[Miguel]

http://www.christian.org.uk/pressrel...ch_07_2007.htm



Reacting to news that the Government has published the Sexual Orientation Regulations, Colin Hart (Director of The Christian Institute) said today:

"Ministers have taken the view that 'gay rights' trumps religious liberty. The Government has not accepted the concerns of religious groups. We are going to see the sort of hostile litigation and false allegations against Christian charities which have been all too prevalent in the United States, Canada and Holland. The regulations are a charter for suing Christians.

"There are many areas in which conflict will not arise. A Christian bookshop will be happy to sell a Bible to anyone. No Christian soup kitchen is going to have a problem because they are willing to serve all-comers.

"But some gay rights supporters would rather see religious charities closed down than allow them to hold the belief that homosexual practice is wrong.

"The problems arise where you attempt to force acceptance of homosexual practice on Christian small businesses or Christian welfare projects. These concerns chiefly relate to the provision of accommodation in old people's homes or guest houses, services for weddings, adoption, fertility treatments and printing/media services.

"We are also very concerned about the effect of the new regulations on schools. Whatever the Government says, we believe that the regulations will be used to promote homosexuality in schools. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights believes the regulations should be used to trigger litigation if any teacher says that homosexuality is morally wrong.

"Our legal action against the Northern Ireland version of these regulations will go ahead as planned in June. I very much hope the High Court rules that the parallel regulations in the Province unduly interfere with religious liberty contrary to the Human Rights Act. Such a judgment could well have implications for the rest of the UK."

[CarlSW]

I realize that other countries deal with things in ways that are confusing.

My understanding of most people in America (whether they approve of homosexuality or not) is that whether they want churches to have a certain position or not, they realize and have accepted that no individual church HAS to do what other churches do, and that the government can't tell a church whether to marry gay people or not.

Are some other countries trying to make churches marry homosexuals or change their teachings, or is that just an unfounded fear? I'm not aware of any serious effort to make any church do these things by any governmental power. It seems to me the issue is about church members on one side or another getting concerned about what their church will do in the future.

[Miguel]

Actually Carl the UK goverment are doing that.

http://www.christianconcernforournat.../sor/index.php

What are the Sexual Orientation Regulations (SOR)? Using power they gave to themselves through the Equality Act 2006, the government are pushing through a new law (the SOR) which will make it illegal for providers of goods, services, facilities, premises, education or public functions to discriminate against the recipients on the grounds of their sexual orientation i.e. whether they are homosexual, heterosexual or bisexual.

Why is it a problem? Firstly, we must stress that Christians are commanded to love all their neighbours (including homosexuals) equally. Christians would never want to be homophobic or discriminate against homosexuals out of bigotry or prejudice. Christians of course earnestly desire the repentance and salvation of homosexuals.

However, the Bible is clear that the only rightful sexual relationship for which we were created, is a relationship between a man and a woman in the context of a legitimate marriage. Consequently there are times when Christians need to be free to discriminate against homosexuals in order to make it clear that we believe in the Bible's teaching that homosexual practice is wrong.

Consider a Christian couple who own a bed and breakfast. They provide a 'service' according to the law. Therefore if the SOR become law, it would be illegal for that Christian couple to refuse a homosexual and his partner (who had a registered civil partnership) a room with a double bed for the night, even if they also refused an unmarried heterosexual such a room: according to the new Regulations a registered gay civil partnership is equal to a marriage, and to discriminate against gay civil partners would constitute discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

Consider a Christian Community Centre which receives public funding. If that Centre hired out its premises to local groups but refused to hire the hall out to a homosexual group who wanted to promote homosexual practices, that would be illegal discrimination under the new Regulations.

Consider a Church of England school. They offer education, and were the SOR to become law, it would be illegal for the C of E school to have a 'bias' on their curriculum in favour of heterosexual relationships - this would discriminate against any possible homosexual pupils or homosexual parents who wanted their child to be taught about the acceptability of homosexuality.

These examples are based on the Northern Ireland Regulations which came into force on the 1st January 2007. Please follow our 'latest news' section to find out the current situation with the England, Wales and Scotland Regulations, to know what restrictions the legislation will place on Christian freedom.

[Miguel]

goto also

http://www.christian.org.uk/pdfpubli...er_march07.pdf

Churches are being forced into marrying Gay couples, a large number of church leaders and pastors are willing to give up their licences so they do not have to marry indeviduals

[CarlSW]

I'm sure it's a far too broad regulation that is poorly worded.

But I'm not sure about some of your objections. If someone is in a business and they open up to the public, I don't see why they can't just do their job. If it's so important for a Christian not to sell flowers to a gay couple for their wedding, then I don't see why they don't take a job they can be competant at, first of all. If someone is offering housing services that's what they do, do it well. If you can't offer housing services to people of certain religions or expect too much of your customers because of your religion, well there are other businesses you can go into.

I didn't see where any church would be required to marry homosexuals.

There are things I am deeply offended at, that would effect my career choices. I don't see why the world would offer me special favors to accomodate my morality. I've quit jobs because my ethics were higher than my employers, for example.

If you can spell out just how anyone would really be treated unfairly, I will try to understand and be agreeable.