Christian bookshop defends biblical sexual ethics amid ‘Pride flag’ row

A Christian bookshop has been subjected to abuse after it asked the local council to remove a multicoloured LGBT flag from above its shop window.

Matlock Town Council in Derbyshire displayed the controversial flags all across the high street to mark ‘Pride month’, even though only the flag of St George and Union Jack had been flown previously.

The Cornerstone Bookshop, which began as a town bookstall in 1985, asked for its flag to be removed. The Council did so without issue, but LGBT activists took offence.

‘Insensitive’

The shop stated that it did not want to “promote homosexuality”, saying its “aim is solely to promote the Christian faith” and thanked the council for the flag’s “speedy removal”.

It added: “Fortunately, we are blessed in this country with freedom of conscience and freedom of religion legislation, enshrined in the Equality Act of 2010 which allows religion or belief as a protected characteristic.”

Cornerstone was branded ‘bigoted’ and ‘homophobic’ for its stance by some in the town, but following negative coverage in the Derby Telegraph, numerous people backed the bookshop’s stance.

One user said placing a “Pride flag above a Christian bookshop was insensitive”, with another adding: “Nobody should be forced to agree with pride”.

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Prayer

Earlier this month, the National Secular Society (NSS) complained at a move to include prayers at Derbyshire County Council meetings.

Introducing prayer at the beginning of a full council meeting in May, Reform UK Council Chairman Nick Adams confirmed that it would be “a standing agenda item going forward”.

The NSS, which is running a campaign to axe Parliamentary and local Government prayers, believes that religious worship should not “play any part in the formal business of the state”.