UNITED KINGDOM:
BRITAINS LORDS VOTE FOR LIBERTY
Babette Francis, February 20, 2010
In a decision which hopefully
will resonate with Victoria’s Labor Attorney-General Rob Hulls in
regard to proposed changes to his state’s Equal Opportunity Act,
Britain’s House of Lords has blocked amendments to an Equality Bill
that threatened to curtail freedom of religion.
The Gordon Brown Labour Government’s proposed laws would have deprived
churches in the United Kingdom of the right to “restrict jobs to
believers and to refuse to hire people whose private conduct is inconsistent
with their teaching”. Leaders of the Catholic and Anglican churches,
not to mention leaders of other faiths, had campaigned against the amendments,
which were subsequently rejected by the peers by 216 to 178, in a humiliating
defeat for Harriet Harman, Minister for Women and Equality. She can try
to force the measure again through the House of Commons — and risk
losing the whole bill — or leave the UK at odds with an existing
European Union directive.
Keith Porteous Wood, executive
director of the National Secular Society, warned: “The Government
has faced a humiliating defeat at the hands of religious
agitation in the Lords. The NSS will once more complain to the European
Commission. It is quite likely the Government will be prosecuted in the
European Court of Justice.” During the debate in the Lords, Baroness
Detta O’Cathain (Conservative), who led the rebels, said: “Organisations
should be free to choose their staff on whether they share those beliefs.
How would a rape crisis centre operate if it was forced to employ male
counsellors? This is the state trying to tell people who they can and
can’t employ.”
The Anglican Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, added: “Where are
the examples of actual abuses that have caused difficulties? Where are
the court rulings that have shown that the law is defective? The truth
is that there are none because the status quo has been working perfectly
satisfactorily.”
The Opposition Conservatives’ shadow minister for Community Cohesion,
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a Muslim, hailed the vote as a “victory for
common sense”. She said: “We delivered a blow against the Government’s
attempt to narrow the definition of ‘employment’ for the purposes
of religion. The Church of England, the Catholic Church and other faiths
have all campaigned in a true spirit of community cohesion to protect
an important religious freedom.”
Mike Judge, spokesman for the Christian Institute, said: “We are
delighted that the House of Lords has voted to protect freedom of association
for churches. It is a shame the Government didn’t listen to churches
earlier. It’s almost as if they don’t care about Christians.”
Labour peer Lord Garfield Davies added: “My support for my Government
is second only to my Christian view. My view is that the standards and
morals of the Christian church makes this country a much better place
and I shall always oppose any measures that seek to marginalise the Christian
Church.”
Church groups said the proposed amendments lacked sufficient legal clarity
and could have exposed them to legal challenges if they refused to hire
homosexuals or transsexuals. Echoing Rob Hulls’s recommendations
for Victoria, the British Labour Government’s Equality Bill amendments
sought to restrict the exemption for religious organisations solely to
ordained ministers of religion and other positions that wholly or mainly
“exist to promote or represent the religion or to explain the doctrines
of the religion”.
The Church of England called for a return to the status quo, which allows
it to reject candidates for senior lay or unordained posts, such as senior
youth workers or pastoral assistants, if they cannot demonstrate an ability
to “live a life consistent with the ethos of the religion, as well
as sharing the faith”.
Baroness O’Cathain said, “I know that very many Christians were
praying that justice would prevail as the House of Lords voted on this
important issue. Many also wrote wise, sensitive letters to peers, seeking
to persuade them of our case.”
The Christian Institute’s Mike Judge commented, “Surely churches
should be free to employ people whose conduct is consistent with church
teaching. Surely that’s not asking too much. It’s called freedom
of association, and it’s a key liberty in any democratic society.
The fact that the Government couldn’t see this will concern many
Christians.”
Dr Don Horrocks, head of public affairs for the Evangelical Alliance,
said the Government’s amendments to change the current law “would
have left churches and organisations unsure whether they could prefer
practising Christians for the majority of their roles. Now, they can continue
to appoint people who are committed to the ethos of the organisations
they are supposed to represent. It’s a victory for common sense.”
Andrea Minichiello Williams, director of Christian Concern For Our Nation,
also praised the vote. She said: “This is a great day for religious
liberty in the United Kingdom. Let us be encouraged that, even in an increasingly
secular society, the voice of the Church can still be heard.”
Babette Francis is national co-ordinator of Endeavour Forum Inc.,
an NGO having special consultative status with the Economic and Social
Council of the UN (ECOSOC).
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