John Parker’s story: Mermaids, leaving the C of E and now a church plant

The minister at the centre of a transgender storm speaks to en

‘You are all now honorary Mermaids, whether you want to be or not.’ That was what the trainer said, and I did not want to be. Why not?

We should approach those suffering from gender dysphoria with compassion. As Christians, however, we know that compassion is also truthful, unlike the ‘compassion’ of the world. The effect of the training I received was the suppression of the grace and truth of Jesus Christ. As the above quotation reveals, respect for other views – be they scientific, legal, Islamic, Jewish, Christian or just traditional British – was absent. This was a totalitarian approach masquerading as Equality Law: an ideology using a vulnerable child to pursue its agenda. Grace and truth were being sacrificed on the altar of ideology. I am glad that new government guidance has realised the dangers of such organisations, though I do not believe activists will give up any time soon.