Our letter to the Prime Minister over ‘conversion therapy’ plans
The authors of the Greater Love Declaration have written the following open letter to the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, urging him to “make a clear and final decision to drop the misguided proposal for a new law against ‘conversion therapy'”:
Dear Prime Minister,
We are Christian ministers and pastors, and authors of the Greater Love Declaration, a statement of orthodox Christian teaching on marriage, sex and identity. The Declaration has been signed by over 1500 church ministers and pastoral workers from all major denominations.
We are writing to ask that you make a clear and final decision to drop the misguided proposal for a new law against ‘conversion therapy’, which is both unnecessary and fraught with dangers of unintended consequences.
Horrific examples quoted by campaigners are, thankfully, long illegal. They would never be approved of in the churches we represent. It appears that any new legislation, unless it merely duplicates what already exists, will criminalise opinion which disagrees with LGBTQ+ ideology. It would therefore put normal Christian ministers, teachers and loving parents at grave risk of falling foul of the law.
Christianity has always taught that God made us male and female, with the intention of sexual faithfulness in the marriage of one man and one woman, and sexual abstinence otherwise. This is how Christians are called to live. It holds, with the strongest of reasons, that this is what is best for every man, woman and child, for families, and for society as a whole. It is our God-given duty to teach and pastor people in the light of this; a duty which we will under no circumstances cease to carry out.
At a time of much confusion amongst young people about matters of sex and gender, children desperately need to hear voices calling them both to sexual restraint and to value and protect their bodies, rather than submit to treatments with drastic lifelong harms. The proposed legislation would undoubtedly stifle such viewpoints, even if coming from children’s own parents. Loving fathers and mothers could face horrifying accusations, merely for seeking to protect their own children and dissuade them from decisions which would have irreversible consequences they cannot possibly understand.
Therefore we ask that you act swiftly to bring speculation about this legislation to an end by confirming that no further moves towards publishing a draft bill will be made.
Yours sincerely,
Signed, the authors of the Greater Love Declaration