A coalition of 11 Christian charities has asked the Charity Commission to reaffirm the right of faith-based organisations to participate in public debate after Amnesty International UK labelled scores of Christian and socially conservative groups “anti-rights”.
The controversy began when Amnesty released a report about the supposed “anti-rights movement in the UK” and blacklisted 117 groups, many of them gender critical and Christian.
Amnesty later withdrew the report and expressed "regret" over the language used. However, the report went beyond criticism of the groups, calling on the Charity Commission to review their charitable status.
Now the shoe is somewhat on the other foot, with the CEOs of CARE, Christian Concern, The Christian Institute, the Christian Medical Fellowship and other groups named in the report penning an open letter to the Charity Commission.
The letter accuses Amnesty of making “a lazy generalisation” by listing groups together which in many cases have little in common.
“In most cases, the only thing these organisations share is disagreement with Amnesty International UK’s position on a handful of contested questions relating to the value of preborn human life, human sexuality, or the immutability of sex. Some take no public position on these issues, while others address only one or two of them," it reads.
The letter also took issue with the claim that the groups listed are “anti-rights”, noting that many “exist specifically to protect the fundamental freedoms that have formed the bedrock of democratic society for centuries, have deep roots in Christian thought, and are enshrined in international human rights frameworks”.
While Amnesty may have withdrawn the offending report, it was “not published in isolation but appears to reflect a relatively consistent approach” from Amnesty, the charities claim.
The letter argues that the recommendations contained in Amnesty's report amount to "an explicit call to discriminate against our organisations by removing the mechanisms and resources that enable much of our work to continue".
It concludes by calling on the Charity Commission to reaffirm the right of charities to engage in public debate without being demonised by other charities and to recognise that faith-based, pro-life and pro-family charities “make a legitimate and valuable contribution to public life in England and Wales”.
Robert Clarke, of the Alliance Defending Freedom, which coordinated the letter after also being blacklisted by Amnesty, said, "Disagreeing with Amnesty on a handful of contested questions isn't a threat to human rights."
