HVK Archives: Peers vote to protect Churches from secular litigation
Peers vote to protect Churches from secular litigation - Renovacao
Editorial
()
March 15, 1998
Title: Peers vote to protect Churches from secular litigation
Author: Editorial
Publication: Renovacao
Date: March 15, 1998
Members of the House of Lords won a temporary victory for the
Churches last week when they amended the Human Rights Bill to
protect the freedom of religious organisations.
The Bill, which is due to come before the House of Commons for
its second reading on Monday, incorporates the European
Convention on Human Rights into United Kingdom law. Unamended,
it would have categorised Churches and other religious
organisations as 'public authorities', which could have prevented
them from discriminating on the basis of religious belief, moral
or sexual status. Some believe that religious organisations could
have been compelled by the courts to employ people of other
faiths and conduct the marriages of divorced people or
homosexuals. Church schools could have lost the right to dismiss
teachers whose life-style did not meet Christian standards.
At report stage in the House of Lords on 5 February, peers
accepted an amendments from Baroness Young. It would protect
Churches and other religious organisations from legal claims of
discrimination R they could show they had acted "in pursuance of
a manifestation of religious belief in accordance with his
historic teaching and practices of a Christian or other principal
religious tradition represented in Great Britain=94. That
'manifestation of religious belief' could include 'worship,
observance, conformity to a moral or ethical principle, practice,
teaching and employment policies." The amendment would also
exempt religious schools and charities from the Bill as regards
the appointment or dismissal of senior officers, and ministers of
religion who refused to conduct certain marriages because they
contravened a religious conviction.
Moving her amendment, Baroness Young declared that when the
European Convention was drawn up 1950 'who would ever have
thought that anybody would talk about a homosexual marriage?...
We are legislating not just for 1998 but for 2005 or 2020. I have
my grandchildren in mind as I stand here.'
In support of Baroness Young, the Anglican Bishop of Ripon
declared: 'Human rights is an elastic phrase which might in the
future be stretched to cover so-called rights that are not part
of our contemporary shared value system."
Baroness Young's amend as supported by a majority of peers,
including seven Anglican bishops. Other supporters included
Baroness Williams of Crosby, Lord Alton, Lord Patten, Viscount
Monckton of Brenchley, and Lord St. John of Fawsley.
The amended Bill could be changed again in the House of Commons,
probably at committee stage. Baroness Williams told The Tablet
that she thought the amendments would be unlikely to survive the
Bill's passage through the Commons, unless the Government allowed
a conscience vote. Supporters of Baroness Young's amendment are
calling on church leaders to make their views known to the
Government.
The Government. meanwhile, is denying that the Bill in its
original form posed any danger to the freedom of religious
organisations.
Note: Renovacao (Rurival) is a bulleting of archieval of Goa,
India.
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