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Church of England: Labour's
equality law denies Christians right to oppose homosexuality
STEVE DOUGHTY
UK
Daily Mail
Friday September 7, 2007
Labour's latest equality law will deprive Christians
of the right of free speech, the Church of England has warned.
The Single Equality Bill could force vicars to conduct weddings
for sex-change brides, deprive Christians of the right to oppose
homosexuality and make church schools promote gay lifestyles in
lessons, said the Archbishops' Council.
Church charities may also be barred from saying grace before
meals or displaying crucifixes, it claimed.
The CofE document - endorsed by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Rowan Williams - warned that the Bill attempts to suppress freedom
of speech and "amounts to an enforced secularism that fails
to respect religious belief at all".
The fierce response is the latest in a series of clashes between
religious leaders and the Government over equality rules applying
to minority groups whose behaviour Christians have always held
as morally wrong.
(Article continues below)
Churches are already lined up in opposition to the Sexual Orientation
Regulations, which came into force earlier this year.
These give homosexuals the right, among others, to sue Christians
who refuse to rent church halls to gay organisations.
The Single Equality Bill - which is going through a consultation
stage that ends this month - has been advertised as an attempt
to simplify 40 years of legislation on race, sex and disability
prejudice and gather hugely complex existing law under a single
piece of legislation.
Publicity surrounding it has centred on the way it will allow
nursing mothers to breastfeed in public.
Other clauses will prevent golf clubs or working men's clubs
from giving women second class status.
But the Archbishops' Council, the CofE's ruling Cabinet, said
the new law will go much further and have far-reaching effects
for large sections of society.
Freedom of speech for Christians could be harmed by clauses strengthening
the criminal law of harassment, it warned.
Christian charities and organisations face "a real risk
of challenges to the use of religious practices such as grace
before meals or religious symbols such as crucifixes".
Rules on harassment also mean that religious followers may not
"be able to express the views of their faith about homosexual
conduct, including challenging people to live lives consistent
with the teaching of the Church".
The document adds: "To deny Christians such a right would
amount to unjustified interference with the right to manifest
religious belief."
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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