- Suppression: repression?

Having gone from drought to bushfires, then plague and war; many Australians were caught up in severe floods in New South Wales and Queensland. It is little wonder that some Christians feel that this has an ‘end times’ feel. The floods were the greatest for 40 years. But there are other seismic events shaking Australia as well.

On Thursday 24th February, Archbishop Kay Goldsworthy of Perth Anglicans presided over an ordination of four new deacons. One of those was of a man who had been living in an unmarried relationship with a woman for several years (they have children); and the other was of a man in a civil partnership with another man. This was done in contravention of both the Anglican and Biblical teaching on marriage. Meanwhile, in NSW, Bishop Rod Chiswell is being taken to court because he asked a gay organist in a civil marriage to desist either from playing the organ, or his ‘marriage’.

Meanwhile in the State of Victoria the ‘Change and Suppression’ Bill has come into place. This is a deeply disturbing and authoritarian law. For example, under this Bill a Christian pastor meeting one-on-one with a member of his congregation would break the law if he encouraged them to be celibate and thus suppressed their feelings of same-sex attraction. A parent who refuses to support their child’s request for medical treatment to enable them to ‘gender transition’ would be breaking the law. And a Christian leader who tells a member of their congregation that they will be excommunicated if they continue their same-sex relationship, will also be breaking the law. We have now moved to the situation where the State tells the church how we should pastor, what we should teach, what we can pray, and who can be members of the church.