FUNDAMENTALISM IS ON THE RISE
This past week, the TUV arranged for The Christian Institute to speak at a Stormont Assembly Committee, which is currently examining a single equality bill for Northern Ireland.
What did these supposed (and self appointed) spokespersons for Christianity want to say to the committee? That churches should have the “freedom” to punish, dismiss, or marginalise members who do not conform to a rigid, fundamentalist interpretation of faith.
TUV MLA Timothy Gaston was reported as saying: “I would be strong on the point that faith-based organisations that, day by day, use the Bible as their navigation tool should have the protections in place to say to somebody, whether an employee or a volunteer, who was not living that way, ‘You know what? You’re not in keeping with the organisation,’ and bringing that to an end.”
Wanting to force people to “use the Bible as their navigation tool” is not expressing religious freedom, it’s legislating for a particularly rigid, conservative evangelical mindset—one that treats scripture not as a testimony to faith, but as a rulebook to enforce conformity.
But let’s be clear: this is not Christianity and it has nothing to do with faith.
Christianity has never been about enforcing uniformity. It is not about gatekeeping who is “in” and who is “out.” Jesus did not teach his followers to weaponize scripture against others—he taught them to love. He told us that the Spirit, not the letter of the law, would guide us into all truth (John 16:13).
What we are witnessing here is part of a broader trend—one where fundamentalist groups seek not only to shape their own churches, but to influence legislation that allows them to control, exclude, and punish those who dare to think differently.
And we must resist it.
As Christians, we reject the notion that faith is about coercion. We reject the idea that the gospel is something to be policed rather than lived. The Christian Institute and Mr Gaston do not speak for Christianity—they speak for a narrow, exclusionary version of it that is more concerned with power than with love.
The question is not whether churches should have the “freedom” to punish those who dissent. The real question is whether we will allow fundamentalism to define Christianity in the public sphere—or whether we will stand up for a faith that reflects the radical, inclusive love of Christ.
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