(PresidentialHill.com)- In a letter encouraging the UK government to outlaw trans ‘conversion therapy,’ a Bishop described the process of becoming transgender as a “sacred journey.”
The Bishop’s remarks coincide with the United Kingdom considering banning “conversion therapy” for gays. However, people who identify as “transgender” will be exempt from the legislation put forward.
Despite attempts by the UK Conservative Party to pacify the country’s LGBT lobby, many are unhappy with this omission, with a number of campaigners voicing fury over the government’s decision.
Rowan Williams, an Anglican Bishop who formerly served as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Anglican church’s most senior clerical office, is one of many who is dissatisfied with the transgender exclusion.
Since then, Williams has addressed a letter to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, pushing him to enact a ban on gender conversion therapy.
Williams believes that conversion to Christianity is the process through which a person responds joyfully. It’s the glorious embrace of the eternally loving and ever-merciful God. These sentiments were expressed in a letter signed by other Anglican bishops.
The former senior cleric also expressed that to be trans is to enter a sacred journey of becoming whole: precious, honored, and loved, by yourself, by others, and by God.
The impending ban on “conversion therapy” in the UK has caused significant worry over the country’s right to free speech, with many religious people fearing that the legislation may go so far as to impact prayer.
The Christian Institute responded by saying that it should not be criminal for Christians to preach their beliefs or for individuals to pray for their friends. Still, it is unmistakably what the activists want.
This fear by the Christian think-tank isn’t all that implausible, with some close to UK lawmakers believing that prohibiting non-coercive Christian prayer will be a feature of the legislation rather than a flaw.
Because it resembles hate speech, an LGBT+ advisory panel urges such prayer to be prohibited.
“Prayer isn’t prayer if it causes you to hate yourself for being LGBT!” former government advisor, Jayne Ozanne, exclaimed.
