Is Farron Constricted By His Devout Christianity?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/795958/general-election-2017-tim-farron-lib-dem-leader-avoids-gay-marriage-question-again
Traditional Liberals will have no problem with the questions of Gay marriage/sex but this is turning into a major problem for Farron. Now every interviewer will start asking these questions meaning that he'll get bogged down in something he doesn't want to talk about at the expense of propounding Lib Dem policies.

[ichkeria]

Plainly Farron's religious beliefs are controversial to outsiders. As long as they stay personal and don't affect party policy then I don't see an issue. However it may dog him (so to speak) throughout the campaign. Criticism from some Tories and the burka-banning, knicker-inspecting UKippers might seem odd though :-)

[Zacs-Master]

Does it matter?

[ToraToraTora]

no ZM, it's just an interesting discussion point. Essentially the media will ask these questions every time meaning that Farron is basically becoming a liability as he will never get a chance to get on to the subject matter that he would like to. This is News ZM and these sorts of discussions are common.

[jim360]

The very simple reply is to point to Farron's voting record, which is, for example, in favour of same-sex marriage, for which he voted in favour at every opportunity. That appears to show that he can keep his private views, whatever they may be, separate from his political positions.

Which is nice. Or would be, if he had a prayer of leading his party to more than a dozen seats.

[douglas9401]

I'm sure he'll opt for the all-embracing, forgiving, live and let live option as opposed to reaching for the stones or banishing transgressors.

[ToraToraTora]

fair enough jim so why is he dodging the issue?

[AB Editor]

I think he's hoping to say nothing and carry on. Unlikely, sadly. As others have mentioned, he seems to be able to vote sensibly, even if his opinions don't match.

[woofgang]

Its difficult isn’t it.....I have been in a position where my job required me to totally stifle my private views while at work, because I was working in the NHS visiting people at home. At the time where I live was a very big hunting community but when you are in someone else’s house talking to a patient and their relatives, you have to ignore the various bits of mounted fox and stag that decorate the walls; but I didn’t have to cast a vote against them or support views totally at variance with my own. Not sure that I could if I really really believed that something is wrong, not just for me but for everybody.

[Jackdaw33]

I think about a dozen seats is more or less the limit. Cable might win his old seat back and perhaps one or two more in the SE but I cannot see anything else on the horizon. The news that according to one poll the Tories may win the majority of votes in Wales, if not necessarily seats, a place where they were completely wiped out in 1997, is a bit of an eye-opener.

[Khandro]

You cannot argue a man into believing in something in which his conscience tells him is wrong.
He was on a CH4 (which I no longer watch) news interview and according to Charles Moore it was "like the Spanish inquisition". I disagree with more or less everything Farron says, but I would defend his right to have private beliefs.

[jim360]

You might say that he's trying (and failing) to make it a non-issue: "It's a private view that doesn't affect my politics."

Or, that he does think that homosexuality is a sin, but that this isn't the same as thinking ill of gay people, a subtlety that is easily lost because, well, it's in the media's interests to obscure it and in sensationalist morons' interests to ignore it.

One way or another it's a distraction that is unfair but difficult to dodge without lying or putting his foot in it.

[Old_Geezer]

One doesn't need to be religious to think it is weird to ignore/change the definition of a word in order to please a section of society by allowing them to claim to be in something that they aren't qualified for.

Why would he not simply say what he thinks and be done with it ?

[youngmafbog]

It's a difficult one for him. For any of us (assuming non of us are vying for a seat) it would not be a problem to go along with something but hold different personal beliefs.

However TNBD is the leader f a party that openly advocates and holds gay marriage sex as a core belief. For the leader to hold a belief where there is any doubt on this will lead to tears.

Labour have a similar problem with Trident and to a degree with Brexit.

[Khandro]

young. "assuming non of us are vying for a seat"
perhaps an unfortunate choice of words :0)

[Jackdaw33]

I am afraid to say that Farron is now much of an irrelevance, rather like Jeremy Thorpe. For a while Clegg's star shone in the firmament, but as long as all the LDs have to offer is anti-Brexit and more anti-Brexit they are doomed. They might end up with 12 seats but that's as far as it goes in my book.

[mikey4444]

The person asking the questions here needs a kick up the ass....never heard such nonsense !

Does any other party Leader get badgered like this ?

[ToraToraTora]

all politicians get badgered when the media get hold of something like this. All it does is distract from the important stuff of the day so some smart aris journo can score some brownie points on his CV.

[Zacs-Master]

So have we concluded that he's not being restricted by his devout Christianity but by the media behaving like a dog with a bone?

[Kromovaracun]

Personally, I'm not especially comfortable being governed by someone who privately thinks that my existence is sinful. I realise that probably looks like an extreme line to take, but I'm just not sure I can trust someone like that to protect my rights when it really matters. The very concept of "sin" has a religious baggage that I find creepy and insidious, and it makes me quite uncomfortable.

I will still consider voting for his party though because in my area our previous Lib Dem MP was excellent and got unseated by a much worse Labour one in the last general election on a very small majority. So for my area I'd like to see the old one back in.

This does weigh on me though, and has turned my more-or-less guaranteed vote into a "maybe". I don't consider it trivial.

[Hopkirk]

I expect the Lib Dems to get more than the dozen seats many here are predicting, though not back to pressure 2015 levels.