|TOP|Following the frequent controversies in Church regarding gay people, Joel Edwards, head of the Evangelical Alliance (EA), says it’s time for positive dialogue.

Edwards further noted that more than sexual preference, the church should be a place that focuses on forming a relationship with God.

According to Pink News, he says: "I do not believe in the vilification of gay people anymore than I believe in the vilification of heterosexual people who have sex outside marriage.

"The church shouldn't be defined by sexual preferences, it is about seeking to enter into a relationship with God.

"Anybody and everybody should be welcome into a congregation, if you are a gay person, straight, or in complicated relationships, I think that's the nature of the church, but if you are saying can you sign up as member of the Evangelical Alliance and agree with these ideas then the onus is on the individual.

|AD|"We don't go around with hard helmets on a Sunday checking every local church saying who is gay, who is straight."

Edwards went on questioning, "Why is anything which is not from the gay position defined as homophobic?"

"I do not want to defend fundamental behaviour but I don't think gay people should defend pushing everyone who disagrees with them into a homophobic corner, that's like me saying because I'm black anybody who disagrees with me must be racist.

"There are pockets of the Christian community that are aggressive and that's wrong, our challenge is to learn how to speak about our convictions and do it gracefully and the gay lobby has an equal responsibility to allow us to do so without marking us down as homophobic.

"We may actually find our common humanity by tackling issues that our much bigger than human sexuality."