Some young people feel that “it’s much more difficult now to come out as an evangelical Christian in school than to come out as LGBT.”

This is according to David Smyth of the Evangelical Alliance Northern Ireland (EANI).

But he told Stormont MPs that Christians did not want to “fight a culture war” over how relationship and sexuality education (RSE) is taught in schools.

The Members of Assembly (MLAs) on Stormont’s Education Committee are conducting an investigation into CSR in Northern Ireland.

The Evangelical Alliance is a Christian organization representing a number of churches and individuals.

Mr Smyth also said: “I think we have to be careful not to create new secular blasphemies.”

“Is it secular blasphemy to think that a man cannot biologically become a woman?” he continued.

Mr Smyth told the committee that while the Evangelical Alliance had some “concerns” about the content of CSR, it was not a case of “religion versus CSR”.

“We are not looking to fight a culture war where children are the victims,” ​​Mr Smyth said.

“There is so much commonality between Christians and non-Christians when it comes to teaching healthy relationships, consent, preventing violence against women and girls, sexualization.”

But he said parents were concerned about some of what they read in the media about what was being taught in CSR.

He referred to a previous report by Conservative MP Miriam Cates on CSR in schools in England and Wales.

“This report details some examples of age-inappropriate material taught in RSE about issues such as sexual practices that may be dangerous or even illegal, such as suffocation or chemical sex,” he said.

He also said some CSR lessons contained “scientifically inaccurate material that confuses and conflates biological sex with gender identity and teaches that children can choose to become male or female, or both or neither”.

“There are certain areas where the views of evangelical Christians and many Catholics and Muslims are very distinct, for example abortion,” he continued.

It is set to be compulsory for all post-primary schools in Northern Ireland teaches students about access to abortion and early pregnancy prevention.

This is the result of former Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris courting CSR regulations in Parliament in 2023.

“I sense some suspicion in some quarters that the Christian ethos amounts to indoctrination or brainwashing, perhaps for good reason in the past in certain cases,” Mr Smyth said.

“But good CSR is about helping young people understand and think carefully about relationships, sex, identity and how this plays out with their own beliefs and moral values.

“Public schools are not Sunday schools.”

During questions, committee chairman Alliance MP Nick Mathison said Mr Smyth appeared to be “expressing concern that there are teachers out there trying to effectively change the minds of children to promote an agenda of any kind”.

“I think when it comes to teaching something like abortion law or different sexual identities, our concern is just that there’s space when it’s taught and how it’s taught, that it’s not ideologically driven,” Mr Smyth. he answered.

“It is that space that we would like all young people to be able to respond to the facts that are being taught,” he continued.

Earlier the committee heard from Ulster University’s Dr Susan Lagdon and Dr Julie Ann Jordan research on violence against women and girls in Northern Ireland.

Dr Lagdon said violence against women and girls was “a significant problem” but many people in Northern Ireland were unfamiliar with terms such as coercive control.

“This refers to patterns of negative and harmful behavior that may occur within intimate relationships with the aim of dominating, intimidating or threatening a person into submission,” she said.

“Coercive control is a term that captures the reality of the abuse many face.

“It’s not a one-off incident and it’s not always physical in nature.”

Coercive control is a specific offense in Northern Ireland.

But Dr Lagdon said that overall the delivery of “prevention programs addressing partner violence” in schools across Northern Ireland was “inconsistent”.