Tim Farron, still the leader of the Liberal Democrats remember, has gone full Westboro Baptist Church and compared himself to a North Korean dissident, mocking other faiths with “funky garb” with “interesting buildings”. He’s basically saying he’s a modern day Jesus, the victim of religious persecution. Get out the tiny violin… 

“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”.  

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!…

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.”

Tim, you had to deal with a few questions about thinking gays are sinners, not Judas and Pontius Pilate. If your faith and politics are incompatible you are not a persecuted Christian. You are in the wrong party.