NSW Anti-Conversion Therapy Laws Come Into Effect This Week. How Will Christians Respond?

So how will churches in NSW and Sydney in particular, respond to the new conversion therapy legislation that is now enforceable, one year since it passed through State Parliament? If the recent pro-life demonstrations outside State Parliament are any indication it will probably only be the Orthodox and the Roman Catholics who will make a public appearance or noise.

The rest of us, the evangelicals? Not so much, if current form is any guide – at least not publicly. Give us a good object we can all tut-tut at and hate (pokies anyone?) and we will harrumph in droves. Give us an issue that will see us isolated or scorned or prosecuted publicly? Not so much.

But I do get that it’s uncharted territory.  When the legislation was about to go through the NSW Parliament a year ago, Sydney Anglican Archbishop< Kanishka Raffel wrote:

As we began to look at the need for legislation in the first place, the initial consultation paper provided no direct evidence of conversion practices in New South Wales. Further, it was clear that definitions of such a bill would need to be clear and unambiguous. The UK, despite pressure to do so, has so far not enacted any such legislation given the legal minefield that accompanies it, as well as the intrusion into faith communities.

What we have ended up with is a ‘least worst’ version of such legislation compared to some other Australian jurisdictions but cannot be regarded by biblical Christian churches as representing good law. I am grateful for the government’s engagement with faith communities in preparation for the presentation of the bill, but it continues to be inadequate.

See that? No direct evidence of conversion practices in New South Wales. Unambiguous? Hardly! No intrusions? Not likely. Inadequate? Completely. And here we are one year on with the trigger finally pulled.

The Archbishop, with his usual clarity, nails it with this conclusion:

The idea of ‘supression’ of sexual feelings is poorly defined, extended families are not part of the exemptions, parent’s rights to set standards for their households are undermined and individuals are blocked from accessing support, even though they wish to. Good laws must target extraordinary harm not ordinary faith.

One would think that the government, if truly acting in good faith and seeking orderly citizenship and maintaining the good will of the people, would at least try to be as clear as possible about what it truly means.

That it would specifically provide instances of ongoing conversion therapy, and would come up with a veritable list of ongoing practices that are well documented. But none of that. Everyone has been anecdotal. It’s the vibe your honour!  And that’s exactly why it is being done this way.  We want to shut up about sexuality without telling you that you have to shut up about sexuality.

Now I don’t assume the sparsely populated revisionist, liberal churches and denominations will have any problem with the legislation. They are, after all, in step – lock stock and barrel – with the Sexular Age. They were as keen as the Greens to get this stuff through. And they are as keen as mustard to sit at the front of the class and point out the bad boys and girls.

So I can’t imagine they’ll be supporting their orthodox counterparts. Though even using the term “counterparts” might give the impression we are remotely on the same side of the gospel as each other, and clearly we are not.

But it is going to be interesting nonetheless to see how those churches and church leaders in Sydney respond now that the clock is ticking.  And the one thing that sets apart Sydney/NSW from places such as Perth in Western Australia where I hail from, is the sheer size, weight and influence of the church here. Now those of you living here may not think that, but it feels like “church city”, and that’s even before we reach the Bible Belt in the hills district.

And your Christian institutions are large and influential. There are the schools which are burgeoning (more on that later). I would hope that there would be some public Christian institutes and individuals who would write public opinion pieces for the newspapers against the manner in which this legislation has been drafted.

But I know that that would be a costly operation.  You would have a lot to lose should you push back against what is a pernicious set of laws. If you’ve got a lot of face in the public square, you can lose a lot of face in the public square. Long before this legislation was even a twinkle in the eye of Alex Greenwich, schools in Sydney were being hauled before the mainstream media swarm for daring to teach about biblical sexuality. Not enforce it. Not convert people by it. But simply to teach it.

This new legislation is an affront to religious freedom. But like all soft tyranny it is hard to pin down the exact problem. It is a chimera.  These types of laws are based on a dodo – an extinct animal – long discredited by all, and never credited by most.

By the way, you can read the statements about these laws from the NSW government here. Note in particular these words from the CEO of Equality Australia, Anna Brown:

“Abuse dressed up as pastoral care or guidance is a breach of trust and power. Telling someone they are broken or sick because of who they are is profoundly psychologically damaging.”

“Abuse dressed up as pastoral care”.  That’s the key isn’t it?  Some evil scheming is afoot! It’s the rubberiness of the wording that is the key here. Here you were thinking you were providing pastoral care and you were actually masking abuse!  Not even knew you were doing it, but there’s the threat of jail time nonetheless.

It would seem that when jail time is a threatened punishment, then any legislation that might lead to such a punishment would be super clear! But this legislation is exactly the opposite. And that’s its intention. When you read the legislation as a pastor or a chaplain, the whole point is to get you to second guess yourself. Am I just dressing up psychological damage as pastoral care?  Who can say? Do I want to take that risk? I don’t!

The whole point is not to jackboot the churches and the schools into submission, but for the churches and schools to self-censor just in case they cross the line. Because as the Archbishop’s words last year show, it’s the ambiguity that is the power of the legislation. There’s an edge over there. We can’t tell you were it is, but don’t get too close to it!

It’s the next step in silencing the churches on an important – indeed, eternal, matter. The peril of conversion therapy has simply been a Trojan Horse by which hard progressives have sought to further the Sexular Age in this city. And indeed across the nation. For Western Australia – my home state – is next. And you can be assured none of the ambiguity will be removed, because ambiguity is the legislation’s power.

At the moment I haven’t seen too much noise from the churches on this. Perhaps people are gathering their thoughts. Waiting to see what happens.

Perhaps they just view it as inevitable in Sydney. After  all  Sydney is  the gay capital of the nation. It’s an interesting place to live. I love the diversity of the city, but sex – and particularly transgressive sex – is celebrated ad nauseam. Every bus shelter, every pub, every flagpole outside every town council. At least we know who the gods are in this particular Athens.

What I hope doesn’t happen is for the churches in NSW to behave pretty much how the Victorian Baptists behaved when their government brought in similar legislation. The Victorian Baptist denomination fell over itself to comply and to be seen to comply and to be an ally as it complied.

It was dismaying to see how little they pushed back. In fact they didn’t push back. Indeed the Victorian government itself, patted the Victorian Baptists on the head and gave them a cultural biscuit for being a good boy.

When it boils down to it, if the legislation is what it is (and it is), and the call of the church is to be what it should be (and it is!), then the church needs to do what the apostles did in Acts 4 and 5 and obey God rather than humans. And that’s harder to do if you think you have a lot more to lose.

Everyone is looking for “well done good and faithful servant” from someone. You just have to decide who you wish to hear it from and when. That’s the rub.

I am hopeful that here in Sydney, denominations such as the Anglicans, who have a big voice in the public square, will be able to look the legislation in the face and say “We will obey God rather than humans.” I know there will be a cost to that. There always is.

And I hope it doesn’t not dissuade theologically rich and pastorally  sensitive organisations that seek to help Christians who are same-sex attracted live godly lives in this present evil age. These organisations will come under the most pressure.

I hope too that the churches and institutions are able to push back with clarity and compassion. Both are needed. The lie that actual conversion therapy was even a regular occurrence needed to be confronted when the legislation was being tabled. And it was, but that was not enough to see its passage through unhindered last year, and then enacted this week.

So now it’s time for churches to call this out for the massive intrusion it is on liberty of conscience, and its naked attempt to force self-censorship on faith communities at the risk of prosecution. And now is the time for faith based schools to remind their students and their key stakeholders – government and well-heeled parents – that the gospel is actually all about conversion. Always about conversion.

Christian schools are here to offer a good education, that is for sure. But a good education is about moral formation as much as it is about anything. It’s not simply there to get you your HSC and a university trajectory (and a career in finance in North Sydney). A good Christian education pitches a different vision of human flourishing at a deep level. It’s not about simply dusting middle class niceness with Bible class and chapel. Well I hope it’s not.

So all Christian education is about conversion, not just conversion of our sexual activities, but certainly including it. For schools to think that they can pitch a vision of human flourishing that is God-centred and not speak into this space, is futile. Schools, I understand, are nervous, because they want to keep off the front pages of the major newspapers, and they don’t want falling enrolments.

Schools and churches need to hold their nerve. And they need to tell governments that they do not operate wacky conversion therapy techniques, and that any attempt to censor the biblical vision of human flourishing, or pastor people away from that vision is unfaithful to the gospel.

Are there smart ways to do this? For sure? Will the government seek to tighten the legislation even further down the line at the behest of hard progressives? Once again, for sure.

For what it’s worth, having driven around some of the more salubrious parts of this city, I reckon the biggest obstacle to a gospel hearing in Sydney is not around matters of sex, it’s around matters of money. The sheer wealth of this place, and its ostentatious expression is astounding. Mammon runs this place. It’s intoxicating and blinding to our deep spiritual needs.

The people hardest to reach in this city are not the sexually transgressive – hard though they be to reach. The people hardest to reach are always the people hardest to reach, those who serve mammon. There is more naked wealth swanning around this city than naked people.