Transgender issues continue to cause debate across UK
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Dec 2022
‘Distraught’ parents are reportedly contacting campaigning groups every week about the social gender transitioning of children in schools.
This has prompted calls for the new Education Secretary to commission a review into gender identity policies in school, similar to that carried out at the Tavistock Clinic.
Transgender: death of women’s sport?
Jonny Reid
Date posted: 1 May 2022
There is an ongoing conversation about how transgender athletes might take part in women’s sport.
Recently in the UK, this has focused on Emily Bridges, a cyclist who a few weeks ago was racing as a man, and now seeks to race in women’s competitions. Whilst in cycling the question is around fairness, in other sports, such as rugby, the issue of safety also comes into play.
‘Scrap trans
guidance’
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Nov 2022
The Church of England has been urged
to abandon
its
transgender guidance
for
children, which is believed to be influenced by
Mermaids – the transgender charity now under
investigation by the Charities Commission.
According to the guidance, teachers should
affirm children as young as five wanting
to
identify as the opposite gender. Justin
Welby wrote the Foreword and explicitly
commended it.
Kingham Hill School
Date posted: 1 Dec 2022
Dear Editor,
I wish to clarify a very misleading article in your November issue entitled ‘Kingham head search’, in which you make reference to the flying of rainbow flags in the school’s library and chapel.
UK in transition: Have you prayed for Liz Truss?
James Mildred
Date posted: 1 Oct 2022
What should we make of Liz Truss?
I’m always struck by the apostle Paul’s command in 1 Timothy 2:1-2, where he says God wants us to pray for all kinds of people. He then immediately gives the examples of kings, emperors, and those in authority over us, and draws a connection between prayers for these people and the freedom we enjoy to live quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. Recognising our human weakness and tendency to ignore commands, he adds a further reason to this duty: it pleases God who wants all kinds of people to be saved.
news in brief
Netherlands: new trans law imminent?
The Dutch Parliament is debating a new draft transgender law which would allow anyone over 16 to change the gender on their birth certificates via a civil officer – without a statement from a physician or psychologist, as is now the case.
The court would decide cases involving children aged under 16, where the opinions of their parents/guardians about the change would not be decisive.
Attempting to break… the ‘Circle of Silence’
David Easton
Date posted: 1 Sep 2022
The Circle of Silence is made up of nine states in Mexico. It is an area where only 1% of people – or fewer – have heard the gospel, even though there are major universities and cities.
David and Maribel Easton and their two children, from Thornton Heath Evangelical Church, are planning to travel to the area as mission partners with SIM – an international, interdenominational evangelical Christian mission organisation. They prayerfully plan to plant churches that are faithful to God’s word. Here, they share their story with en.
news in brief
Mexico: evangelical
leader sentenced
Naasón
Joaquín García,
the
leader
of
Mexico’s largest evangelical church, has been
sentenced to nearly 17 years in prison for
sexually assaulting three teenaged girls from
his church. He will also be required to register
as a sex offender for life.
The 53-year-old
led
the
congregation
La Luz Del Mundo based in Guadalajara,
Jalisco, Mexico, which
runs churches
in
several
locations
throughout
the United States and Mexico.
Comfortable in our skin
Stephen Ayre
Date posted: 1 Aug 2022
Book Review
WHAT GOD HAS TO SAY ABOUT OUR BODIES:
How the gospel is good news for our physical selves
Read review
Gender benders
Christian Institute; Daily Telegraph
Date posted: 1 Jul 2022
The Christian Medical Fellowship has
launched
gender
identity
and
trans
identification ‘quick guides’ aimed at parents,
youth workers, professionals and pastors.
They are resources for Christians which
explain the terms used and some of the
complex gender-related issues in the world
of medicine, bioethics, and healthcare.
everyday evangelism
Stories to win the world
Glen Scrivener
Date posted: 1 Jun 2022
Long before Nathan, the prophet, told his story (2 Sam. 12), David was living in an alternative story, a delusion actually.
In David’s fantasy, he, the hero, was able to lust, steal, kill and cover it all up (2 Sam. 11). Presumably he thought he could do this because he was the king. The trouble is, all of us are like David. We lust and take and kill too (Matt. 5:2 1-30; James 4:1-2), and we’ve all followed that pattern since the garden (Gen. 3:6).
news in brief
Samaritans Purse opens
emergency field hospital
International Christian relief organisation
Samaritan’s Purse is opening an emergency
field hospital in Ukraine. Disaster response
specialists have already been
in Poland,
Romania and Moldova conducting rapid
needs assessments and preparing a strategic
response.
The
hospital,
together with
doctors,
nurses,
and
support
staff,
is providing
specialised trauma care to people impacted
by the conflict. This unit has the capacity to
treat more than 100 patients each day, and
comprises 30 beds, an operating theatre and
an Intensive Care Unit. Two medical clinics
will also be deployed to meet minor trauma
needs and provide general medical care for
200 patients.
Trans battle
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 May 2022
An experienced A&E doctor has appealed
a
ruling
that Christian Biblical beliefs
on gender are not worthy of respect in a
democratic society and are ‘incompatible
with human dignity’.
Dr David Mackereth, 58, was sacked in
2018 from his role as a medical assessor for the
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
after
refusing
to
identify clients by
their
chosen gender instead of their biological sex.
‘Bad law’: Christian MSP slams gender bill
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Apr 2022
The Gender Recognition Reform Bill in Scotland, which would allow individuals to change the sex on their birth certificate without a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, has now been published.
The Scottish Government’s stated aim is to streamline the process allowing transgender people to self-identify in a less invasive way. The current requirement for evidence that an applicant has lived in their acquired gender for at least two years will be reduced to six months and the lower age limit cut to 16 instead of 18 years.
Sexual and trans ethics
Date posted: 1 Apr 2022
Dear Editor,
I was deeply moved by the anonymously written ‘I am same-sex attracted, committed to celibacy: please hear my voice’ (en February 2022).
Australia: contentious Bill in the balance
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Mar 2022
As Evangelicals Now went to press, political manoeuvring in Australia’s lower house has meant that the passage of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s contentious legislation to outlaw religious discrimination was looking increasingly uncertain, with elections looming this May.
Morrison’s government claims that ‘The Religious Discrimination Bill, and associated legislation, will ensure Australians are protected from discrimination on the basis of religious belief or activity – just as they are protected from discrimination on the basis of age, sex, race and disability’. Mounting opposition from some of his own Liberal MPs, and uncertainty as to whether the Labor opposition and some senior senators will back the Bill – with or without a number of amendments – have led to intense debate on the issue, both inside and outside Australia’s Parliament.
SNP talks are
sham – claim
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Feb 2022
Religious groups have been excluded from
talks over proposed gender
reform
in
Scotland, it has been claimed.
The Scottish National Party
(SNP)
is
continuing its push for reforms to the Gender
Recognition Act to allow individuals aged
16+ to change gender without a doctor’s
certificate
confirming
gender dysphoria.
Under the proposals, individuals will only
have to live as the ‘acquired’ gender for three
months instead of the current two years.
Stonewall faces
tribunal
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Jan 2022
Stonewall,
the
militant LGBT+
campaign group,
is
being
sued
by a prominent
lesbian barrister
who co-founded
the LGB Alliance.
Allison
Bailey
(see photo), a criminal lawyer, is bringing
employment proceedings against Stonewall
and
her
barristers’
chambers, Garden
Court Chambers, after Stonewall allegedly
tried
to persuade
them
to discipline her
for expressing gender-critical views around
transgender issues.
Always the gospel
‘Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel,’ writes Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:16.
As we move from 2021 to 2022, and with so many things potentially crowding our minds – the pandemic, rising gas and electricity prices, the refugee crisis, climate change, moral relativism, transgender issues, cancel culture, or whatever it might be – it is good to return simply and firmly once again to… the gospel.