Andrea Williams of the Lawyers Christian Fellowship considers if this is 'a bigger threat to Christian liberty than the Religious Hatred Bill?'

Andrea Williams

An incredibly important piece of legislation threatens Christian freedom to act with integrity according to the Bible. The government have proposed 'Sexual Orientation (Provision of goods and services) Regulations' which will impact churches, Christian organisations, charities, groups and individuals. The Regulations have been described by some leading Christian figures from across denominational lines as representing an even greater threat to Christian liberty than had been posed by the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill.

The matters raised by this topic are necessarily sensitive and quite complex, so please read our full briefing on the matter which can be found in the 'Information and Action Packs' we have produced. See the Church specific pack for this and the Christian organisation pack

The following is therefore only an introduction to the issues and should not be read without reference to the Information and Action Packs.

What are the Sexual Orientation Regulations (SOR)? Using power they gave themselves through the Equality Act 2006, the government are pushing through a new law (the SOR) which will make it illegal for anyone who provides goods, services, facilities, premises, education or public functions to someone else, to discriminate against that person 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 be consistent and clear (not just with our words, but also with our actions) in declaring that the Bible says homosexual practice is sinful.

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 to let a room with a double bed to a homosexual and his partner who had a registered civil partnership. This would be the case even if they also refused an unmarried heterosexual couple 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 Church who hire out their hall to local groups. In law, that hiring out counts as offering of 'premises'. If the Church refuses to hire the hall out to a local gay group, that would be illegal discrimination under the new Regulations, even if the gay group wanted to use the venue for an event promoting homosexual practices.

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.

There are many, many other examples.

When is it happening? The government has promised that the Regulations will be in force by October 2006. The Government launched a consultation in March 2006 in order to find out whether people think there should be any exceptions to the laws. For example, they are asking whether there should be any exceptions to protect religious groups whose doctrine teaches that it is wrong to encourage homosexuality. The consultation closes on the 5th June.

What can be done? The Lawyers' Christian Fellowship Public Policy unit have produced two comprehensive 'Information and Action Packs' on this piece of legislation: one is for churches and the other is for all Christian organisations (however big or small the organisation, and whether they operate for a profit or not).

There is therefore one incredibly important thing that every single Christian can do: make sure your local church and any local Christian organisations have a copy of the Information and Action Pack on the SOR. There's a church pack and an organisation pack.

The only way that Christian freedom will be secured is by Christians responding to the consultation and making it clear that we will not compromise over Biblical teachings. If people do not have the Information and Action Packs they may not even be aware of the threat of this legislation, let alone fully understand its legal implications.