Church that thinks homosexuality is ‘destructive’ stays open during coronavirus because it’s a ‘divine institution’
An LGBTQ+ flag flies over a church in the US. (Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland has announced that it is “not of the view” that services need to stop to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
This statement was issued two days ago, in the wake of UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s March 16 briefing that said everyone must avoid both “mass gatherings” and “pubs, clubs, theatres and other such social venues”.
The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland said: “Although many have interpreted UK government advice and remarks [about coronavirus] as meaning that all services in church buildings should cease, and have stopped meeting, the Church Interests Committee is not of that view.”
Yes, really.
This is the same Church Interests Committee (CIC) that says the acceptance of homosexuality “has had a very destructive impact on society’s understanding of morality, love, liberty, marriage, the family and much more that is critical to God-honouring living”.
Homosexuality is definitely sinful, in the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland’s view, as well as being comparable to incest, paedophilia and bestiality.
“Legalising same-sex marriage not only further promotes the sin of homosexuality itself but it serves to undermine the whole scriptural doctrine of marriage as being between one man and one woman. It is therefore yet another attack on the institution of marriage, one of the foundation pillars of society at large,” the CIC said in March 2018.
And now, the same CIC has justified the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland keeping its Churches open and services running, despite coronavirus being a global public health crisis, “because attending public worship is not a mere social activity or recreational pleasure like going to a public house or restaurant, and does not at all require social interaction of a physical kind”.
“Rather, it is a divine institution.”
The CIC also goes on to admit that so few people attend its Church services, they cannot be included in the category of “mass gatherings”.
“The masses no longer assemble to worship God in spirit and truth,” the CIC laments.
Perhaps if they said “homosexuality is a sin that destroys individuals in their bodies and souls” less often, more people might show up to worship.
