But the stated reason for Farron’s resignation was somewhat less predictable: his Christian faith. Farron, who is an evangelical Christian, said in a statement that he has found himself “torn between living as a faithful Christian and serving as a political leader,” and that he found the demand to be a “political leader — especially of a progressive liberal party in 2017 … to hold faithfully to the Bible’s teaching, has felt impossible for me.” [...]
The Liberal Democratic Party’s official platform on LGBTQ issues has been consistently among the most supportive in the UK. Its manifesto includes the intention to introduce a non-binary “X” gender option on public documentation, and to reinforce the granting of asylum to LGBTQ refugees, for example.
Farron himself has been vocally supportive of most LGBTQ issues, but speculation on his personal views has dogged him in the UK press. When asked by the UK Channel Four in 2015 whether he thought homosexuality was a sin, he replied, “We are all sinners” (although, following a media backlash, he later clarified matters to say he did not, in fact, think gay sex was sinful). In April, Farron saw another wave of media scrutiny after avoiding the same question several times during a week of interviews with Channel Four and others. [...]
As progressive Christian author and thinking Jim Wallis noted in a Washington Post editorial, a “tolerant, liberal” society should fairly ask pressing, even harsh questions about how a candidate’s faith would inform their public behavior; it would be the rare person of any faith who would argue it should have no effect. But if society is unwilling to accept the answer, we run the risk of undermining the very equality we are trying so hard to preserve.
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