I am largely what you would consider a conservative Christian. There aren't many of us in Britain, and that's where I am. I have a gift for music and singing, and I would like to sing for weddings as a way of getting by while I'm struggling to find a job. I've sung/played for a few before and they were lovely experiences. There are few things more joyful for me than watching people start to receive God's blessings in marriage, even if they're non-Christians. Although in the case of non-Christians it tends to be mingled with feelings of sadness, I generally love weddings.
My only concern is about same-sex marriage. I cannot with integrity uphold this as 'marriage' in the sense that the Bible describes it, and I feel that by providing musical services for a same-sex marriage I would implicitly be putting my stamp of approval on it. It would go against my beliefs and my conscience to celebrate that event as a marriage, and hiring myself out as a wedding singer as if it were one would be just as bad.
I'm not for denying anyone their freedoms - but my concerns are that if I declined to sing at a same-sex wedding, my own freedom to conduct business in a way that did not compromise my beliefs might be denied. That is, if I went about it in an open way and advertised through all the usual channels.
We've had a few high-profile cases in recent years where the law has been unfavourable to Christians who have tried to uphold their beliefs at work, especially as far as LGBT is concerned. A Christian couple who owned a guest house were taken to the European Court of Human Rights a year or so ago for not wanting to offer services to a same-sex couple two years ago, and few people have forgotten about that. There have been other instances where the law has not been on Christians' side, especially where women have been fired for wearing cross necklaces or people in the medical profession have been sacked for suggesting prayer or church. A wedding singer declining to sing for a gay couple would be one more case to add to that list.
If I advertise myself as a wedding singer and am seen to refuse to sing for same-sex marriages, I can see myself ending up in court - especially in light if the ongoing media excitement about LGBT activism in the Church of England. LGBT is such a hot potato issue right now, and everyone likes to be the one with a 'scandal' to leak and make people angry at. Conservative Christians in Britain are so few, and the press loves to vilify us so much. It is easy for a story to leak from the local rag to the internet, to the national press, and the number of reputed newspapers in Britain is quite small. I've seen leaks of that sort happen over far lesser issues - for instance, an email sent by an Oxbridge lecturer warning students about drug use made national press after appearing in the student rag once.
Can anyone offer advice on how I might go about offering these services discreetly, if I were going to do it?
Thanks,
Begat.
My only concern is about same-sex marriage. I cannot with integrity uphold this as 'marriage' in the sense that the Bible describes it, and I feel that by providing musical services for a same-sex marriage I would implicitly be putting my stamp of approval on it. It would go against my beliefs and my conscience to celebrate that event as a marriage, and hiring myself out as a wedding singer as if it were one would be just as bad.
I'm not for denying anyone their freedoms - but my concerns are that if I declined to sing at a same-sex wedding, my own freedom to conduct business in a way that did not compromise my beliefs might be denied. That is, if I went about it in an open way and advertised through all the usual channels.
We've had a few high-profile cases in recent years where the law has been unfavourable to Christians who have tried to uphold their beliefs at work, especially as far as LGBT is concerned. A Christian couple who owned a guest house were taken to the European Court of Human Rights a year or so ago for not wanting to offer services to a same-sex couple two years ago, and few people have forgotten about that. There have been other instances where the law has not been on Christians' side, especially where women have been fired for wearing cross necklaces or people in the medical profession have been sacked for suggesting prayer or church. A wedding singer declining to sing for a gay couple would be one more case to add to that list.
If I advertise myself as a wedding singer and am seen to refuse to sing for same-sex marriages, I can see myself ending up in court - especially in light if the ongoing media excitement about LGBT activism in the Church of England. LGBT is such a hot potato issue right now, and everyone likes to be the one with a 'scandal' to leak and make people angry at. Conservative Christians in Britain are so few, and the press loves to vilify us so much. It is easy for a story to leak from the local rag to the internet, to the national press, and the number of reputed newspapers in Britain is quite small. I've seen leaks of that sort happen over far lesser issues - for instance, an email sent by an Oxbridge lecturer warning students about drug use made national press after appearing in the student rag once.
Can anyone offer advice on how I might go about offering these services discreetly, if I were going to do it?
Thanks,
Begat.
