‘Christianity underpins freedom and discarding it damages democracy,’ said Tim Farron on 28 November.
Farron, who up until recently was leader of the Liberal Democrat Party, outlined his views on how democracy is corroding: ‘Christians have more reason than most to be alarmed.’ Liberalism had ‘stopped being liberal’ and instead become the oppressor of free society. He described it as ‘eating itself’. Quoting John Stuart Mill in 1859, he said ‘liberty is at risk when we all feel a pressure to start thinking the same things’.
The myth of neutrality
Farron observed: ‘For many years, our culture has considered that the absence of faith is the neutral position, and that the holding of a religious faith is eccentric. But if your faith actually affects your worldview in any way that puts it at odds with the mainstream, then it is considered to be malign and intolerable.’
