Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London has announced that he has had an Evangelical Christian ‘conversion’.
He said that he became a Christian when he was a young Sergeant in the Police force.
The revelation came during an interview with Premier Christian Radio.
“I gave my life to Christ when I was a Sergeant at the police college.” Brian Paddick told Premier Christian Radio. “There was another sergeant from Kent who dispelled my negative stereotypes of the Christian.”
“He suggested reading John’s gospel in a modern translation, now I’m a twin and Thomas wasn’t there when Christ first appeared to the disciples and didn’t believe what had happened but when Christ came and appeared to Thomas, I said with him My Lord, My God.”
The revelation will cause a stir amongst some Evangelicals as the he is also openly gay.
Paddick went on to express his support for the Christian community and his plan to support it, amongst others, if elected Mayor. “It’s about acknowledging and talking to all communities in London. The Christian community is an enormous and a growing community. Any Mayor who ignores the Christian community does so at his or her peril.”
He also talked about building bridges between faith communities.
“We are getting some extreme religious views and that is resulting in division, hatred and we have to do everything we can to try and accentuate the similarities between religions rather than creating division or hostility.”
Paddick added that his older brother is an Anglican Vicar.