EQUALITY BILL A THREAT TO FREEDOM
Thursday 21 January, 2010
UK
Politics
Lawyer warns of ‘the biggest state intervention into people’s private expression of their faith since the Reformation’
By Charles Gardner
Churches across the UK are expected to have their worship interrupted this Sunday to watch a three-minute video warning about a Parliamentary Bill which could mean they will be forced to employ homosexuals for key posts.
And Christians are being urged to sign a petition against the Bill on the No 10 Downing Street website – http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/harryhammond
The Equality Bill is due to be voted on in Parliament on Monday.
Christian Concern for our Nation, an organisation that exists to help fight the growing legal and political opposition to Christianity in Britain, says the Bill amounts to “the biggest state intervention into people’s private expression of their faith, and to Christian freedom and practice, since the Reformation.”
On the video, CCFON director Andrea Minichiello Williams says: “The effect of this Bill is that churches will find themselves being sued for not employing homosexuals for jobs such as youth workers.”
If the Bill goes through – and the amendment being proposed on Monday is not passed – churches would no longer be able to advertise for a “Christian youth worker”, but only for a “youth worker”, and the role of worship leader, often pivotal in any church, may no longer be restricted to Christians.
Mrs Williams added: “Christians and churches across this nation need to be aware that the Bill has enormous implications for their day-to-day functioning.
“If it is passed in its present form, the Equality Bill will result in churches and Christian organisations having to recruit people to key positions who are unsympathetic to the need to reflect Christ and to worship him through their work. That will in turn affect the way in which Jesus Christ is perceived by those served by the church and its ministries.”
The video can be watched on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrjEprFjp-4 as well as on the CCFON website at http://www.ccfon.org/equalitybill1.php
The petition, which can also be accessed via www.ccfon.org, is already 15,000-strong. But Mrs Williams is hoping it can attract as many as ten times that number of signatures.
Photo: Public Domain
Comment on this article
Please Note: All comments will be subject to moderation before showing up on the page, subject to approval.If you would prefer to discuss the issue in more depth and interaction, try the new forum here.