To express your views on, and experiences of ‘conversion therapy’, see ‘How to respond’ on the Government consultation webpage. The consultation closes at 11:45pm on Friday 4th February 2022.

LAST MONTH The Times reported that

‘hundreds of clergy… have said they are prepared to become criminals if the government outlaws conversion therapy’.

They signed an open letter to Minister for Women and Equalities Liz Truss, in response to the Government’s current consultation on proposals to ban conversion therapy, which has been extended until 4th February 2022. Warren Hartley from Open Table Liverpool responds:

The open letter, whose signatories include two members of General Synod, the Church of England’s governing body, states:

‘if it were to come about that the loving, compassionate exercise of orthodox Christian ministry… is effectively made a criminal offence, we would with deep sadness continue to do our duty to God in this matter’.

This is a deeply disturbing comment, not because they are prepared to make a principled stance against an unjust government - all of us, Christian or not, have a responsibility to stand up to injustice. As the Indian non-violent activist Gandhi said,

‘When a law is unjust, it is only right to disobey’.

What is disturbing about their statement is the positioning of conversion therapy or ‘compassionate exercise of orthodox Christian ministry’ towards LGBTQIA+ people as a just action. One of the organisers of the letter says

‘the Government seems to be considering legislation that would criminalise normal, loving Christian ministry’

and

‘the proposals are drafted so badly… that entirely standard Christian teaching would be criminalised in the name of something that has nothing to do with us’.

There is no denying that Christianity has traditionally taught that homosexual activity is a sin, though there is profound debate about whether the Scriptures support this teaching.[1] However, Christian teaching has never been static. Indeed, Jesus’ own teaching assumed the place of slavery in society (see Matthew 10:24, John 8:35), and he did not teach against it (though he does subvert it in John 15:15), and yet the great abolitionists in the 1800s used their faith and Christian teaching to end this great evil. Just because something has long been held as ‘standard Christian teaching’ does not mean it is eternally right and just.

How then do we know when to examine and perhaps change what we teach? We look at the fruit that the teaching bears: ‘Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them’ (Matthew 7:20). Is the teaching bearing the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23): love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control?

There is a wealth of research that shows the ‘standard Christian teaching’ is doing deep harm. One particular report that makes for harrowing reading is Healing Spiritual Harms (La Trobe University & partners 2021) which describes the trauma of ‘LGBTQA+ change and suppression practices’.

In Writing themselves in (2019), also by La Trobe University in Australia, those LGBT+ people surveyed who mentioned religion were more likely to:

• feel bad about their same sex attraction.

• have experienced social exclusion or had to tolerate homophobic language from friends.

• report homophobic abuse in the home.

• report feeling unsafe at home.

• not be supported by parents, siblings, teachers or counsellors, when disclosing their same-sex attractions.

• report thoughts of self-harm and suicide or to carry out self-harm.

Gibbs and Golbach (2015)[2] report that:

‘LGBT young adults who mature in religious contexts are at higher odds for suicidal thoughts, and more specifically chronic suicidal thoughts, as well as suicide attempt compared to other LGBT young adults. Internalized homophobia only accounts for portions of this conflict’.

A Macquarie University report (2014)[3] found that:

Although a number of therapeutic avenues exist for clinicians working with religious LGB clients, more widespread mental health change may only be realized with the rectifying of such prejudice in socioreligious contexts.’

A report by Ignatius Nugraha of Leiden University (2017)[4] goes so far as to say:

‘there are grounds to establish that SOCE [sexual orientation change efforts ] methods could amount to torture’.

Each of these reports, and many more, show a litany of harm and damage that this ‘standard Christian teaching’ is doing to people, and therefore it cannot be of God! 

Even the UK’s Association of Christian Counsellors states that:

‘the practice of conversion therapy, whether in relation to sexual orientation or gender identity, is unethical’

and has signed a joint Memorandum of Understanding on Conversion Therapy in the UK.[5]

I’m reminded of Jesus’s words:

‘Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.’ - Matthew 7:15-17

What those who advocate for this ‘standard Christian teaching’ are doing is abuse. Their work bears ‘bad fruit’ and therefore cannot come from a ‘good tree’. They are abusing their LGBTQIA+ members. They may not believe that is so, but as these studies, and the extensive pastoral experiences of those of us who lead Open Table communities show, the harm is real and deep. Nor is this theoretical for me. I’ve walked this journey and have shared personally of the abusive nature of this teaching given at the hands of those who thought they were doing their best for me.

We still live in a free society, with freedom of religion, and people are free to believe as they wish. However we are not free from the consequences of what we say or do. Where we cause harm and damage, that must be challenged and indeed stopped. Freedom of religion and thought does not constitute freedom to do harm.

As the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu said:

‘There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.’

I sometimes feel like Moses speaking to Pharaoh (Exodus 8), asking the church to ‘let my people go!’ The church has been complicit in abuse of many kinds (see the report from the recent Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, in addition to all those mentioned above). We need a new wave of prophets like Moses to say to Church: ‘Let my people go!’

It is not an easy thing to hear that what you are doing is wrong. However, what people like the authors of the open letter to Liz Truss call ‘pastoral practice’ is abuse and should be met with a call for repentance, a turning away from their abuse and seeking forgiveness. We cannot simply keep pulling people out of the river, we need to go upstream and find out why they are falling in.

The proposed legislative ban in one way we can stop this ongoing abuse dealt out under this false ‘loving Christian ministry’. We can’t just agree to disagree - this teaching is causing harm and will continue to cause harm until something changes. Abuse is abuse and it must stop.

NOTES:

[1] For a good introduction to this debate see bibleandhomosexuality.org/about

[2] Gibbs, J. J., & Goldbach, J. (2015). ‘Religious conflict, sexual identity, and suicidal behaviours among LGBT young adults’ in Archives of Suicide Research

[3] Babucarr J. Sowe, Jac Brown & Alan J. Taylor (2014). ‘Sex and the Sinner: Comparing Religious and Nonreligious Same-Sex Attracted Adults on Internalized Homonegativity and Distress’ in American Journal of Orthopsychiatry,

[4] Ignatius Yordan Nugraha [2017] ‘The compatibility of sexual orientation change efforts with international human rights law’ in the
Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights

[5] Memorandum of Understanding on Conversion Therapy in the UK Version 2, October 2017