The Sexual Equality Bill that has been tightened seems to be denying organisations within this country the right and responsibility to freely choose who they employ for whatever reason they may wish to employ or not employ someone. What was telling was the response from the Catholic Church and the Church of England spokesmen.Is anybody else concerned about the implications spoken by the GEO spokesman? What does the government have to do with the Church anyway? Surely this beloved UK will wake up to see the danger with such attacks on Christian freedoms of churches to maintain their fidelity to the faith no matter what arena it is in. Where has the Christian voice gone in our day?Neil Addison, a Roman Catholic barrister and expert on religious discrimination law, said that the new legislation would leave churches powerless to defend the fabric of their organisation.
"This is a threat to religious identity. What we are losing is the right for organisations to make free choices," he said.
A spokesman for the Church of England said that while it supports the broad objectives of the Bill it "retains some concerns about the practical application of some specific aspects".
The Equality Bill, which was introduced to the Commons by Harriet Harman, the Minister for Women and Equality, will also strengthen laws against gender, age and disability discrimination.
A Government Equalities Office spokesman said: "The Equality Bill will not force a church to accept someone as a priest regardless of their sexual orientation or gender.
"Churches, synagogues, mosques and others will continue to have the freedom to choose who they employ in jobs which promote their religion. But where they provide services to the public they will have to treat everyone fairly."
12 comments:
To be consistent, shouldn't the Government be promoting legislation forbidding discrimination against dishonest people?
Jeff,
Your incoherent ravings are exactly and precisely answered by the GEO spokesperson. Compare and contrast:
Is anybody else concerned about the implications spoken by the GEO spokesman? What does the government have to do with the Church anyway? Surely this beloved UK will wake up to see the danger with such attacks on Christian freedoms of churches to maintain their fidelity to the faith no matter what arena it is in. Where has the Christian voice gone in our day?
"Churches, synagogues, mosques and others will continue to have the freedom to choose who they employ in jobs which promote their religion. But where they provide services to the public they will have to treat everyone fairly."
Exactly so. Most UK Christians agree with that sentiment - a pity that our primitive and ignorant leaders are so slow to grasp - or admit - fundamental principles. What hypocrites they are.
Well, the Catholic Church will simply have to resist these modern British degenerates. After all, the Catholic Church survived Protestant persecution, albeit in diminsihed numbers, so it will surely survive that launched by modern British degenerates and perverts, even if in similarly diminished numbers.
Ah,
The return of WT, hero of Papist Anglicanism: 'degenerates','perverts': the sweet discourse of Catholic Truth. Even Father Jeff doesn't stoop so low.
Similarly:
Leading article (from the Independent): Hats off to Scottish Enlightenment
Monday, 25 May 2009
It is not that many years ago that gays and lesbians were persecuted by the law and those with partners of the same sex had to resort to depressing subterfuges to keep their relationships hidden. Some right-wingers hark back to those days with nostalgia, wrongly insisting that the old days of secrecy and witch-hunts constituted a kind of firewall, protecting matrimony and the family from corrosion and attack.
However, as the vote in the assembly of the Church of Scotland over the appointment of a gay-partnered minister has shown – these voices are ever fewer in number, even in institutions once thought of as socially conservative. A body still associated in the minds of many with the dour Calvinism of John Knox has proven itself willing to reconcile its traditions with the growing conviction in society that discrimination against people of different sexual orientation is unfair and unreasonable – and ought not to be upheld on the grounds of appeals to the list of "abominations" in the Book of Leviticus.
This is a moment to congratulate both Scott Rennie on his appointment and the Kirk for showing common sense. Would that all other religious groups in Britain followed the Kirk's enlightened lead. The revelations of the horrific physical and sexual abuse that thousands of children endured at the hands of their clerical so-called carers in Ireland is a reminder of how things can go wrong in societies still steeped in a culture of sexual secrecy and repression. At the same time, we might also remember that one reason why the climate surrounding the issue of homosexuality is so different in Britain today is because of the raft of legalisation outlawing discrimination on grounds of sexuality passed under Tony Blair. This started with the lowering of the age of consent for gays and lesbians from 18 to 16 in 2001, the legalisation of adoption by same-sex couples in 2002, the scrapping of Section 28 in 2003, and the passage of the Civil Partnerships Act of 2004.
Whatever our opinions on the Gulf War and other aspects of Mr Blair's policies, it should not be forgotten that he did much to dispel the prejudices against gays and lesbians and so to create a more humane society.
It's not my style, but I'm almost tempted to shout: 'Hallelujah'!
'The revelations of the horrific physical and sexual abuse that thousands of children endured at the hands of their clerical so-called carers in Ireland is a reminder of how things can go wrong in societies still steeped in a culture of sexual secrecy and repression.'
Yes, indeed. Funny how frequently these disgusting phenomena occur in bastions of 'Catholic' 'orthodoxy'. (Not, of course, that any of this is new. It was widely recognised and condemned - and in many cases practically exerienced - by the RC children I grew up with in Ireland.) Witness also the widely publicised phenomenon that most (yes, actually) RC priests in Poland have mistresses.
And while we're at it, let's not forget Nichols' pathetic and disgusting attempt to impute some restrospective sort of virtue to the RC priests and nuns responsible.
Food here for 'theological' reflection, eh, Jeff?
Ho hum, liberal agnostics/atheists acclaiming heretics and worshipers of the Zeitgeist; simply Erastianism rechauffee.
Bill,
You're an ignorant oaf. Period, as your American fellow-citizens say.
Ho, hum, stickes and stones, Molester.
Bill,
I don't accept any parity here. When you use terms such as 'degenerate' in relation to homosexuals and their defenders (especially within a CIVIC context), you are beyond the pale. The terminology is ignorant, offensive, un-Christian and unscientific. I'm not here trading abuse: I'm making a targeted accusation. You know this.
I'm putting the boot in - righteously.
I am beyond your "heretical pale," no doubt, but I care not a fig for that.
And please in the future cite references from the *Catechism of the Catholic Church* or *Denzinger;* which I tale as my pale.
As a 'pale' is a type of fence forming a safe enclosure, it stands to reason that the chronically insecure/those who are upset by a degree of ambiguity or uncertainty wouldn't want to go outside it - particularly if the 'pale' in question is something as unnuanced and naively prescriptive as the Catechism.
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