The British Labour government has moved one step closer to a religious intervention, setting the state on a collision course with the Christian churches.

Anthony Gomes

The issue surrounds the Sexual Orientation (Provisions of Goods and Services) Regulations shortly to be brought before Parliament. The Act is in direct conflict with Christian teaching which deals with homosexuality, casting the state in the role of a moral transgressor.

Initially, the Act impacts on the question of adoption by gay couples, from one of the numerous adoption centres and fostering agencies located throughout the United Kingdom, operated by the Catholic Church and the Church of England. The Christian churches are precluded on moral and religious grounds from placing children in the homes of same-sex couples, where it is more than an educated guess that the children, as they grow older, would eventually conform to the couple's lifestyle.

When it was apparent that there would be legal consequences for declining applications for adoption by same-sex couples, the churches have demanded an exemption on moral grounds. Pope Benedict XVI regards gay adoption as "gravely immoral". Currently, the prime minister and the Cabinet are deliberating on this demand that could create a multiplicity of adverse knock-on effects if not granted.

A side effect of the proposed regulations could force Christian marriage preparation, guidance counsellors, retreat houses, conference centres and hostels to accept gay couples. Teaching that homosexuality is the moral equivalent of heterosexual marriage could also be compulsory in religious schools.

A battle of conscience has begun where Christians have to face decisions which contradict their beliefs and moral standards. Already there have been casualties stemming from the Civil Partnerships Act passed into law in 2005 which granted legal recognition to same-sex unions.

POPE BENEDICT XVI... regards gay adoption as gravely immoral

A practising magistrate with 18 years experience exemplifies the type of conflict in the minds of Christians, when the issue of same-sex adoptions has to be addressed. When his moral concern was referred to his superiors, it was ignored, leaving him no alternative but to resign his position.

The ensuing legal argument maintained that if the right to act according to conscience is not upheld, religious believers will be denied employment in social and public sectors. If government pursues its present direction, one commentator predicts that the magistrate "will be joined by thousands of other law-abiding and upstanding citizens forced out of their jobs because their Christian faith and belief in the importance of heterosexual marriage is no longer tolerated by our government".

In 2000, the Netherlands legalised homosexual marriage allowing same-sex couples to adopt children that incurred the condemnation of the Catholic Church which called the law "a serious affront on human dignity and the family". Pope John Paul II criticised any law "which would do harm to the family, striking at its unity and its indissolubility, or which would give legal validity to a union between persons, including those of the same sex, who demand the same rights as the family founded upon marriage between a man and a woman".

Pope John Paul II cautioned lawmakers when dealing with such controversial issues as homosexuality, abortion and euthanasia that "Christian lawmakers should not contribute to or approve any legal process which would promote any of the practices which were not in harmony with the divine plan". The official Vatican newspaper also reported: "The Catholic Church contests these revolutionary innovations, which, in the name of freedom, seek to legitimise a union regarded by the universal consciousness as going against nature."

In 2000, the British government reduced the age for permissible gay sex from 18 to 16 to provide equality under the law for homosexuals and heterosexuals. The House of Lords together with Christian leaders opposed the law but were eventually overruled by the large majorities in the House of Commons.

This development indicated government's intention to further equalise homosexual rights now coming to pass, as evidenced last year by the arrest of a prominent Christian leader for handing out leaflets at a gay festival that presented views opposing homosexuality. The police confirmed that the evangelical Christian was arrested because "the leaflet contained biblical quotes about homosexuality".

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, said the proposed regulations, designed to ensure equal treatment of gays, could mean the end of the church's co-operation with the government in providing a range of welfare services.

He said the government "must realise that it is not possible to seek co-operation with us while at the same time trying to impose upon us conditions which contradict our moral values". It was: "simply unacceptable" that the "resources of the faith communities, whether in schools, adoption agencies, welfare programmes, halls and shelters, can work in co-operation with public authorities only if the faith communities accept not simply a legal framework but also the moral standards at present being touted by government".

The stage is now set for the issue to determine the outcome of a new relationship between church and state in the UK, which could influence the precepts of other governments with differing cultural backgrounds, who look to Britain and Europe for leadership by example.

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