A CONSERVATIVE MP in Northern England apparently does not want the votes of devout Muslims who believe that Pride worship is incompatible with their religion.
The BBC has reported the resignation of Mohammed Nazam as Mayor of Keighley after he described his attendance at a Pride event as a ‘lapse in judgement’, but the state broadcaster did not name his religion as Islam. Mr Nazam had said in a Facebook post that his participation in a Pride flag-raising event on June 16 contradicted his ‘personal religious beliefs’. In his post on ‘Keighley Pakistanis’, Mr Nazam said: ‘I wholeheartedly apologise for my participation in the flag-raising ceremony, as it contradicts my personal religious beliefs, as many of you are aware.’
For that expression of regret, he was suspended by the Conservative group on Bradford Council. But the redoubtable Mr Nazam is not prepared to allow the idol of Pride to drive him out of public service. The BBC reported his intention to stay on as an independent councillor.
Keighley has a Conservative MP, Robbie Moore, who attended the Pride flag-raising. The BBC reported him as saying: ‘I’ve seen comments made by Nazam, stating that he feels the need to apologise for his part in the flag-raising ceremony and the need for him to “personally repent for his error” because of religious beliefs.
‘The role of the town mayor is to represent everyone within the community and therefore it was deeply disheartening to read the mayor’s statement.’
According to Conservative Campaign Headquarters, Mr Moore was re-selected as the party’s parliamentary candidate for Keighley and Ilkley in March. First elected in the 2019 Conservative landslide, he now seems to have an irrational urge to lose his seat at the 2024 General Election by prostrating himself before the altar of neo-Marxist LGBT ideology and needlessly alienating Muslim voters.
In the likely event that Mr Moore is voted out, he might well find employment with the United Nations, perhaps as a consultant to their Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI). Victor Madrigal-Borloz seems to be popular in the British political establishment. According to a statement from the Welsh government, he has praised its ‘LGBTQ+ Action Plan for Wales’. Wales’s Deputy Minister for Social Partnership, Hannah Blythyn, was quoted as saying: ‘The UN praise for our LGBTQ+ Action Plan and ambition to become the most LGBTQ+ friendly nation in Europe is humbling but I very much recognise there remains work to be done and that Pride events still have an important part to play across our nation.’
Christian pro-family campaigners in CitizenGo are under no illusions about what UN-backed Pride worship means for religious freedom. They have launched a petition urging the UN Human Rights Council to protect religious freedom from the very SOGI expert who praised the Welsh government.
The petition says: ‘The UN proposition suggests that religion – particularly our Christian faith – has been historically linked to violence, discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, repression of sexual and gender diversity, and promotion of cisgender and heteronormative norms.
‘This could eventually lead to governments meddling in religious affairs, violating our basic rights to practise our faith freely and independently.
‘In other words, it could potentially force churches to officiate same-sex marriages. Governments and institutions might enforce, by law, who has the “right” to absolution or communion.
‘SOGI expert Victor Madrigal-Borloz calls for a ban on “conversion therapies” in religious settings. This could limit the freedom of priests to help homosexuals seeking assistance. The expert hints at ties between religious organisations and human rights violations linked to these practices.’
As Pride worship becomes ever more compulsory across the once-Christian West, the Book of Common Prayer’s Epistle reading for today, the third Sunday after Trinity, is a clarion call to Christian endurance in the teeth of persecution. It is from the Apostle Peter’s first New Testament letter.
Peter urged Christian believers suffering for their faith in the 1st century Roman Empire: ‘Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen’ (1 Peter 5v8-11 – King James Version).
The BCP Collect for today resonates with the Epistle reading in these dark days of Pride: ‘O Lord, we beseech thee mercifully to hear us; and grant that we, to whom thou hast given an hearty desire to pray, may by thy mighty aid be defended and comforted in all dangers and adversities; through Jesus Christ our Lord.’
