The Iona Institute ~ for Religion and Society

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• Equality curtailing religious freedom says leading philosopher
• Cardinal Brady defends enrolment policies of faith-based schools
• Proposed legislation will force teachers on Church-schools
• Same-sex marriage bill offers some protection to religious freedom
• Obama refuses to extend religious freedom exemption for insurers

• A Supreme Court judge explains why the Constitution defends marriage
• The French professor’s odd ideas about marriage
• New study omits real reason we support marriage
• Civil Partnership law: ‘marriage’ by compulsion?
• Supreme Court ruling protects Church from State interference

• Renewing the Church: A talk by George Weigel
  Dec 13
• Marriage and the Common Good
  Oct 25
• The New Anti-Catholicism: why it's fashionable, why it's gone too far
  September 29, 2011
• Women, home and work: Towards a policy that’s fair to all families
  28th May 2011
• The Spoilt Generation and what to do about it
  

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• The Civil Partnership Bill and freedom of conscience

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The Civil Partnership Bill and freedom of conscience

“You may feel that many churches and other religious organisations are wrong on matters of sexual ethics. But, if religious freedom means anything it must mean that those are matters for the churches and other religious organisations to determine for themselves in accordance with their own convictions.”

The Church of England Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu

The upcoming Civil Partnership Bill will give almost all of the rights of married couples to same-sex couples. Apart from its effects on family policy, it will have grave consequences for freedom of conscience and religion.

The Bill will amend the Equal Status Act and the Employment Equality Act so that even those who believe that they cannot, in conscience, facilitate a same-sex civil union will be guilty of ‘discrimination’.

This means that belief in traditional sexual morality and traditional marriage will be treated as a form of prejudice to be punishable by law under certain circumstances.

This is a very dramatic step. It will treat a belief held for millennia by countless numbers of reasonable people all over the world, of any religion and none, as equivalent to racism, as something that has no rational basis.

The Iona Institute has prepared a detailed position paper as well as three briefing notes on the Civil Partnership Bill.

The first of our briefing notes is called ‘Gay Civil Unions and family policy: what’s at stake’.

The second, called ‘Same-sex civil unions and religious freedom’ looks at cases taken against religious believers and religious organisations overseas following introduction of same-sex partnership laws.

The third and final briefing note called ‘How the Civil Partnership Bill will affect freedom of conscience and religion’ is another look at this specific issue.

Our position paper on the issue of civil partnerships is called ‘Domestic Partnerships: A response to recent proposals on civil unions’