In Conversation With... Calvin Robinson

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The idea that yes we're all individuals but that  means we all have individual responsibility as   well and that responsibility is for the wider  community. We have an obligation to each other   as well as to ourselves. It's taking away  parents’ responsibilities and rights which go   hand-in-hand and it's replacing them with the  state. I understand that people are scared of   sticking their head above the parapets but unless  people start to do it then we're all victims and   I think the more of us that stand up, I often say,  ‘they can't cancel all of us’, it's not possible. Calvin Robinson, thank you very much for coming  to speak with me today. An absolute pleasure.   We met briefly in London, I think, just before  Easter we're going to have slightly more, I think,   than the three minutes that we had together then.  It was a very fruitful three minutes though. Well   thank you, it's very kind of you to say so. It's  sort of nice that the boots on the other foot now,   I'm gonna have a bit more time with you and  I'm gonna be the guy asking the questions.   Now you're living in London, people might  assume you're a Londoner but actually you hail   from Mansfield, don't you? But your career started  pretty much in London as in a school and you're a   head of computer science. So I  just want to ask to what extent has   your background in Mansfield, working class  background, your time in school, how much   has that shaped your thinking and your political  views and the things that you're passionate about   today? Oh big time. So I'm from all over the  place but I was born and bred in Mansfield,   I've spent the last 15 years in London so I  consider myself pretty much a Londoner at this   point although I've just spent two years studying  in Oxford so, you know, I'm a bit of a nomad. But   Mansfield is one of those places where people just  say what they think and they mean what they say   and they're quite upfront but in a nice honest  way. And I think we've lost a lot of that,   down south at least. Whenever I go up north I  realise that people are still normal which is   why it's nice to be here. But in London we tread  on egg shells and we talk around subjects, we   never get to the meat and veg, everyone's become  a politician, you never know what people think.   So I try to at least bring a bit of common sense  to what I'm saying and people in London think   it's strange or unique or you know special, it's  not, I'm just a typical Midlander really. But it's   being born and bred in the Midlands has shaped my  political perspective because, you know, my mother   was a single parent, a very hard-working single  parent and she always works at least two jobs, she   was a school teacher and then, you know, sometimes  she'd work in a bar at night in the evening or   she'd do whatever she could to earn extra money.  Usually she ran play groups, she ran nurseries   and that showed me a work ethic from the  beginning. In similar situations in our   neighborhood that their parents didn't work or  that if they had a single parent, that parent   would stay at home and they'd be on more money  than what my mother would be on. It was actually   better to be dependent on the State, it was  better- you'd be better off to not do anything   and not contribute to your family and not to  be an active part of the community or society.   And I thought that's back to front, you know,  surely the welfare system should be a safety net   for people who can't work, it should be  there to support people who need it but   everyone should be encouraged to contribute and to  be a part of the social life and the cohesion that   brings us all together. What about what about your  time in school then, how did that add or change or   shape that thinking? Well I entered school after  working in industry for a good few years and   that was mind-blowing because in industry I was  working with people that didn't think like me and   that wasn't a problem and there was real diversity  of thought and opinion and then I got into school,   I got into education and it was an echo chamber.  It was, you know, there was a hive mind mentality   of what I would call lefty-liberal progressive  views or what's now known more as ‘wokism’. And   it was being pushed, not just in the cohort of  staff but on the students as well, the pupils   were being indoctrinated towards a left-wing  mentality as if that's the only appropriate   way of thinking. I thought this, you know, this  is toxic, it's not helpful for the young people,   it's not helpful for society and we need to  stamp it out. So I started writing about what   I was seeing. We'll come to that. So you've  got these various forces that are shaping your   thinking but of course the other massive influence  is your Christian faith. Perhaps you could share a   little bit about your journey to faith. Yeah and  that has massively shaped my politics because I   like to think if we're living a Christian life it  should affect every aspect of our life including   our politics. Absolutely. I used to be more  libertarian and now I'm more small 'c', socially   conservative and I think that's because I've  seen the left tend to be massively collectivists,   they tend to see that we are- we all belong in  these boxes based on our immutable characteristics   and I think that's a power struggle. I think  that's a way of controlling demographics but   it's all about the collective. And then the right  tend to be based on individualism and everyone's,   you know, everyone is their own god and everyone  can dictate their own reality and I don't think   individualism is the answer to collectivism and I  think what my faith has shown me is that there's   some nuance in between. And, you know, call it  Christianity, call it Communitarianism, whatever   you want. But that the idea that, yes, we're all  individuals but that means we all have individual   responsibility as well and that responsibility is  for the wider community. We have an obligation to   each other as well as to ourselves. And I think  my side of the political divide often forget that.   But the spiritual journey has been a long one,  you know, I grew up, I went to Baptist Sunday   school with my grandmother, it was, you know,  it was colouring in and stuff, it wasn't really   that helpful for my faith. I always felt like I  had a relationship with God and I always prayed   and I always felt like my prayers were answered  so that was a very important relationship to me.   But I did not know Jesus Christ until I became an  adult until I- and I was always searching and it   took me a long time to find him. And I didn't  know what I was searching for but when I found   him I realised that's what it was all along.  Fantastic, well I don't know really when you,   let's say came to public attention. I mean you  were the face of DfE campaign for a while weren't   you? In terms of getting people into teaching. But  certainly when you came to my attention, I think,   would have been around, I think 2018. I think  it was connected to the Battle of Ideas and I   think at the time you were still teaching or  maybe just coming out of teaching but you were   explaining some of the things that you've just  explained about the influence of unhelpful   political thought on children and the pushing of  one particular political and social set of views.   But when we were talking last night, one of the  things that you said, we were talking about how,   you know, some people, you have a secret barrister  or you have the secret- you have people who are   blogging about stuff or what have you. But for you  it was important to own it. They were your words   'the importance of owning it'. Yeah. Why was that  so important? Because if what I'm seeing is wrong   and I think there is a universal truth that we  should be striving towards then I have to put my   name on it and I think if I shied away, you know  there are a lot of people that call themselves   the secret barrister, secret teacher etc, I think  that is being embarrassed of what you believe in.   And I understand that people are scared of  sticking their head above the parapets but unless   people start to do it then we're all victims and  I think the more of us that stand up, I often say   they can't cancel all of us, it's not possible.  But we have to affirm our faith and affirm our   values and what I saw going on in education  was wrong and I had to stand up against it.   Well I think you and I would both agree that  it's become increasingly controversial to   speak the truth or perhaps just challenge  particular narratives and so on that basis   alone you're quite controversial, if  that's your definition of controversy.   And there has been a lot of controversy around  you just in recent weeks, so let's talk about that   briefly because, in a nutshell, you challenged  the notion that the Church of England was   institutionally racist and I think you've been  quite open about saying you're not denying that   racism exists, you just say that the Church of  England is not institutionally racist and that   wasn't terribly well looked upon. It is annoying  but I do have to caveat it every single time that   racism does exist, I know this because I've  experienced it first-hand. It's an evil that   we need to work on but you know, I don't think  it's appropriate to paint an entire institution   as racist unless there's evidence to support that  claim. I don't think it's appropriate to paint   this country as systemically or institutionally  racist because that kind of tallies all of us   and actually it's the individual  racists that need to be held to account   and we can't pass the buck and put the blame  on to society as a whole, I think that's lazy   and I think it avoids- actually, first of all  it devalues actual racism that is happening,   that does need addressing but it avoids addressing  the wider societal issues and quite often people   see a racial disparity and assume it's down to  racism but actually class is a massive factor,   far bigger factor than race in this country as  to someone's outcomes. And we see this across,   you know, education is a great example that people  say 'education in this country is institutionally   racist'. I'm like, well let's look at- let's  dig down into the numbers and see because,   yes black Caribbean kids are under-performing but  they're at the same level as white British kids.   What is the commonality there? Actually, well,  it's the working-class kids and it's the kids in   the areas of deprivation and if we look at the  top end of the scale, black African kids are   outperforming everybody. So I don't think there  are any people many people that are racist only   towards black Caribbeans that wouldn't be racist  towards black Africans. So I don't think it's   institutional racism, I think it's a wider  societal issue of actually we need to raise   the standards for all kids especially those in  working-class backgrounds. So the controversy   really that arose, your curacy which had  been lined up within the Church of England   went away, it disappeared, it was put on  hold, you know, the vacancies which have   been there were no longer there and so on and  so forth. Which has led you to this point of   becoming part of the Free Church of  England and so you will have seen,   you've been aware of the Church of  England's views on a whole host of things.   Why did you put yourself through the training  and, I mean, you must have known that there was   going to be, sort of, push-back for someone with  your views? It's a good question, I always knew   this battle was coming, I expected it to be years  down the line. Right. But the reason I joined the   Church of England is because, well first of all,  that's where I first experienced Christ and I see   that as the primary expression of church in this  land. It's not a choice, I didn't go shopping for   denominations, I just happened to be in England  and the Church of England is the established   church of this realm so it wasn't a case of I  want to align myself with these woke progressives,   it was just this is where we are, this is my  local parish church, this is the institution.   But I think the controversy is being Christian  in the Church of England at the moment, you know,   the clergy and the laity are but to get past  gatekeepers, to get past the bishops and the   selection panels, you almost have to be shy about  your faith and they seem to have this idea that   Christ was nice and never rebukes anyone, he was  meek and mild and never stood up for the truth.   I think they've got a misunderstanding  of who Christ is and I think they just   want to use him as a nodding dog  to affirm their political views   and their lifestyles rather  than living out the faith as   handed down to us in the Bible. They want to live  out their faith, their lifestyle as they see fit   and let their faith affirm it. It's back to front.  I don't know how to help with that. I wanted to,   kind of, help nudge the Church back in the right  direction and I think there are many people that   are in that situation, that want to reform  from within. But I've come to realise that is   the Brexit's argument of the remain side. I don't  think it's possible always to reform from within,   and I think at this point there is no place  for me in the Church of England. I hope there   is a place for people like me, I hope there is  a place for conservatives whether theologically   or politically within the Church of England, I  really do. I don't see it but... Do you think   that the move that you've made and the coverage  that it's attracted, do you think that will   give people in the Church of England pause  for thought, do you think it will have an   influence on them to rethink or do you just think  that they're going to be happy to see the back of   you? I hope so, so I hope the media attention that  I've gained has been helpful and my main aim right   now is to shift it away from me personally and on  to the issue of faith and the issue of Anglicanism   in this country because a lot of people think  that Anglicanism is synonymous with the Church of   England and obviously that's not the case. And the  reason I'm joining the Gafcon movement is because   they affirm orthodox Anglicanism around the world  and they're very strong in Africa, they're very   strong in North America. In fact, today, as we  record this a couple of archbishops have come out   and chastised the Archbishop of Canterbury because  he's been playing politics again and saying,   you know, by not coming to the Lambeth Conference  you are being unbiblical and they're saying no   actually, what's unbiblical is you trying to  promote homosexual marriage and undermining core   tenants of the faith, that's unbiblical and this  is the reason we are not engaging on this topic.   So I think there are very, very important  movements that are encouraging and I want to   redirect the traffic towards them. Did  you ever think I've got this platform   on the media, instantly recognisable,  maybe I'll use that as my means to   minister rather than taking up a curacy and going  to ordination and following through on that? Did   anyone ever say to you what on earth are you  doing? Sort of, not that you're leaving it, but   setting it aside to some degree in order to become  a pastor? Yeah, over the last few years I've   been approached several times by think tanks and  broadcasters who have offered me quite significant   salaries to just to drop the ministry and to  go full time in broadcast work or media work   or political think tank work. And as nice  as it is to be offered these positions,   it's not my calling. You know, my vocation  is parish ministry, ordained ministry,   administering the sacraments and being a  pastoral guide to my congregation, that's   what I'm called to do. I'm gonna, as far as I can,  use the platform that I've been gifted to spread   the Good News but that is not the goal in and  of itself. Okay, well, The Christian Institute,   we talk an awful lot about the importance of being  salt and light, we talk about the significance   of standing for Christ in the public square. We're  often criticised that the stands that we take get   in the way of the Gospel quote unquote, that what  we should be- what people need to worry about,   what Christians need to worry about is preach  the gospel. Now we would take the position   that- and you use the words right near the  outset, that the gospel affects every area   of life. I'm just going to do a shameless plug  for our Living Christianity series here. This is,   please take that with our compliments. Thank you  very much. So this is a series which talks about   being a full-time disciple, how our  Christian faith affects every area of   life. So we can't partition it and if we're  going to follow the full counsel of God,   that is going to influence our thinking and must  influence our thinking in a whole host of areas.   Now, the church can get a lot of criticism  about its involvement in politics. Now,   we would draw a distinction between politics and  party politics, we're not party political, we're   charities, we're not party political in any way,  shape or form. There would be some who would, say,   throw the criticism at the Church of England  to, say, or perhaps the church more widely   that they're prepared to speak out on,  let's call them party political issues,   but not so much the issues that we would deal with  here. So it might be okay to take a particular   position on, let's say, taxation, just as an  example or, let's say, whether particular statues   should be in place or not be in place. Those kind  of things are okay to talk about but don't be   talking about marriage is only between a man and  a woman. Yeah. Abortion is wrong, children need   fathers, children need their biological parents,  marriage is significant for society in a positive   way. Those kind of issues that we're made male  and female we're not assigned gender at birth,   these kind of issues, let's not talk about those  so much. Is that something that you recognise?   And if I can ask you this, do you plan to keep  speaking out on these sorts of things when you   go into full-time ministry? Oh 100 percent. I  challenge my own support-base on this all the time   because people say, well the Church of England  shouldn't be political anyway and, you know,   the church needs to stay out of politics. And  it's like, well, no, this is a political faith,   you know, this is a good example, Living  Christianity. If we're truly living it we are   being political, we're called to evangelise,  we're called to disciple the nations and you   can't do that by sitting on the sidelines. And  we see such evils in our modern society that we   have to address them, we have to challenge them.  And actually I'd love to see more politicians   stand up for life, stand up for marriage,  sanctity of marriage, stand up for the family,   for all these very important issues and  not just politicians but I'd like to see   the Church stand up for these issues that  we're supposed to be affirming. And I'm   sick and tired of hearing bishops talk  about Brexit, hearing bishops talk about   Rwanda or being against the latest Conservative  government policy but not standing up for the   core issues that affect, whether it's abortion  or assisted suicide or homosexual marriage.   Well let's talk about two of the issues that The  Christian Institute is heavily involved with at   the moment. That's the Online Safety Bill and  also the broad Conversion Therapy Ban. If people   are unaware of the significance of the Online  Safety Bill, in a nutshell we're talking about   a piece of legislation which is going to put  into law the idea of 'legal but harmful' content   and that definition is going to be at  the behest of the culture secretary,   it's not going to be in the bill, it's going  to be done with limited parliamentary scrutiny   and through regulation, that the big social  media providers can be fined massively   if they are putting out content  which falls foul of these-   of this concept of 'legal but  harmful'. And we've been saying that   there's no free speech protections worth the  name in the Bill. So the area of free speech   is a major problem and particularly the fact  of- I mean, we know that big social media firms   can often, at least be perceived to have a  particular line on some of the issues that   we would speak on, and to threaten them with  these massive fines is likely to lead to,   let's call it over censorship, so we  don't want to get these big fines,   so we err on the side of caution, so we suppress  some of the content which, as is defined,   is legal but someone is saying it's harmful. I  don't know how familiar you are with this Bill,   so I realise I'm putting you on the spot a little  bit. But, you know, is this is this something that   you're aware of? That you're concerned about and  what are the concerns that you would see from it?   I'm massively concerned about this. Nadine Dorries  follows me so I've pinged her about this issue.   It's censorship, that's all it is, directly  censorship, this idea that something is legal   but considered harmful, such a subjective term,  who defines what's harmful? I like the approach   that Poland have taken with social media and  they said you cannot ban or remove someone from   these platforms, because these, you know, Twitter,  Facebook, they're not just private companies now,   they are- they hold the keys to the information  superhighway, they are the public square, they   are the marketplace of ideas. So Poland have said  well actually you can't remove someone from these   platforms unless they are breaking the law and I  think that's a much better approach and they'll   actually fine you for censorship if you remove  someone for saying something. Have you ever been   removed from Twitter, have you ever been subjected  to that sort of ban? I actually haven't been   banned from Twitter yet, surprisingly. You know,  whenever I go on a show or a podcast people always   say do you want to promote your Twitter and I  never ever do because I think I don't want to   be reliant on it, because it could be gone like  that and I suspect it will be at some point.   I've been removed from- I've been banned from  TikTok a lot. Do you TikTok yourself? I do,   I put my clips up on there, only for the fact  that it's full of debauchery, degeneracy, horrible   cultural subversion and I think it's important  to expose young people to different views,   so I put up conversations about race or gender or,  you know, trans issues and all this stuff. I take   my clips from GB News and I put them on there so  I don't really have much engagement but I think   it's vital to get exposure. But I've been banned  for so many things just for saying, you know,   a man is an adult human male, that is enough to  get you banned on TikTok, that's how far they've   gone, scientific facts are considered harmful  and this will be the case, you know, we've seen   crazy laws being proposed in Scotland along  similar lines. I do think at some point prayer   will become illegal and, or censored under  these kind of bills and we have to fight it   with everything we've got. Well let's come onto  exactly that example because that's, I mean,   that's the next piece of legislation I wanted  to talk to you about. I should just say that,   of course, if anyone's unclear about some  of the specifics on the Online Safety Bill   we've got a leaflet on it, it'll be, it's  available on our website to download, as is   the next issue which is the broad conversion  therapy ban. Now you have joined The   Christian Institute led campaign, the Let Us  Pray campaign. letuspray.uk. Can you just explain   why you've joined the campaign? Absolutely,  again, it's such an important one because   corrective rape, electrocution, these things  are already legal. Illegal. Yeah, because we   think they are abhorrent and they're wrong.  So they're against the law already. So this,   first of all, this idea of conversion therapy  doesn't make much sense unless you look at the   wider picture and what they're including in there  is therapy and prayer and they say well, you know,   we don't want people to be coerced into  changing their life but what this actually does   in practice is it prevents people reaching out  for support. If you're looking to go to church   and ask for people to pray for you because of  your lifestyle or situations people will be   reticent about doing so because, again, it could  be in breach of this law. So what we're doing is,   we're shutting down people's support structures  and we're actually harming, quite objectively,   people through this legislation. Yeah, I mean  the ordinary work of churches, so the preaching,   prayer, pastoral care, the stuff that  churches have been doing for generations   comes into the scope of this Bill. Parents at home  who are telling their kids ' no, puberty blockers   are bad, they're experimental treatments,  this is not a route for you to go down',   they come under the scope. I mean, I'm sure you'll  be familiar with this, the state of Victoria in   Australia has put a ban in place which is being  held up as this some sort of gold standard on   this issue which is criminalizing parents who  would steer people, who wouldn't affirm a,   sort of, trans route. And that is being held up  by these campaigners as something that this is   the route that we should go down. What it is, it's  taking away parents responsibilities and rights   which go hand-in-hand and it's replacing them  with the State, it's taking the child out of   parents arms and putting them in the arms of  the State, that's what it's doing in saying that   parents cannot pass their values on to children  because those values might be inappropriate   for the given age of 2022, the State knows best  what values should be given to children. And   that's what we're seeing in schools, in education,  that's what we're seeing in this legislation.   It is fundamentally breaking down the family units  and this is the result of long-term infrastructure   being taken over by neo-Marxists. I mean,  you've got a broad network, you're in the media,   you're in the spotlight and you've got a lot of  Twitter followers. On perhaps either or both of   those bills what is your sense of just awareness  generally of what the conversion therapy ban, the   Online Safety Bill could mean? Do you think people  are aware of it or do you think it's- No. People   don't get it. But it's because we've lost all  nuance, nothing is nuanced anymore, everything   is just hyperbole and, you know, they paint  these things in a virtue signalling wrapper so   of course, of course everyone wants to be against  forced conversion therapy, of course people want   to be against the idea of forcing homosexual  people to become straight or transgender people   to get in line with their actual gender, of course  that sounds like a good thing that everyone should   back. But when you break it down and look at  what the legislation is actually promoting,   it's not that. But what's been- what I’ve found  disappointing is that the vast majority of the   church, the establishment, has been in support of  this, you know, I signed one of these petitions   against conversion therapy bill, thinking, of  course, you know, this is something the Church   should take a stand on. It’s obvious yeah. And  we were demonised quite publicly by, you know,   high profile members of the clergy and people  saying 'these people are monsters' and I'm like,   have you not read it or do you not care or are  you no longer on our side? I don't know what's   going on here, it's been a massive surprise  to me. Yeah, I interviewed a couple of the   co-authors of at least one of the letters which  went to government on the conversion ban issue and   having gone public they were sharing just some  of the vitriol. Yeah. That they'd received. Well,   I want to- we started off talking a bit about  education. I want to come back round to that,   so education is a big area for us, massive  area of work, we'll be getting sort of 200 plus   people contacting us, parents, governors,  head teachers, teachers contacting us over   the course of a year. And lots of that is on LGBT  issues, I mean it's Pride month at the moment,   certainly last year there was a significant amount  of contact for that. Not just those issues though,   people interested in about how to use what's in  the law to promote marriage, man-woman marriage,   parents concerned about what's been taught in sex  ed, in whatever form that might take, whether it's   relationships education, out and out sex  education, relationships and sexuality education,   depending upon which jurisdiction you're in.  And we're able to help them and how the law and   what's in guidance can help them because it's  not always as bad as it might seem. Now you said   you were a teacher, and you were a senior teacher  for a while and came out of that given various   concerns. Time has moved on. How concerned  are you now, in terms of with the passage   of time and looking back, about schools  and what is being taught, not just in RSE,   but just more generally in the curriculum? What's  your concerns for the school children of today?   Massive concerns and I'll get to it but I just  want to address the language that's being used by   the woke or the left or whatever you want to call  them because we've talked about conversion therapy   and it's no coincidence that they're using the  word conversion because you know it's our job to   lead people to Christ so that he can convert their  hearts. Amen, yeah. And you've talked about pride   and it's no coincidence that they're celebrating  a month of sin and, you know, just saying that   is controversial but, you know, what they're  doing is subverting our culture by weaponising   the language and it's the same in schools, you  know, I often talk about the idea that racism   when I was growing up was discrimination or  prejudice against someone based on the colour   of their skin and now racism is a power dynamic  between white people and BAMEs or non-white   people. They're winning the battle because they  are setting the conditions for the war, they are   winning by default because they're writing the  terms and we're playing them at their own game. I   think we need to take back control of our language  first and foremost and we need to teach kids, well   first of all we need to give them hard copies of  the Bible, not just the Bible but the dictionary.   The way that the language can be rewritten under  our noses is terrifying to me because if we don't   know what the words mean how can we argue on  them? We don't have any common ground. Well,   we're going to take some questions, I haven't seen  them and you haven't seen them but we'll see what   people have to say. Let's start with the nice  easy one. Are you gonna continue as a presenter   on GB News? Presumably that's in relation to you  taking up your post as curate? Yes I will, I've,   you know, I've been in full-time education for the  last two years and managed to balance that and the   media so now I'm out of education I'm going to  replace my full-time role as my parish ministry   and I'm going to dial down my media a bit so I'll  have one show a week, when that launches, but   people, in line with that question, people keep  asking, you know, 'will you be streaming the   services and will that be going either on GB News  or on Youtube or something?' I don't think I will   be, at least for the time being, because I really  want my church to be centred or rooted in a place   and a community and I want it to grow around  that community. Excellent. How do you see the   future of the Church of England and I'm going  to assume that means the not the Free Church of   England, it's the mainstream Church of England?  It is and has been in managed decline for years,   for decades actually, since the start of  the 20th century at least and, you know,   wokeness wasn't a thing back then but political  correctness has grown and grown into wokeness   and it's been moving away from the faith for a  long time, heading towards apostasy. I do think   that people within the hierarchy see that  and I honestly do think that they want the   Church of England to be this perfectly embalmed  liberal corpse, they do want to leave behind   a nice pretty picture which is why they're jumping  on board with all of these woke bandwagons and why   they are, you know, the vast majority of bishops  that get promotions now are ones with experience   of closing down churches including the Archbishop  of York because it's managed decline and they're   no longer, well they don't have hope in the faith  and it's a great shame. So I don't know if it will   last another decade, especially when we enter a  new sovereignty, a new monarchy. I don't know if   it's coming over on screen but your body language  as well as your tone just says you're very,   very sad about all this. Yeah absolutely, you  know, one of the conversations I had with the   Bishop of London, she was like 'why are you  always criticizing the Church?' I was like, well   because I love the Church, the Church is Christ's  body on earth and we're supposed to want it to do   good works and if it's not then we have to speak  up about it and I can't sit by and watch this,   what looks like nonsense being peddled left,  right and centre, like, where is the faith?   It comes from a place of love. That,  I mean, that's one of the things which   I suppose, we skirted around a bit in our previous  conversation, I suppose is this fear of owning   the truths of scripture? Yeah.   I mean that's something that you would recognise  I suppose? Absolutely, I think, you know,   the congregations and the clergy are faithful,  loyal, good people. The hierarchy of the bishops   tend to be embarrassed to be Christians, they tend  to be embarrassed of the faith, of our tradition,   of our doctrines and they don't want to publicly  affirm them because it might offend someone that   doesn't subscribe to them. I think that's, again,  that's stupid, it's back to front, we should be   out there spreading the Good News, it's quite  literally what we're called to do and I don't know   how they can stay in office if they're ashamed of  what they're supposed to be standing for. Okay,   Christians have a range of views on politics, how  can we debate and disagree amongst ourselves over   politics without falling out with each other? We  just have to remind ourselves to disagree well and   it's the commonality that's important. So when I'm  talking in the secular square, I'm talking about   the things that bring us together, you  know, being our Britishness but if we're   debating politics amongst Christians, we've  got a very easy common ground in our faith   and we've got to remind ourselves of,  you know, our identity is in Christ   first and foremost. The rest of the  stuff is unimportant but of course we can   discuss it and we should do so and reach  an amicable agreement, or disagreement.   Calvin Robinson, thank you very much for the  time that you spent with us today. Thank you.
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Channel: The Christian Institute
Views: 99,627
Rating: undefined out of 5
Keywords: Calvin Robinson, Church of England, Free Church of England, wokeism, Online Safety Bill, conversion therapy ban, truth, Ciarán Kelly, GB News, education, religious liberty
Id: oeiCJpK1-kc
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 34min 14sec (2054 seconds)
Published: Wed Aug 03 2022
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