Christian Institute fears Equality Bill will erode religious liberty

The director of the Christian Institute has asked Christians to pray as the second reading of the Equality Bill begins in the House of Lords today.

Colin Hart said there were measures in the Bill which could erode the religious liberty of churches and other religious groups.

“It includes plans to shrink the freedom of churches to insist that staff’s behaviour is in keeping with the Bible’s teaching on sexual ethics,” he said.

He appealed to Christians to pray that peers would speak in favour of protecting religious liberty.
A new report out from the Christian Institute this week claims that Christians are being marginalised by equality and diversity laws “which leave them the first to be punished and the last to be protected”.

“Marginalising Christians” gives examples of Christians who have been suspended from their jobs because of diversity rules, children who have received detention for refusing to take part in Muslim prayers, and Christians who have been physically assaulted because of their faith.

Writing in the foreword to the report, head of communications at the Christian Institute Mike Judge said there was a “growing sense of intolerance” felt by Christians in the UK that was being made worse by the hostility they were facing in the name of equality and diversity.

“Christians wonder why they are not being treated equally and why diversity does not include them,” he wrote.

“They feel that a hierarchy of rights has sprung up which leaves them bottom of the pile.

“This has led to a growing feeling that ‘equality and diversity’ is code for marginalising Christian beliefs.”

Today, the Court of Appeal will rule on whether Islington Council discriminated against Christian registrar Lillian Ladele after she asked not to handle same-sex civil unions. Her case comes just one week after Liverpool Magistrates’ Court cleared two Christian hotel owners of religious hatred towards a Muslim guest after they debated aspects of her faith.

Mr Judge said: “Many Christians feel marginalised in modern Britain.

“Whether it’s a Christian nurse being suspended for offering to pray for a patient’s recovery, or whether it’s a Christian couple being prosecuted for a crime because they criticised Islam, believers feel targeted by the ‘equality police’.

“A stream of equality and diversity laws have failed to reasonably accommodate the rights of religious believers. Christians in particular feel like they have been pushed to the back of the queue.

“When it comes to applying equality and diversity laws, Christians seem to be the first to be punished and the last to be protected.”

At the weekend, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams accused Labour of treating Christians like “oddballs”.