Carl Trueman: ‘Pro-LGBT Anglican churches are hijacking the true meaning of the rainbow’

Theologian Carl R. Trueman has slammed some Church of England (CofE) parishes for commandeering “the rainbow from God’s promise to Noah” to promote LGBT theology.

Writing in the journal First Things, the Professor of Biblical & Theological Studies at Pennsylvania’s Grove City College drew attention to St James’s Piccadilly in London — a church hosting so-called “Pride” events throughout the year, including a “Drag Sports Day” and a “Queer Christmas Carol Service”.

Trueman stated: “If Pride Year is allowed to stand as a liturgical reality in any parish, that parish should not call itself a church.”

‘Forgotten the Gospel’

The theologian called the church’s LGBT-filled noticeboard, which did not mention “God, Christ, nor the cross”, a “dramatic but tragic example of what happens when Christianity loses sight of its transcendent purpose”.

He noted that “under the guise of prophetic courage, these churches are actually demonstrating cowardice, preferring to affirm the fashionable falsehoods of the sexual revolution to the truths of the faith they claim to adhere to.

“Christianity does not affirm the values of the earthly city, left or right, and then seek to blend them seamlessly into celebrations of the most disruptive moment in human history—the incarnation of God himself. Instead, it points beyond, to things above, to something better.

“Rather than calling people back to a true vision of humanity, progressive churches offer the fraudulent answers of a culture that will do anything but face up to its mythology—the cult of human autonomy, expressed most pungently in the sexual revolution. This is not the gospel of Christ; it is the mendacity of the age.”

Trans flag

Last month, Sunderland Minster was forced to apologise after it was accused of “brazenly encouraging people to break the law” on single-sex spaces.

The CofE church had posted a sign with the transgender flag outside its toilets, claiming: “All women are welcome to use these toilets”. In addition, the Minster boasted on social media that it would ignore the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s recent guidance, which says that single-sex spaces must be reserved on the basis of biological sex.

But following a public backlash, the Minster’s Parochial Church Council said that it had not supported the move and removed both the post and the sign.

The church is part of the Inclusive Church Network. Its Provost is Clare MacLaren, who has an adult trans son. The Minster has previously attracted criticism for decorating its altar with a ‘Progress Pride’ flag, which is illegal under canon law.