Tim Farron Resigns Over Society’s Intolerance of His Religious Beliefs

Liberal Democrats is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Liberal Democrats is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Indicating the constant questioning he is subjected to, Farron says that true liberalism does not exist.

Tim Farron’s resignation may not have come as a surprise to people who have been closely following the silent war between the Liberal Democratic Party and his party members. While he accuses the party of being intolerant towards his beliefs as a Christian, others believe that his conservative views on various social issues, such as gay marriage, are what may have led to this resignation.

Tim Farron Resigns Over Society’s Intolerance of His Religious Beliefs[/tweetthis]

UK’s Farron made it clear his religion and the party’s values were at odds, saying, “To be a political leader — especially of a progressive, liberal party in 2017 — and to live as a committed Christian, to hold faithfully to the Bible’s teaching, has felt impossible for me.” To be a political leader in the UK where religion and faith are going down in the lives of people entails that the leaders be just as liberal as the people are in social matters. As such, when he said in an interview that he was not against gay sex may have been something that stemmed out of political pressure rather than out of his own views. Besides, the Anglican Church has not yet given its official nod to gay marriage.

Although it does seem his religion was the main reason for which he resigned, another reason could be the obvious loss of interest that the party is showing. The Liberal Democrats have been slack about elections and politics, which puts the leader in a very difficult position. And when the leader is constantly questioned about his religious beliefs, it can be quite stressful.

Farron also observed it was ironic that he should have been the leader of a party with the word ‘liberal’ in its name because he says that he never found the freedom to practice his faith without fear of being hounded by media and ‘seculars.’ He pointed out that the ‘secular’ the popular media promoted was one that constantly involved shaming Christianity. For him, he could no longer go on being the leader of a party that he saw as being anti-Christian.

At the heart of the problem is that despite his constant fights for liberal values, the nation has still been eyeing him with suspicion because he has not stopped being a practicing Christian. In an irony that is only tragic for the liberal leader, he said, “We are kidding ourselves if we think we yet live in a tolerant, liberal society.”

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