Friday, 28 August 2026

Our Civilizational Moment: The Battle Over Morals

Tweet

I took the title of this post from Oz Guinness’s book, a great book. We are fighting a battle in the Western Civilization over traditional marriage and family morals. The new orthodoxy is based on the idea of gender fluidity and that all genders and lifestyles are to be embraced. Only violence and paedophilia are now rejected, though some argue for the legitimacy of paedophilia. It is now asserted that promoting traditional morality, the teaching of the Bible itself is hate speech, but of course the teaching of the Bible is for the sake of people, is part of loving people and is teaching, “This way to lasting fulfilment.”

Traditional Morality and Civil Law

Western nations traditionally enforced some aspects of morals through civil law. However, civil rights eventually prevailed, and the standard became no prosecution for behaviour engaged in by consenting adults. Fast forward to today and the left libertines now want to enforce their new orthodoxy on gender and sexual fluidity by prosecuting moral teaching as hate speech. It is a new orthodoxy and a new inquisition.

The Finnish Parliamentarian and Hate Speech

The catalyst of this post was the denial of a travel permit for a member of Parliament from Finland, married to a Lutheran Church leader to travel to England. MP Päivi Räsänen was convicted of inciting hatred by Finland's Supreme Court over a pamphlet on sexual ethics she authored in 2004, but she was unanimously acquitted on separate hate speech charges related to a Bible verse posted on social media. This was enough for Britain to deny an entry permit. Wow! I was reflecting about writing on this when my e-mail in-box included an article from the newsfeed, Faith and Freedom, on Amnesty International. I quote here.

Amesty International’s Anti Christian Turn

“A prominent Christian advocacy leader is exposing what he calls blatant anti-Christian bias at one of the world’s most influential human rights organizations. Tim Dieppe, head of public policy at Christian Concern, has publicly challenged Amnesty International after the group singled out Christian organizations as “anti-rights” while giving Islamic groups a complete pass on identical issues.

The controversy centres on Amnesty International’s recent report targeting organizations that hold biblical positions on the sanctity of life and biological sex. Multiple Christian groups found themselves labelled as threats to human rights simply for upholding traditional values that have been central to Western civilization for centuries.”

The Teaching of Yeshua

Yeshua himself was the source of western marriage and family morals. The Torah required fidelity but allowed for polygamy. Yet, just on the basis of economics and the concentration of male and female in the population, most people practised monogamy. Other cultures as well practice sexual ethical controls. However, Yeshua pointed to Genesis 2:24 and taught the ideal of one man and one woman being bonded together for life as the foundational ideal of God. I quote: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh". Then He added, “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.” (Matthew 19:6) The joy of bonded marital love is a fulfilment that is truly amazing, but is only for those that make the commitment to attain it in total fidelity.

The Weaponization of Hate Speech against Christians (and Orthodox Jews?)

However, to teach that this is God’s standard and all other orientations are sin, is now designated as hate speech. Religious liberty is not in the constitutions of many western nations. Yes, they did have the practice of religious freedom as a legal tradition, but this is breaking down. Due to the Constitution of the United States, the Supreme Court has consistently weighed in on the side of liberty to teach and practice traditional morality and to teach that all other orientations are sin. I hope that this continues to be the case.

We are in a battle for civilization on this issue. Without the biblical foundations of marriage and family we wills see a darker less civilized world with damage to children carrying into their adult lives. So sad to see those who want to enforce their immorality on the public and to prosecute and persecute those who hold to traditional standards!

“O Lord, send a revival that Biblical faith, the Gospel of the Kingdom, may again grow and expand in the western world.”