Bishop comments on proposed Equality Act
The new Equality Bill has sought to address some of the issues of faith communities, but the process by which it has been introduced is far from equal! An eight week consultation period was given, with four in the month of August, to respond to the aptly named: Getting Equal - while twelve weeks were given in England, not including summer holiday months. And now, to add insult to injury, the regulations were laid as an Order in Council last week, and will come into force in Northern Ireland on 1 January 2007.
As I understand it, this legislation will not come into force in England for some time because there were so many submissions.
One has to ask, what kind of ‘equality' are we talking about in such a process?
Evanglical Alliance is one of the Christian agencies seeking protection against harassment for Christians and they sent out the following press release earlier this week:
EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE NORTHERN IRELAND SEEKS PROTECTION AGAINST HARASSMENT FOR CHRISTIANS
Evangelical Alliance Northern Ireland (EANI) today responded to new equality legislation designed to outlaw discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation in the provision of goods, services and facilities.
Responding to the new regulations Stephen Cave, General Secretary, said,
‘During this ‘Anti-homophobia Week' Evangelical Alliance Northern Ireland recognises that unfortunately homophobia can and does occur within faith based communities. We renounce any homophobia which manifests itself in terms of victimisation and abusive, demeaning or other violent attitudes and behaviour.'
Commenting on the details of the legislation he went on to say,
'There are serious questions which must be addressed about the rushed nature of the consultation process and quick implementation of the regulations. However EANI acknowledges the work done by the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister in listening to the concerns of religious organisations and subsequently providing exemptions to ensure that core doctrinal beliefs are not undermined.
We also note the introduction to the legislation of a harassment clause offering those of different sexual orientation protection against violation of dignity or the creation of an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. In keeping with the spirit of laws against discrimination we would caution against any potential use of this legislation which would curb freedom of speech or curtail religious liberty in Northern Ireland. We would also hope that it will not be long until the same protection against harassment is afforded to people of faith across the community.'
The Evangelical Alliance UK, formed in 1846, is an umbrella group representing over one million evangelical Christians in the UK and is made up of member churches, organisations and individuals. As part of a movement ‘uniting to change society', the Alliance promotes unity and truth, acts as an evangelical voice to the state, society and the wider Church, and provides resources to help members and other evangelicals live out their faith in their communities.
The Equality Act Sexual Orientation (Northern Ireland)Regulations 2006 can be found athttp://www.opsi.gov.uk/sr/sr2006/nisr_20060439_en.pdf
Evangelical Alliance Northern Ireland's response to the Getting Equal consultation on the regulations can be found at http://www.eauk.org/northern-ireland/public-affairs/consultations.cfm.
Contact: Karen Jardine - Public Affairs & Development Officer Evangelical Alliance Northern IrelandEvangelical Alliance - Uniting to change society- www.eauk.org
DDI: 028 9029 2266Fax: 028 9029 2277Email: k.jardine@eauk.org