The struggle for freedom of conscience has led to many martyrdoms in past centuries. It is a basic human right and is fundamental to democracy. Governments that would overrule it strike at the very soul of the people. (Dr Peter May, Hampshire)

As the petition states, I am keen on freedom of speech/belief but I am unhappy at the prevailing secularist ideology/belief that actually curtails that freedom for fear of offending others. (Rev Andy Lines, Surrey)

Once religious freedom goes, the basis for freedom in this country will also disappear. (C K Tan, Staffordshire)

Equality and respect of individuals’ faith and conscience needs to be maintained without fear of prosecution and freedom of expression. (Canon Andrew Edwards, Cumbria)

The way in which the courts appear to be interpreting the current legislation seems to restrict human rights rather than promote them. In the past, vendors had a right to refuse a good or service; you were refused a drink if you were considered drunk by the publican, a taxi ride if you appeared dangerous. Surely it is our right to refuse for no reason at all, unless it is a public service. (Mr Nicholas Launders, Oxfordshire)

Muslims do not serve up pork under their roofs.  And I don't allow sexual immorality under my roof.  We fear God! (Mr Anthony Reynolds, Bucks)

There is something very badly wrong when immorality is rewarded and morality becomes a criminal offence.  The SORs must be amended so that they cannot be interpreted in this way. (Mrs Susan Day, London)

Introduction            What is the problem?        How has culture silenced the church? I

The Bible and Sex  The Revd Professor John Nolland

How has culture silenced the church? II    Dr Lisa Nolland

The Church's Response  Evaluating the "Love is all you need" approach of Andrew Marin

What you can and cannot do as a pastor, teacher, doctor 

It pays to "be good" - sex and wisdom   Question time and close

A Roman Catholic adoption agency has been given the chance to appeal after losing a bid to protect its pro-marriage ethos last month.

The Leeds-based charity, Catholic Care, was told by the Charity Tribunal last month that under the new Sexual Orientation Regulations (SORs) it would have to consider gay couples as potential adopters, despite its belief that children need a mother and a father.

However, the adoption agency has now been granted permission to appeal to the High Court over the matter which the Tribunal said was of “public importance” and “would be appropriate for the High Court to consider on appeal”.

Mark Wiggin, chief executive of Catholic Care, said the charity had not yet decided whether to pursue the appeal.

“We have to leave open the option,” he said.

The charity is one of several Roman Catholic adoption groups forced to choose between abandoning their beliefs on marriage, dropping out of adoption work or risking falling foul of the SORs.

The SORs make it illegal to discriminate on grounds of sexual orientation when providing goods or services, and were controversially introduced in 2007 with no exemption for religious adoption agencies.

The agencies were given until the end of 2008 to comply.

Catholic Care had hoped to clarify in its charitable objects that it only placed children with couples in a manner which is in keeping with its religious ethos, but the Charity Commission refused its attempt last year.

Last month a spokesman for Leeds Diocese said he feared the decision would mean charities like Catholic Care “will need to close their adoption services and a flagship service of the charities will be lost”.

He added: “We are concerned about the possible impact this will have on potential adoptive parents and children.”
 

• Catholic Care granted permission to appeal against tribunal verdict in High Court (thirdsector.co.uk, 08 July 2009)
• RC adoption charity survival plea denied (04 June 2009)
• SNP bid to save RC adoption agencies (02 June 2009)
• Hushed report: gay adoption puts kids at risk of bullying (22 April 2009)
• Religious adoption groups face legal fight for survival (02 January 2009)

The adoption agency headed by Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic churchman declared yesterday that gay rights laws have forced it to stop trying to find potential homes for children.

The Catholic Children’s Society, whose president is Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, announced that it will no longer assess individuals or couples as prospective adoptive or foster parents.

The charity has pulled out of its principal role because it cannot reconcile Church teaching on marriage and the family with the demands of the Sexual Orientation Regulations, Labour’s gay rights laws that compel adoption agencies to assess same-sex couples as prospective parents as well as heterosexuals.

The agency was founded in 1859 and the move brings to an end a service offered by one of the oldest adoption agencies in the country.
‘We do this with deep regret but have been forced into this position,’ said a spokesman.

‘The trustees are convinced that what is best for children is that they be brought up by married couples. This is shown by research but it is also consonant with the teaching of the Church.  ‘It would be totally unacceptable for our Catholic agency to act in a way that is at odds with the teaching of the Church.’  The agency will continue to offer adoption support and counselling services for the hundreds of cases it has handled in recent years.  But the decision is bound to infuriate and upset thousands of London Catholics who have poured money into the charity for decades.

Former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe last night said the Sexual Orientation Regulations, brought in under the 2006 Equality Act to ban discrimination against homosexuals in the provision of goods and services, were ‘ludicrous’.  She said: ‘It is a sign of the Britain we are in. If you do not subscribe to the prevailing orthodoxy you might as well be living in the Soviet Union.

‘Catholic adoption agencies place some of the most difficult children with new families. They could find people willing to take them and now those services will not be available … all for the sake of trying to enforce a political view.’

The charity, which found new families for about 15 ‘difficult-toplace-children a year, becomes the second of 11 Catholic adoption agencies to end its assessment service. At least another two are expected to follow suit after the Charity Tribunal threw out an appeal by the Catholic Care agency in Leeds to continue to operate according to its beliefs.

Parliament approved the regulations in January 2007 and the agencies had until January 2009 to comply. In 2003 the Vatican declared it was ‘gravely immoral’ to place children in the care of same-sex couples, meaning it was impossible for the agencies to comply with the regulations.
 

By Steve Doughty, Mailonline

Catholic adoption societies which refuse to offer children to gay couples face closure following a tribunal yesterday.

Judges ruled in a test case that the charities, which find homes for hundreds of children each year, will be breaking the law if they refuse to accept same-sex couples as adoptive parents.

The ruling means some Catholic agencies face a choice between abandoning their adoption services or their religious principles.

One diocese has already said it is likely to close its adoption charities.

Some of the long-standing charities have not opposed adoption by same-sex couples since Labour’s 2007 Sexual Orientation Regulations stated that no organisation or company may discriminate against gays.

But yesterday’s appeal ruling by the Charity Tribunal confirmed that those which have stuck to Roman Catholic teaching must now do the same or give up trying to get children adopted.

In its appeal, the Catholic Care charity, run by the diocese of Leeds, said that the right to discriminate against homosexual couples was ‘a principle of a Catholic organisation’.

But following the ruling a spokesman for the diocese said: ‘As the charities cannot provide unrestricted services without being in breach of their obligations to act in accordance with the tenets of the Roman Catholic Church, it seems likely that the charities will need to close their adoption services and a flagship service of the charities will be lost.

‘We are concerned about the possible impact this will have on potential adoptive parents and children.’

Tribunal president Alison McKenna ruled that the Catholic Care charity was ‘a well-respected voluntary adoption agency which has made a significant contribution to the provision of adoption services in this country and facilitated many successful adoption placements’.

But she and two colleagues said the charity’s activities would be unlawful if it went on refusing to accept gay adoptive parents.

Other Catholic adoption agencies declined to comment.

The Scottish Government has been seeking a survival route for Roman Catholic adoption agencies to stop them being shut down because of their religious beliefs about marriage.

The agencies only place children with married couples or single people, in keeping with the church’s teaching. But ‘gay rights’ laws mean this policy could be challenged in court.

It has emerged that Scottish Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop lobbied the Westminster Government to give the agencies an “indefinite” exemption from the Sexual Orientation Regulations (SORs) introduced in 2007.

In the event, the agencies, which have a reputation for finding homes for ‘hard-to-place’ children, were given a short-term exemption which ran out at the start of this year.

At least one of the UK’s Roman Catholic adoption agencies has decided to close, while seven others have cut their ties with the Church and changed their policies to allow same-sex couple applications.

Notes from a 2007 meeting between Fiona Hyslop and Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien have now emerged.

The notes record: “The Scottish government position – as she had made clear in speaking to Whitehall – was that it would have been better for the exemption to end 2008 to have been made indefinite.”

The news has drawn criticism from ‘homosexual rights’ lobbyists who say there should be no exemption for religious groups from the SORs.

Tim Hopkins of the Equality Network said: “We would be very disappointed if the Scottish government’s position is that any publicly-funded public service should be allowed to discriminate against any part of the population.”

Fiona Hyslop told the Church she was “comfortable” with the plans of one Glasgow-based agency, St Margaret’s Children and Family Care Society, to change its constitution in order to protect itself from a hostile legal challenge.

Her spokesman said: “The Scottish government has always said that Catholic adoption agencies should be able to operate within the teachings of the church. That is a matter of public record, and we have made this view known to UK ministers and the Church itself.

“We understand that St Margaret’s have successfully applied to the Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator for a change in their constitution, and will therefore be referring same-sex couples to other adoption agencies for assessment. That is a decision for the agency and the regulator.”

It is claimed that the SORs make it unlawful for religious adoption agencies to restrict the applications they accept to married couples and single people.

But leading discrimination lawyer Neil Addison has argued that this is the most “fundamentalist” interpretation of the law.

Writing in the Catholic Herald last year, he said: “The SORs cannot be looked at in isolation. You also have to consider human rights protections for religious belief, equality legislation prohibiting religious discrimination and, finally, the Adoption Act itself, which makes the welfare of the child the primary consideration.

“Many questions remained unanswered. For example, is a decision by a Catholic adoption agency only to approve adoption by married heterosexual partners a ‘homophobic’ decision? Or can it be shown objectively to be in the best interests of children?

“Would a refusal by a local authority to approve a Catholic adoption agency be legal under religious discrimination law? And would a requirement that a Catholic agency approves single-sex parents be a breach of religious freedom protected by Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights?

“When you have such a cocktail of law and competing rights you have ample scope for legal argument, negotiation and compromise.”