As Christians, we know that there’s something deeply ironic about a multi-million pound organisation calling itself The Christian Institute spending so much of its money and energy on trying to make the world less kind.
A few weeks ago, this “Christian” Institute announced plans to launch a legal challenge to stop civil servants from wearing rainbow lanyards, including pronouns in email signatures or taking part in Pride events.
They claim such actions breach rules on “impartiality” in the Civil Service.
Most people of faith already know that the Institute does not represent the heart of actual Christianity. In reality, they have somehow turned in on themselves and are deeply misrepresenting God’s love as some kind of legal loophole.
So let’s say it louder for those huddled at the back: LGBTQ+ lives and Pride are not a threat to impartiality! They are a sacred reminder that EVERY human being deserves dignity, visibility, and safety.
The irony from the Institute is striking. The very same people who once insisted Britain was a “Christian nation”, now want to erase the public signs of welcome that actually embody Jesus’ command to love our neighbour.
Of course, everyone can see what’s going on here. The Christian Institute knows that open hostility towards the LGBTQ+ community doesn’t play well in public anymore, so they’ve just rebranded their homophobia as a concern for “neutrality,” “objectivity,” and “civil service standards.”
The reality is that they’re not defending “impartiality” at all, they’re just attacking visibility, affirmation and the right of LGBTQ+ people to exist in public spaces without shame.
As Christians, we’re not called to hide our compassion behind weasel words and fake agendas like “neutrality” – but to practice the radical gospel of love courageously, and without fear.
This is what happens when you try to institutionalise the Spirit. The words “Christian” and “Institute” don’t even belong in the same sentence. One word speaks of radical love, the other speaks of deadened bureaucracy.
There’s a reason Jesus didn’t found an institute. Because the Gospel never needed a legal department, since grace is the only currency it has ever known.
(Feed generated with FetchRSS)
