​A gay conversion therapy ban would criminalise prayer

When governments promise that a new law will only ever be used against the worst offenders, experience suggests we should read the small print.

We have heard it before. New powers are introduced to tackle only the most extreme cases. They are presented as ‘targeted’, ‘proportionate’ and ‘impossible to misuse’. Yet, over time, the definition of what counts as harmful expands, and activities once considered ordinary become subject to legal scrutiny.

That is why Christians should pay close attention to the draft conversion therapy ban bill released by the UK Government last week. Everyone agrees that coercion, physical abuse and degrading treatment have no place in pastoral ministry, family life or healthcare. They are already criminal offences. The real question is what new conduct this bill will outlaw.

Every attempt to ban ‘conversion therapy’ in the UK has intruded into outlawing reasonable discussions, prayer and parental guidance that would lead children away from dangerous ideologies. If Parliament wants to understand where this debate leads, it need only look to the Australian state of Victoria.

The slippery slope

Victoria’s Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Act was introduced with much the same language now being used in Westminster. Supporters insisted that it targeted only harmful attempts to force people to change their sexual orientation or gender identity. Only a clear-sighted few saw that it would inevitably seek to suppress ordinary parenting, pastoral conversations and prayer. Which is precisely what has happened.

Official guidance to avoid prosecution encourages parents of children questioning their biological sex to respond by affirming a child’s preferred name or pronouns. Originally, it even warned mums and dads that discouraging their child from using puberty blockers could risk falling foul of the law. Good parenting has been ensnared in criminality. Church leaders were also targeted in case they too might tell the truth.

If we cannot speak openly about sin, repentance, regeneration and human flourishing, we simply cannot preach the gospel in all its glorious fullness

This guidance goes on to suggest certain prayers might amount to prohibited conduct. That’s prayer censorship by any other name. Churches have been left wondering whether someone who voluntarily seeks pastoral care for unwanted sexual feelings or gender distress can safely receive it.

This puts them in a ridiculous scenario – could they lawfully advise an unfaithful man not to leave his wife for another woman, but be forced to affirm him in leaving his wife for a man?

Earlier this year, leaders from Christian, Muslim, Sikh and Hindu communities jointly warned that the Victoria law had created a chilling effect on religious ministry. These concerns are all valid when applied to the UK’s draft conversion therapy bill.

Love doesn’t hide

The bill in its current form will make it incredibly difficult for parents and pastors to guide children away from intentions to transition. It would criminalise “emotional pressure” and “economic pressure”, with possible imprisonment for adults who transgress the rules.

Would this prohibit parents from refusing to purchase their 13-year-old daughter a chest binder that prevents her healthy bodily development? Would a pastor be jailed for praying with a young man experiencing distress about his body, or pointing to the comforting biblical truth that he is made in the image of God?

Could a pastor lawfully advise an unfaithful man not to leave his wife for another woman, but be forced to affirm him in leaving his wife for a man?

The Christian faith understands that people are free to receive, reject or wrestle with truth. The gospel itself is an invitation to repentance and transformation. Christians believe that God changes lives – not through coercion, manipulation or force, but through grace freely received and the power of the Holy Spirit. If we cannot speak openly about sin, repentance, regeneration and human flourishing, we simply cannot preach the gospel in all its glorious fullness.

Loving our neighbour doesn’t mean affirming bad choices that could harm their own minds and bodies. It doesn’t mean hiding the truth for fear of offence. Any Christian who cannot speak openly about faithful obedience within marriage or pray with those in distress is prevented from caring for people at all. Good counsel requires the freedom to challenge ideas.

A state which cannot allow parents to steer children - some of whom may have experienced abuse, trauma or be struggling with neurodiversity - away from taking dangerous puberty blockers is a failed one. A government which silences the releasing message of the Bible – you don’t need drugs and scalpels to change your gender; you are loved because you are made in the image of God – is a cruel one indeed.