Andrew McFarland Campbell

A New Ulster Covenant

It is just over a hundred years since the Ulster Covenant was signed. There was a small celebration of this in Belfast yesterday. Reading the text of the Covenant, I was struck by how powerful the language was: it talks about civil and religious freedom, and equal citizenship. These are issues that are at the […]

Andrew McFarland Campbell 11 years agoJuly 24, 2022

Christianity

Reflections on Belfast Pride 2012

Yesterday was the Belfast Pride parade. I was one of a group of Christians who stood in High Street (just outside St George’s Parish Church) to support the parade. During the course of the day I met two interesting people. The first was a woman called Pat. I was standing, waving at the parade, holding […]

Andrew McFarland Campbell 11 years ago

Christianity

Justify, Justify, Come On Up and Justify!

Sooner or later every openly gay Christian hears an argument that goes something like this: You offer no Scriptural evidence to justify same-sex relationships in the eyes of God. Or perhaps: Unless you show that same-sex relationships are acceptable to God, they are wrong. Now, that’s a dangerous style of argument for many reasons. First […]

Andrew McFarland Campbell 11 years ago

Christianity Gay

Who is Harmed by Same-Sex Marriage?

Imagine that the law was changed tomorrow. Instead of the law defining marriage as being a union between a man and a woman, the law changed its definition of marriage to being a union between two adults. The rules regarding everything else—age, degree of consanguinity, and so on—remain as they are now. The only change […]

Andrew McFarland Campbell 11 years ago

Christianity

Equal Love, Equal Rights

I was going to write more about equal marriage today. Then I saw this video. It says more than I could say today, especially as the 7 May 2011 was the day Michael and I had our relationship blessed in church. EqualLoveEqualRights on Facebook.

Andrew McFarland Campbell 11 years ago

Christianity

Marriage and Civil Partnerships

There has been a lot of talk about the dangers of gay marriage over the past few weeks. Allowing gay people to get married would, it is alleged, damage society and harm families. Not only that, but gay people themselves don’t want to get married, as shown by the low take up rates of gay […]

Andrew McFarland Campbell 11 years ago

Christianity

Language and Equal Marriage

One year ago today Michael and I formed our civil partnership – that is to day we went through a process of signing paperwork in the presence of witnesses that made our relationship official in the eyes of the law. Had we been an opposite-sex couple, it would have been a civil wedding. Being a […]

Andrew McFarland Campbell 11 years ago

Fiction

How Gay People are Destroying Society

Sometimes it seems like every time you turn the TV on there is someone, usually a conservative Christian, complaining that same-sex marriage, civil partnerships, or even just the existence of gay people is going to destroy society. At least I’m told that’s what it’s like. I rarely watch TV these days, preferring… Read the rest […]

Andrew McFarland Campbell 12 years agoJuly 9, 2021

Fiction

Cheeseburgers

When I was a little boy, I didn’t like cheese. The smell of it completely repulsed me. So when I went to McDonald’s, I never had cheese on my Quarter Pounder. By the time I was an adult, I’d overcome my aversion to the smell of cheese, but I still avoided cheeseburgers. I reasoned, and […]

Andrew McFarland Campbell 12 years agoJuly 9, 2021

Christianity

What was Christ’s Creed?

A creed, or statement of faith, or confession of faith, is a statement of beliefs shared by a religious community. Christian examples include the Nicene Creed, the Birmingham Amended Statement of Faith, and the Westminster Confession of Faith. Individual Christians may also have their own creeds. It is not that long ago that I had one. […]

Andrew McFarland Campbell 12 years ago