Dr Lisa Severine Nolland has written on the Anglican Mainstream website comparing gay Christians to the BNP.

Her argument in a nutshell is that the Greenbelt arts festival wouldn't give a platform to the racist party's views, so why is it giving Christians who believe in the inclusion of gay and lesbian people a platform?

The argument clearly falls apart as soon as you consider it. The churches have with one voice rejected the hate-filled messages of the BNP, whilst there are many in the churches who affirm gay and lesbian people.

But my main concern is that she seems completely blind to the kind of message that such a comparison between gay Christians and the BNP sends out about the churches attitude to LGBT people.

At least I hope she is blind to it, and this is just a terrible error of judgement. If she is in fact aware of the impact that such a comparison might have, she is doing something that I think even most conservatives within the church would consider a step too far.

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