that while there were exceptions in the case of consenting adults, there were no exceptions in the case of children, meaning therefore that Christian sexual morality cannot be taught to children by anyone, including parents, pastors, or teachers, counselors, or ordinary Christians.  A parent objecting to their child’s “gender transitioning” would be illegal. Affirming that Christian morality applies to anyone who identifies as LGBT would be criminal whether done in church, the home, or wherever.

While the religious freedom situation is dire, Roberts said that on the other hand it presents a wonderful opportunity to share the gospel. The use of the word “conversion” enables Christians to explain the gospel as turning from the sinful desires of our hearts to Christ. “We can say to people, yes, Christ did come to change us, that is just very, very good news. And Christ came in particular to save us from what is wrong inside us.” He declared that “if the law says we can’t do these things, we’re still going to do them, because Jesus’ gospel is good news.” It should not be understood as a cure, or quack therapy. What Jesus Christ gives us is much better than anything else.

Simon Calvert, Deputy Director of the Christian Institute for Public Affairs then observed that activists pushing the conversion therapy ban “are very up front about why they want to use it.” The obvious intention is to destroy Christian sexual morality, even in the private world, which was previously inaccessible to legal attack. He said that the devolved governments in the United Kingdom (those of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) all support a broad conversion therapy ban, prohibiting religious condemnation.  These governments are working in close relationship with LGBT groups to enact a broad ban. In Scotland, 7 of the 10 members of the committee to review the ban have signed a pledge to enact a ban. But the Westminster government in London has reservations. He indicated that it is not clear that the devolved governments have the power to enact a broad ban.

The U.K. government in Westminster expects to have a conversion therapy ban by the spring. It is receptive to Christian concerns about the ban, promising not to criminalize prayer, although Calvert believes it will take effort to hold them to their promise. A hopeful sign was the statement of the U.K. Equalities Commission that “the legislation must be carefully drafted in order to avoid criminalizing mainstream religious practice such as preaching, teaching, and praying about sexual ethics … Encouraging people to comply with religious doctrine that requires people to refrain from certain types of sexual activity should not fall within the definition of conversion therapy.” Calvert pointed to the comprehensive bans on conversion therapy, covering religious activity in Canada, Victoria state in Australia, and France. The French law specifies that conversion therapy endangers mental health. Calvert noted that LGBT activists are saying that being taught that one is a sinner “is a form of coercion,” and harms mental health. This, of course, directly attacks Biblical doctrine, which identifies all humans as sinners, and admonishes repentance on pain of hellfire. Christians are bound to declare this as part of the whole counsel of God. The state is not competent to judge this. It is each individual who must face the eventually that he or she will die, and have to give an account for his or her life. In reality, what is being claimed is the right not to be offended, a claim based on hurt feelings, which is a right to tyranny.

Calvert urged Christians to pray, and be responsive “to calls for action over the months to come.” We indeed should keep the ongoing effort to protect the right to be faithful to God, whether in public or in private, in much prayer. This appears to be a long conflict, and even victories which are won will need to be protected. But compromise with sin, or silence about God’s Word, is simply not an option, regardless of the penalties the state imposes or how firmly established they become. Matthew Roberts gave the Biblical response to the threat of conversion therapy bans when he said “if the law says we can’t do these things, we’re still going to do them, because Jesus’ gospel is good news.” The real time of our testing does not end when religious freedom is firmly established, but at the final judgment, when we answer for our life.