
On Thursday (June 15th), the leader of one of Britain’s most influential political parties was forced to resign by party leadership over a matter of religious belief. Tim Farron, a committed Christian, submitted his letter of resignation, which party leaders demanded over statements made regarding his stance on the progressive totems of homosexuality and abortion. The Wall Street Journal reports:
Soon after he took the party reins in 2015, Mr. Farron was asked whether, as a Christian, he considers homosexuality a sin. The Lib Dem leader gave the quintessential Christian reply: “We’re all sinners.” But it wasn’t enough. The question would resurface amid the election campaign this spring. During a TV interview on April 18, he was pressed four times, and four times he demurred. Quiescence wasn’t enough … Then the Guardian newspaper unearthed a 2007 interview, in which he had suggested that “abortion is wrong” but also cautioned Christian activists that an immediate outright ban would be impracticable. Confronted with his own words on the campaign trail, Mr. Farron pleaded that he’d never advocated abortion restrictions. It wasn’t enough.
In his resignation letter, Mr. Farron expressed his frustrations and a sense that being a member of a progressive political party (and also a committed Christian) “feels impossible.”
“To be a political leader, especially of a progressive liberal party in 2017, and to live as a committed Christian, to hold faithfully to the Bible’s teaching, has felt impossible … I seem to have been the subject of suspicion because of what I believe and who my faith is in.” – Tim Farron
Progressives seem less and less tolerant of people of faith every day — particularly with those whose belief gets in the way of their socialist dystopian ideas. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who self identifies as a socialist, again confirmed this reality just days ago by administering a religious litmus test to Russell Vought, a Trump nominee — and then declaring himself a “no” vote based on the man’s religious belief.
“The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.” – Karl Marx