David Cross on Same-Sex Marriage in Britain

Several of you have indicated that you are eager for a report on the appearance of Dr Peter Naylor last night on the ITV 24-hour cable/satellite News Channel. The issue was that legislation allowing for same-sex unions came into effect yesterday and the first ceremony under that legislation occurred in Belfast between 2 lesbians.

I should explain that this was a program called “News Extra” in which an interviewer has two people on opposing sides of a current issue and puts questions, some of which are called in by viewers. Both people are given the opportunity to answer. The Lesbian (who has been a media representative for their view for some time) was in the London studio while Dr Naylor was in a small room at the Cardiff studio and connected by video link. Peter was at a distinct disadvantage, with no human face to interact with and with the media clearly against everything he had to say. (One of the reporters of the news leading up to the interview went to Canada earlier this year to “marry” his homosexual partner). About 15 minutes (half of the program) was given to this issue.

The points Dr Naylor was able to present included:
1. To the challenge that Religion is all about love; he said that the Bible does teach us to love our neighbour but it also tells us that there are right and wrong expressions of love, for example people who have an attraction to children or who want to marry two women.
2. To the challenge that these are private affairs, he said that moral action has public consequences and the Bible says that righteousness exalts a nation. He said that the present government has been leading the nation down an immoral path and that we cannot expect blessing and things to go well for us as a nation if we disobey God.
3. To the challenge that Homosexuals can/should be allowed to raise children, he said that God created the human race and marriage between male and female and that is the proper context in which children should be brought up.

We have no naïve expectations that this appearance will transform the direction of British life – even though our goal is to see the gospel transform society. What we do hope is that some who saw it, and were glad to see an expression of biblical moral commitment, might look for Peter Naylor or the Presbyterian Church on the internet and find www.epcew.org.uk or www.lpcr.org.uk.

We also hope for additional opportunity to present a biblical world-view. In fact, this interview opened the door for Peter to do a taped radio interview this afternoon for a station that covers much of South Wales.

Getting this opportunity reminds us of how little we know about making effective use of the media. We will need to “debrief” the experience for the future opportunities that may come our way.

Thank you for praying.

Let me also take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and a fruitful New Year.

David L Cross
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Team Leader
MTW – Team Britain