Last week saw the House of Lords reject the potentially restrictive crime of religious harassment in the Equality Bill. However, in the aftermath of this the Evangelical Alliance has warned that the government is still likely to insist on its reinstatement into the House of Commons.

|TOP|The Equality Bill aims to create a single Commission for Equality and Human Rights (ECHR), to include disability, race, gender, and for the first time, religion and faith.

Since the Equality Bill was first proposed there have been many concerns raised and it has been general opinion among faith groups that the Bill has been quickly drafted without in depth thought about the consequences of the legislation.

The Christian Institute has summed up its views to the Bill by stating, “We have a number of concerns about the Equality Bill. Although well-intentioned, the introduction of a ban on religious discrimination could have a profound affect on the British way of life.

“For example, we are concerned that the Bill could result in the banning of Bibles and the enforcement of secularism in the UK. Hospitals and hotels that allow the placement of Bibles could be targeted under Part 2 of the Bill, which outlaws religious discrimination in both public and private sectors.”

The statement added, “There is a real risk that the non-discrimination provisions, rather than benefiting the Christian faith, will undermine our Christian heritage. We are used to hearing about absurd cases from the United States where atheist activists and the ACLU are campaigning for the removal of Christian symbols on public property (including seeking to remove crosses from cemeteries).

|QUOTE|“There is, however, no federal law in the US on religious discrimination in the private sector. The Equality Bill outlaws religious discrimination in both the public and the private sectors.”

Christian movement, Faithworks has stated its belief that the Bill, if proposed in the right way presents the Government with the ideal opportunity to tackle the issues of disability, race, gender and religion.

Faithworks Director Joy Madeiros, whilst discussing society’s apparent fear of faith groups working in the community, stated, “We need to move beyond fearful, knee-jerk reactions to faith and develop an understanding of what it means to be motivated by faith and how active faith can actually benefit society. We have come along way to understand issues of identity, such as race and gender. It is time we did the same for faith.”

The Evangelical Alliance has also expressed its concern at the late decision to yield to pressure to introduce sexual orientation discrimination into the Equality Bill in the form of secondary legislation.

Head of Public Affairs at the Evangelical Alliance, Don Horrocks commented, “This Bill is yet another piece of Government legislation that has been rushed in without proper consultation. It was supposed to protect against religious discrimination, but many Christian and other religious community and voluntary organisations could find themselves at risk of having public funding withdrawn and their work closed down if, for example, they displayed religious symbols, prayed, or spoke about God.

|AD|“The Lords have sensibly rejected that part of the Bill that could criminalise organisations that offended peoples’ dignity or made them feel intimidated or humiliated as being too broad and liable to encourage malicious and trivial complaints. But we remain concerned that the Government will overturn the Lords decision in the Commons. We urge the Government therefore to consult with religious bodies to find a robust way of protecting the reasonable expression of religious belief in the public sphere as soon as possible.”

Horrocks also said that the decision to deal with discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in the areas of goods, services and premises in the same Bill via secondary legislation was extremely worrying.

The Evangelical Alliance Public Affairs Head stated, “We are not opposed to anti-discrimination proposals as such, but introducing them by way of secondary legislation means that the usual democratic methods of full parliamentary scrutiny will be by-passed. Offering a process of consultation beforehand is welcome, but is no substitute for the proper processes of Parliament.

“The Government previously promised a full pre-legislative consultation exercise to ensure that the evident concerns of religious groups were taken account of. The scenario has now shifted completely and we urge the Government to engage religious groups fully and ensure appropriate protections are built in to guarantee that nothing in the proposed regulations will criminalise peoples’ faith before they press ahead with this legislation.”