As Tony Blair said about the Pope, it's a generational thing.
As ideological products of the secular permissiveness of the 1960s, MPs voted by a significant majority to place freedom of sexual expression above freedom of religious expression. Tom Robinson's anthem 'Sing if you're glad to be gay' is a weightier expression of their spiritual and moral outlook than 'God save the Queen' (as the National Anthem encourages us to pray for the Monarch).
Eventually the secular permissives are bound to win the argument.
That is unlikely to leave Christians in the UK facing the kind of persecution our brothers and sisters in Islamic and Hindu countries face daily. Future persecution in the UK is likely to be patchy for the following reasons:
· Some police forces will be more assiduous in following up complaints of 'homophobic abuse', or in the case of criticisms of Islam, 'Islamophobia' than others. This will depend on factors such as the prominence of the homosexual or Muslim community in particular regions and the effectiveness of diversity indoctrination from one force to another.
· Some local councils will be more assiduous than others in following up complaints against Christians. Again that will depend on a variety of subjective factors in the minds of councillors and officials. Some will be more committed to the liberal British tradition of free speech than others; some more sympathetic to Judeo-Christian values. But a significant proportion will be committed political-correct ideologues who will be vigorous in rooting out the various manifestations of sin against PC.
· Unless there is a major political and social upheaval, a free press is likely to remain a feature of British society for some years to come. That means heavy-handed behaviour, such as the police investigation of the 67-year-old grandmother in Norwich, can therefore be put into the public domain. Media exposure can thus act as a deterrent.
So, whilst euphoria is not warranted following the Lords' victory, neither is paranoia about the future. Christ's sovereignty is not subject to elective dictatorship.
As the Apostle Peter exhorted his Christian readers facing persecution:
The end of all things is at hand; therefore keep sane and sober for your prayers (1 Peter 4v7 - RSV).