May 6th, 2010 Posted in News | Comments Off
By Toby Cohen, Church of England Newspaper, May 6 2010
BOYCOTT GREENBELT if you want to safeguard vulnerable children, said an Anglican Mainstream consultant after her concerns over the presence of Peter Tatchell at this year’s festival were ignored.
Dr Lisa Nolland wrote an open letter to the festival organisers complaining about “the further gayification of Greenbelt,” following the invitation of the gay rights campaigner, which she saw as compounding damage done by inviting the Bishop of New Hampshire, the Rt Rev Gene Robinson, to speak last year.
Dr Nolland wrote: “We are very concerned and alarmed. We would like to meet with you because we believe this is damaging to both Christian witness and the health of the nation. “Both Gene Robinson and Peter Tatchell are bad news for the church and for Greenbelt. Greenbelt does much that is good and even excellent. Why spoil it with such as this? “In the light of the above, I would very much appreciate an explanation of your invitation to Peter Tatchell for 2010, given your invitation to Gene Robin- son in 2009. “You will recall the specific concerns we raised about ensuring that equal airtime was given to orthodox Christian perspectives. On the face of it seems that our concerns have fallen on deaf ears.”
Anglican Mainstream has posted a response from the festival on its website, which reads: “Each year Greenbelt hosts speakers with varying and sometimes contrasting views on a whole range of subjects. At any one time, we also ensure there are a range of lineup items that which they feel comfortable with.”
Dr Nolland told The Church of England Newspaper that this statement was disingenuous. Not only did she decry the absence of a speaker who could present “the orthodox Biblical position on sexual ethics,” she also suspected that the liberal campaigners were denying the voice of less palatable sexualities who might taint their case.
Dr Nolland said: “If Greenbelt actually wanted to have a really open honest discussion about all this, I’d have a far easier time with it. But instead – they talk about how they include and accept all and all are welcomed etc — that’s rub- bish. There are all sorts of orientations out there who say ‘look, LGBT people are doing to us what straight people did to them for centuries’.
Once the campaigners are accepted, they will then start leading Christians further astray, Dr Nolland fears. Illustrating how far this could go, she pointed to an interview Mr Tatchell conducted with a 14- year-old boy, ‘Lee’, who was sexually active with older men from the age of 12 and suggests that we should rethink our attitudes towards paedophilia.
Dr Nolland said that attending the festival will leave children more vulnerable to sexual abuse, because of Mr Tatchell’s erosion of boundaries, “particularly if they are told we need to question — explore, try this, try that, try 200 things later on, explore your sexuality — that’s actually a really bad idea”. Mr Tatchell is currently in Australia attending a family funeral, and no one from Greenbelt was available to comment.
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