Christian lawyers to petition Queen to block gay rights bill
by JAMES SLACK
1st January 2007
Not only Britain's Protestant majority but also Catholics are in favour of the demonstrations outside the Houses of Parliament, which will be held at night by torch-light. They are protesting against new rules which the government has produced to meet the demands of......you guessed it.....a European (EU) Directive.
Thousands of Christian lawyers are to petition for the Queen's help to stop the Government from imposing sweeping new gay rights laws on Britain.
They will ask the Queen, as defender of the Church of England, to make the case to Tony Blair that the proposed Sexual Orientation Regulations discriminate against Christians.
A torch-lit protest will also take place outside the Houses of Parliament, ahead of a Lords debate on the new rules next Tuesday.
The laws, meant to come into force in April, are supposed to prevent discrimination against gays. But the Church of England has pointed out that priests could be sued for refusing to bless same-sex civil partnerships under the rules.
And Catholics have warned they will close their adoption agencies rather than be forced to allow gay couples to adopt children.
Black churches have added their voices to the protest, saying pastors and churchgoers would go to jail rather than accept rules that would mean they had to open their meeting halls to gay lobby groups.
The plea to the Queen is being made by the Christian Concern for Our Nation, an offshoot of the Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship, a group which lists more than 2,000 barristers and solicitors among its members.
The petition warns the Queen the rules are a ‘serious affront’ to the Gospel.
It reads: ‘The regulations purport to eliminate discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, but have the consequence of discriminating heavily against Christians of all backgrounds and denominations who hold firm to the very Faith which you pledged to uphold in your coronation oath.’
The Queen cannot herself bar the rules from being introduced (as she has no say in politics), but could raise her concerns during her regular meetings with Tony Blair.
Any indication of concern from Buckingham Palace would increase pressure on Ministers to scrap the proposals, which have already come into force in Northern Ireland. The Regulations also have an impact on religious believers in business. Christian hoteliers will be compelled to rent rooms to gay couples while Muslim printers will be unable to refuse to print homosexual magazines or advertisements.
The final version of the UK rules - which the Government has produced supposedly to meet the demands of a European Directive - has yet to be published.
But the Northern Ireland rules say people found guilty of discrimination will be fined between £500 and £1,000 for a first offence. Subsequent serious offences can attract penalties of up to £25,000.
The regulations have proved so controversial that Ruth Kelly, the Communities and Local Government Secretary, last year suspended their introduction into Britain for six months after her department was unexpectedly deluged with thousands of hostile responses to the consultation exercise.
In November the Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham, Vincent Nichols, threatened to withdraw cooperation over schools, charity programmes and adoption agencies if the new laws went through.
In comments endorsed by Church of England bishops, he accused Ministers of being 'engaged in an intense and at times aggressive reshaping of our moral framework', adding: 'Those who are elected to fashion our laws are not elected to be our moral tutors. They have no mandate or competence to be so.'
dailymail.co.uk
Sod off, EUSSR.
by JAMES SLACK
1st January 2007
Not only Britain's Protestant majority but also Catholics are in favour of the demonstrations outside the Houses of Parliament, which will be held at night by torch-light. They are protesting against new rules which the government has produced to meet the demands of......you guessed it.....a European (EU) Directive.
Thousands of Christian lawyers are to petition for the Queen's help to stop the Government from imposing sweeping new gay rights laws on Britain.
They will ask the Queen, as defender of the Church of England, to make the case to Tony Blair that the proposed Sexual Orientation Regulations discriminate against Christians.
A torch-lit protest will also take place outside the Houses of Parliament, ahead of a Lords debate on the new rules next Tuesday.
The laws, meant to come into force in April, are supposed to prevent discrimination against gays. But the Church of England has pointed out that priests could be sued for refusing to bless same-sex civil partnerships under the rules.
And Catholics have warned they will close their adoption agencies rather than be forced to allow gay couples to adopt children.
Black churches have added their voices to the protest, saying pastors and churchgoers would go to jail rather than accept rules that would mean they had to open their meeting halls to gay lobby groups.
The plea to the Queen is being made by the Christian Concern for Our Nation, an offshoot of the Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship, a group which lists more than 2,000 barristers and solicitors among its members.
The petition warns the Queen the rules are a ‘serious affront’ to the Gospel.
It reads: ‘The regulations purport to eliminate discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, but have the consequence of discriminating heavily against Christians of all backgrounds and denominations who hold firm to the very Faith which you pledged to uphold in your coronation oath.’
The Queen cannot herself bar the rules from being introduced (as she has no say in politics), but could raise her concerns during her regular meetings with Tony Blair.
Any indication of concern from Buckingham Palace would increase pressure on Ministers to scrap the proposals, which have already come into force in Northern Ireland. The Regulations also have an impact on religious believers in business. Christian hoteliers will be compelled to rent rooms to gay couples while Muslim printers will be unable to refuse to print homosexual magazines or advertisements.
The final version of the UK rules - which the Government has produced supposedly to meet the demands of a European Directive - has yet to be published.
But the Northern Ireland rules say people found guilty of discrimination will be fined between £500 and £1,000 for a first offence. Subsequent serious offences can attract penalties of up to £25,000.
The regulations have proved so controversial that Ruth Kelly, the Communities and Local Government Secretary, last year suspended their introduction into Britain for six months after her department was unexpectedly deluged with thousands of hostile responses to the consultation exercise.
In November the Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham, Vincent Nichols, threatened to withdraw cooperation over schools, charity programmes and adoption agencies if the new laws went through.
In comments endorsed by Church of England bishops, he accused Ministers of being 'engaged in an intense and at times aggressive reshaping of our moral framework', adding: 'Those who are elected to fashion our laws are not elected to be our moral tutors. They have no mandate or competence to be so.'
dailymail.co.uk
Sod off, EUSSR.
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