The Sexual Orientation Regulations (SORs) in England, Wales and Scotland are due to come into force in April, although the Northern Ireland SORs came into force on 1 January. This legislation has implications for Christians’ freedom to act with integrity according to the Bible and will affect churches, Christian organisations, charities, groups and individuals.
What are the SORs?
The SORs 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. This will apply regardless of whether or not people are charged for the provision of goods and services.
Why is it an issue?
On 29 January the Prime Minister announced that there will no exemptions for Christian adoption agencies. Many others advocate that there should be no exemptions at all for religious bodies. The definition of goods and services is so wide that it could cover the giving of holy communion or decisions about who is baptised. Wider activities such as church weekends away and counselling by ministers could also fall foul of the SORs. On 21 February Julian Brazier MP called a debate to address the issue of the “Future of the voluntary adoption sector”. An obvious focus of this debate was the damage that will be done by the Government’s decision to deny Christian adoption agencies a freedom of conscience exemption from the SORs, thereby threatening their future.
Examples
- Churches who use their premises for weddings may be required to accept civil partnership ceremonies on their premises.
- Churches who hire out their church hall could not refuse to hire it out to a local gay or lesbian organisation.
- Christian conference and retreat centres would have to accept bookings and hirings from gay and lesbian groups.
- A church that provided housing or accommodation would be required to provide housing or accommodation to homosexual couples as much as to heterosexual couples.
- Any churches that provide auxiliary services to the community such as restaurants, libraries, bookshops, counselling etc would be at risk of allegations of discrimination if they sought to restrict the access of certain homosexual individuals to those services.
- Any church which requires the signing of a statement of faith or belief or adherence to the view of the Bible would be indirectly discriminating against homosexuals and this would therefore probably be illegal. A church that was taken to court for this would then be in the position of having to argue that requiring a statement of faith was justified.
- It might become unlawful for a church, in deciding how it used its tithe money, to refuse to support a homosexual charity based on the sexual orientation of the members or beneficiaries of that charity.
- Any church that provided financial support to members of its congregation or the local community would be acting illegally if it provided them only to heterosexual individuals, or if it favoured them over homosexual applicants.
- It is likely to become illegal for a school, including a church/faith school, to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation. Schools therefore will not be able to have a “bias” on its curriculum in favour of heterosexual relationships.
What can be done?
Contribute to the debate by voicing the reasonable and calm argument that, whilst the SORs outlaw discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, they should not unnecessarily go so far as to discriminate against Christians (or people from other faiths that have similar teachings). Letters can be written to local and national newspapers, as well as contributions made to online discussions. For further information see Contacting MPs and Peers.
