What Does the Church Do When the Conversion Ban Hits?

As of the 7^th of January 2022, the C-4 law[1] came into effect in Canada. What is the C-4 law? It is a ban on all forms of conversion therapy. According to the Canadian law, conversion therapy is any practice that aims to:

• Change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual
• Change a person’s gender identity to cisgender
• Change a person’s gender expression so that it conforms to the sex assigned to the person at birth
• Repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour
• Repress a person’s non-cisgender gender identity or
• Repress or reduce a person’s gender expression that does not conform to the sex assigned to the person at birth. [2]

The purpose of banning such practices is set out in the NZ bill where it states:

“The Government’s objectives in prohibiting conversion practices are to affirm the dignity of all people and that no sexual orientation or gender identity is broken and in need of fixing…”[3]

legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2021/0056/latest/whole.html

If you are a Christian reading this article, you might wonder why you should be concerned. The problem with these laws is that they are a direct attack upon the Church. If you don’t believe me, consider the statement of the UN independent experts’ research document:

“Faith-based organizations and religious authorities in particular operate in a space surrounded by blurred lines, advising the family and victim and often promoting or providing the practices [of conversion therapy] alone or in partnership with others…[They use] interventions that act on the premise that there is something inherently evil in diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Victims are usually submitted to the tenets of a spiritual advisor, and subjected to programmes to overcome their “condition”.[4]

Documents/Issues/SexualOrientation/ConversionTherapy

So the question is, how should the Church respond? This is an important question because it is safe to assume that we will end up with such laws in our land eventually and we too will have to respond.

It is always good to learn from others. So let us look to the Canadian pastors and consider how they responded. On December 22^nd, some Canadian pastors sent out a request for other pastors to stand with them and declare God’s Word on this matter. They contacted John MacArthur [5] and he sent out the request to others.

On the 16^th of January pastors from around the world stood up and declared what God says about biblical sexuality and conversion therapy laws. I also responded to this call. I preached twice on the issue.

Whether you are a Christian or not, you need to seriously consider what it means for a government to be seeking to outlaw the way we speak or think.

The intention of this law is to limit the way you can help your family and friends. If your child is worried about what gender they are, under this law you are not allowed to help them through that process; you must do exactly what your child wants. If your friend is struggling with their sexuality, you are not allowed to challenge their views. If your friend regrets their decision about changing genders, you are not allowed to suggest they might return to their actual birth gender.

The other problem is, this highlights a complete ignorance of what is common knowledge to all of us. Everyone knows there are only two genders. People may play ‘the emperor’s new clothes’, but we all know that there are only two genders. However, our government and a tiny minority of society are telling us to ignore the truth of biology to appease the opinions of the minority. This will only lead to confusion, pain, and sorrow. Let us all stand up and speak the truth into the world on these issues, and may the Church be found doing it louder than all!

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[1] parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/bill/C-4/royal-assent

[2] Ibid.

[3] legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2021/0056/latest/whole.ht

[4] Documents/Issues/SexualOrientation/ConversionTherapy

[5] gracechurch.org/news/posts/2307