“Many of our civic institutions have been taken over by an ideology which is fundamentally anti-democratic, anti-factual and intolerant – in the name of tolerance. The State, having replaced God, has become the source of all morality and values. If you don’t agree with those values you are not one of ‘the people’. You are untermenschen. You are out.”
(David Robertson – EvangelicalFocus) This week, something of great significance has happened in the UK. Something that has implications far beyond its shores and that will affect the Church and Western democracy for years to come.
Future historians will look back and see this incident as an indication of the decline of Western democracy and it’s replacement with an authoritarian ideology far removed from the liberal democracy birthed from Christianity.
We are not talking about the day that the UK finally left the EU – important though that is. No, this week an incident happened that at first sight seems trivial. Franklin Graham was first of all banned from the Liverpool ACC, then Sheffield and most chillingly of all, from the Glasgow SEC.
A seminal moment is when a new idea or concept is sowed and results in the growth of that concept in the future.
So why is the Graham ban a seminal moment?
It’s not a question of whether the Church should invite him or engage in this kind of stadium outreach. That is an in-house debate for the Church.
It’s not because the mob has got its victim. This is not the first time this happened and it won’t be the last. Twitter rage, online petitions and social media campaigns are effective weapons to have in such a dumbed down, irrational and unforgiving society.