Article (John Richardson): A SOR point - what happens when a kingdom is divided

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Belief and legislation
The indignation currently being heaped on certain sections of the Christian community, however, is not because the proponents and supporters of this legislation cannot understand the notion of a conscientious objection but because they passionately believe the behaviour in question not to be objectionable.

Yet this is precisely the point at issue: Christians — or at least certain Christians — hold otherwise. Nevertheless, legislation is being put in place to prevent them acting on those beliefs.

For Christians and churches, therefore, the present moment contains an acute challenge. People have for years been told that their faith isn’t just for Sundays, but should extend throughout the whole week and into every aspect of daily life. Now, we have the real possibility that acting on these admonitions will bring not just embarrassment in front of one’s friends but prosecution by the state.

The temptation of temptations
The sorry truth is that, whilst Christians in past decades relished the day when ‘real persecution’ would come in this country and ‘sort out’ the church, now that it has arrived things are not so straightforward. The issue is not something on which all Christians can easily agree. It is not a situation where the bad guys wear black hats and only the blatant coward will fail to ‘stand up for Jesus’. On the contrary, those who are standing up are looking nervously around to see whether anyone is with them, whilst others have clearly decided to ‘sit this one out’.
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