Tim Farron: You’re meant to feel marginalised as a Christian A recent survey carried out by Christian campaigning group Premier found that many ordinary Christians in the UK felt marginalised. […]

A recent survey carried out by Christian campaigning group Premier found that many ordinary Christians in the UK felt marginalised.

Tim Farron told i why he doesn’t think he’s been marginalised as a Christian in politics – but argues it is part of the Christian experience to struggle and to suffer – and if you don’t feel that way, you aren’t doing it right.

If you had to pick a country in the world in which to live freely as a Christian, you’d probably pick the UK.

However, many Christians do feel marginalised, and they are meant to… the Bible tells us regularly that our faith will go against the grain, that we’ll suffer for being a Christian. Being Christian is not meant to be easy.

The writer of Philippians says “it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him”.

The i newsletter cut through the noise Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription.

People are fine if you wear funky garb or have nice colourful festivals – it allows people to feel more tolerant

Now, being harangued by journalists or slagged off by political opponents for my faith, hardly compares with the struggles of being a Christian in North Korea, where you have a one in four chance of being imprisoned for your faith.

But the point is that Christian faith will go against the grain, if you aren’t struggling at least a bit against the expectations and assumptions of the world- then well, you should be!

People don’t mind Christianity until you show any sign of actually believing in it

Christianity is counter cultural and it always has been. In a society where self-fulfillment and personal autonomy are paramount, Christians believe that there is one God and that we are subject to him.

In a society that wants to blame, shame and take offence at the drop of a hat, Christians believe in a God who offers total forgiveness and commands us to forgive one another.

As a Christian in politics, do I feel marginalised? Not really.

Being harangued by journalists or slagged off by political opponents for my faith hardly compares with the struggles of being a Christian in North Korea

Voters are fine with religion – if it’s cultural

My own experience during the election tells me that people don’t mind people of faith in politics – so long as their faith is only of the cultural variety.

So, if you wear funky garb, have nice colourful festivals, have interesting buildings and ceremonies, then we are absolutely fine about your faith – in fact your religious culture makes us more diverse and allows me to define myself as very liberal and tolerant by demonstrating how cool I am with your religion.

However the moment you show any signs of actually believing in this creed, of thinking that this stuff about Jesus might even be true or that this faith might in any way impact on your conscience or your life choices… well, we don’t like that one bit.

So are Christians especially marginalised? I’m not sure, but if we are then we are probably doing something right.