Secret Army 1 - The Persecution Begins

(Scene 1.  A church house meeting.)

Gary :- Julian, do you have a girlfriend?

Julian :- No.

Gary :- The book of Proverbs says, ‘A man who finds a wife finds a good thing.’  You should ask God to give you a wife.

David :- Who in the church do you find attractive?  We could put a word in for you.

Julian :- David, I’m gay.  The most attractive person in this church is the youth club leader, Michael.

Gary :- I don’t understand people who say, ‘I’m a Christian and I’m gay.’  God puts that right straight away.

Julian :- Gary, I was born that way.

Gary :- You weren’t.

Julian :- I’ve been a homosexual for longer than I’ve known what a homosexual was.  When I had my first gay crush I was six years old.

David :- You couldn’t be born that way.  God wouldn’t make someone gay.  That wasn’t the way people were meant to be.

Julian :- Some people are born dyslexic.  Some people are born disabled.  That wasn’t the way they were meant to be either.  This is a fallen world.  Not everything God creates is perfect.

David :- But God couldn’t have made you gay.

Julian :- Because God couldn’t create anything so disgusting?

 

(Scene 2.  Julian is in a room with his parents.)

Dad :- You’re 19, Son.  You need a girl.  What about the family name?

Julian :- Dad, I’m gay.

Dad :- No, you’re not.

Julian :- The only person I fancy at church is Michael, the youth club leader.

Dad :- No, you don’t.  You just like him.

Mam :- Michael and you are very close friends, Julian.  I’m sure it’s just friendly affection.

Julian :- No it isn’t.  My feelings are sexual.  I’m really jealous of his wife.  I want him.  Why did she have to marry him?  I dream about him.

Dad :- You dream that you’re with him.

Julian :- I dream more than that.  What do I have to do to convince you?

Dad :- It’s only a phase.

Julian :- Dad, I’ve felt like this since I was six.  I’ve never been attracted to women, I’ve always been attracted to men.  Do you believe me?

Mam :- Son, you seemed all right to us.  You weren’t effeminate.  You didn’t play with girls’ toys.

Dad :- You always had a masculine manner.    You’re not gay.  You’re normal.

Julian :- Maybe gay people are normal.

 

(Scene 3.  Julian is drinking in a gay club.  His parents arrive.)

Dad :- What are you doing in this place?

Julian :- Mam and Dad, meet Darry.  He’s more than just a friend.  (Darry kisses Julian on the cheek.)

Mam :- We’re shocked.

Julian :- Shocked?  Shocked would mean that you were surprised.  Do I have to spell it out to you?  I’m gay, I’m a queer, I’m a poufta.  Call me every name under the sun, but please, don’t say you were shocked.

Mam :- It’s hardly compatible with Christianity.

Dad :- It’s an abomination to God.

Julian :- Dad, I love Jesus just as much as you.

Dad :- If you love Jesus just as much as I do, what are you doing in a seedy gay club, getting drunk with a gay boyfriend?

Julian :- Dad, what were you doing 25 years ago when you met Mam?  It’s the same.

Darry :- Actually Mr. Jones, I believe in Jesus.  It’s just that it’s rather hard to walk into a church hand in hand with your gay partner, so I haven’t been there for a long time.

 

(Scene 4.  Years later.  Julian is a priest and is leading a church service on a Sunday.)

Julian :- This is Holy Spirit Sunday, and the Holy Spirit is not an easy thing to preach about.  But the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, and God wants us to love one another.  God is a God of love, not a God of condemnation, not a God of Hell, fire and brimstone, a God who cares about us and who wants to be our friend.  I believe in the New Testament God of love and the Old Testament God of justice.  All are welcome at the Lord’s table.  Come down to receive the bread and wine.  (The church members walk down to the front.  Julian puts a little wafer of bread into each person’s hand.)  The Body of Christ, which gives you eternal life.  (The other priest gives them a mouthful of wine from a big metal goblet.)

Reporter :- I’m from a Christian magazine.  Father Julian, why are you taking the people who published your Bible to court?

Julian :- I’m not doing it for money.  I’m doing it because I don’t want homosexuals to be weighed down with guilt every time they open the Bible, and I don’t want other Christians to bully and harass homosexuals because they believe that it’s wrong.

Reporter :- But Father, isn’t that what the Bible teaches?

Julian :- It has been mistranslated.  All the verses we translate as having something to do with homosexuality are about prostitutes and child abusers.

 

(Scene 5.  Julian sitting a gay club.)

Julian :- Hey Tams, I’m glad you’re wearing your ‘Positive about HIV’ T shirt.

Tams :- I wear it all the time, Father.

Julian :- That’s good.  You caught HIV from someone who didn’t tell you.

Jo :- Father, could I ask you a personal question?

Julian :- Yeah Jo, go ahead.

Jo :- Father, do you have AIDS?

Julian :- No I don’t.  AIDS is a disease.  I have HIV.  My HIV is controlled using medication.  I hope to live a long life.  Nowadays, AIDS patients on retroviral drugs can live several decades, some actually make it into their sixties.

 

(Scene 6.  The High Court.)

Solicitor :- This is Father Julian Jones, vicar of All Saints Church.  He just happens to be a practising homosexual.  Father Jones has been subject to hateful insults and discrimination all of his life.  This company publishes Bibles which poison people’s minds against homosexuals.

Publisher :- We publish books.  The Bible is only one of many books that we publish.  We can hardly be held responsible for what the Bible says.

Judge :- Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to charge the author of the book with committing an offence?  We can’t charge the authors of the Bible.  They’ve been dead for two thousand years.

Solicitor :- These Bibles have been mistranslated.  That’s why we’ve asked the translator of one of the Bibles that is sold by this company to appear in court.  Dr. Lubens, how would you translate Romans Chapter one?  Is it talking about homosexuality?

Dr. Lubens :- The word means literally Man, Man, Sex.  How else would you translate it?

Solicitor :- Dr. Lubens, what are your qualifications to be a Bible translator?

Dr. Lubens :- I have a degree in Modern Languages.  I specialised in Greek.  I have done a Bible College course in New Testament Greek.

Solicitor :- Do you have any qualifications in Theology or History?

Dr. Lubens :- No.

Solicitor :- Father Jones has a degree in Theology and a PHD on the subject of Religion in Roman Times.  If you were as educated as he, you might realise that in its cultural context the word in Romans chapter one was always used to refer to child abusers.  Certain other words in the New Testament that you translate as referring to homosexuals actually refer to male prostitution.

Dr. Lubens :- That is ridiculous.

Judge :- Are you saying that Dr. Lubens has simply made a mistake?  He had no intention of inciting people to persecute homosexuals.

Solicitor :- Dr. Lubens is a blind follower of church tradition.  Church tradition is discriminatory.  Gay people can’t pick up a Bible without getting a dose of guilt they don’t need.  Other people can’t pick up a Bible without starting to hate homosexuals.  These Bibles discriminate against homosexuals in the provision of goods and incite hatred of homosexuals.  Any Bible mistranslated in such a way is illegal under European law.

 

(Scene 7.  Pastor Smith sitting in the church office in front of his computer.)

Pastor Smith :-  What’s happening?  Every time I try to order a Christian book I get cut off.

Secretary :-  Is it the internet connection?

Pastor Smith :-  No.  It’s fine for everything else.  I’m going to phone up this bookshop and ask them what’s going on.  (Picks up phone and dials a number.)  Hello.  I’m trying to buy a Christian book and my link just keeps going dead.

Woman On Telephone :- We’re no longer selling religious books, Sir.  They might contain views that some people might find offensive.

Pastor Smith :-  Jesus had views that some people found offensive.  Is that wrong?

Woman On Telephone :-  If he had such beliefs today, he might find himself falling foul of European Law.  We must have equality.

Pastor Smith :- Listen, I’m a church pastor.  I need books and Bibles.  I must feed the spiritual needs of my church members.

Woman On Telephone :-  Perhaps you should feed their needs with books that don’t make negative statements about homosexuality.

Pastor Smith :-  How do you know that any of those books make negative statements about homosexuality?

Woman On Telephone :-  Oh I admit, I haven’t actually read them.  But it’s much too difficult for us to read all of them.  We know what Christians believe about homosexuals and we know that different religions are always arguing with each other.  So we have decided, in light of the recent court case, that we won’t sell any religious books and so risk breaking European law.

Pastor Smith :- Does that include Scriptures from other religions, like the Koran or the Hindu Vedas?

Woman On Telephone :-  Yes it does.  I assure you, it is completely fair.

 

(Scene 8.  Pastor Smith is preaching in his church.)

Pastor Smith :- It says in the second book of Timothy chapter 3, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”  I believe that persecution of Christians has begun.  We’re having great difficulty getting new Christian books.  The publishers won’t print them because they’re frightened of breaking the new European laws which have something to do with offending people.  This represents a complete change from the kind of country we have lived in until now.  I believe it will only be a short time before they start sending us to prison.  Who can stand against this tidal wave of political correctness?  I find my sermons on the church website are being blocked.  The ICT people in charge of the website can’t tell me why.  It seems as if the government are interfering with it.  If they censor what we say in print and they censor the things that we put on the internet, how long before they censor what we say in church?  How long before they censor what we say in our own homes?  They could take our children away from us because of what we say to them.  How much does being a disciple of Jesus mean to you?  He said, “All nations will hate you because of me.”  Are you ready for this?  Are you ready to be handed over to the authorities for believing in Jesus?  Do you love him that much?  Jesus said that everyone who gives up houses and lands, brothers and sisters for him will receive a hundred times as much in this life and, in the world to come, eternal life.