Ruth Gledhill - Times Online - WBLG

SORs back in the news

As we report , the Sexual Orientation Regulations are in the news again. (Update: in Wednesday's paper we again preview the debate.) As those few MPs who were still around learned late on Friday night, they are being voted on by the Commons tonight. They will then go to the House of Lords on Wednesday. More than 40 lay members of the General Synod signed an open letter sent yesterday, Sunday, to the Church of England's bishops. They are angry about what they regard as an abuse of Parliamentary process as well as substance. The passions aroused by this debate do not diminish. A alternative view of what is going on comes from one of the leading campaigners supporting the regulations, Ben Summerskill of Stonewall. (Update: the Government won the Lords debate, see reports and links at Thinking Anglicans.)

Europe says French can refuse gay adoption

There are moves afoot in Europe for a judgement in the European Court in a controversial gay adoption case to be brought into play in the battle in Britain between the Roman Catholic Church and the Government over the Sexual Orientation Regulations. In 2002 the Court ruled by four to three that Paris social services, and subsequently the French government, had not breached the European Convention on Human Rights when it rejected teacher Philippe Frette's application to adopt on the grounds that he was gay. Now some members of the Bruges Group believe this judgement could help the Catholic Church in Britain. Graham Eardley, the group's West Midlands representative and a member of the CofE's Lichfield diocesan synod, told me: "The Government has made a rod for its own back by introducing the Human Rights Act to the country. But in essence we wish the Catholic Church well. Freedom and liberation should exist on both sides. I hope they will use this to win the argument."

Durham damns Blair as 'deeply unwise'

The Prime Minister has announced that there will be no exemption for Catholic adoption agencies under the new Sexual Orientation Regulations. Instead, there will be a delay until the end of next year before they come into force, and during that time, Catholic agencies will have to refer gay couples to other agencies. The full statement, made in the Lobby this afternoon, Monday, is reproduced below, along with Ruth Kelly's response. Significantly, LibDem MP Dr Evan Harris welcomed it as the "first time" the Government has "stood up" to the religious lobby on a matter of public policy. His full statement is below as well. But the strongest statement came from  Bishop Tom Wright of Durham. I was talking to him this afternoon on something else, to be blogged separately soon, and took the chance to ask him what he thought. He did not mince his words, and launched into an excoriating attack on almost every aspect of the present "Labour" Government. In fact, he was so angry he almost forgot to mention Iraq, throwing it in for good measure only at the last minute. The full quotes are below, but first, I was much moved this week to read my former colleague Andrew Pierce's testimony of his life as an adopted, gay Catholic. He actually supports the Church's stance - he was one of those who, without Catholic agencies, might have had a lifetime in care. There are lots of links to many interesting articles as usual at Thinking Anglicans and Anglican Mainstream. (Photo Gill Allen of The Times)

Tony Blair: torn between two loves

The leader of the secular government finds himself in the same position as the nation's spiritual leader. Rowan Williams had to choose whether to go with his personal, "affirming Catholic" principles and back the gays in the Anglican Communion, or back the orthodox in the name of Church unity. Anglicans are now arguing over whether he ever was a liberal at all. Now the Prime Minister faces a similar dilemma over the Sexual Orientation Regulations. Ostensibly a supporter of gay rights and a promoter of gays, as we report he is under pressure from the Roman Catholic Church, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and huge numbers of evangelicals to create an exemption for Catholic adoption agencies in the Sexual Orientation Regulations. His position is invidious. Either he does this, and risks alienating all his cabinet, with the exception of Ruth Kelly, herself a Catholic and member of Opus Dei. Or he refuses to do it, and risks alienating vast numbers of Catholics in the UK, costing the Labour Party valuable votes in Scotland in particular. I would love to know Gordon Brown's position on this.

Christians 'torch' SORs

A torchlit procession took place in opposition to the Sexual Orientation Regulations, although it is perhaps worth stating that they were only electric torches. My last blog on this has attracted a remarkable 423 comments so I thought it time to put up a new posting after Lord Morrow's attempt to annul the Northern Ireland regulations was unsuccessful . Some Christian groups are now to seek a judicial review. Others, such as Faithworks, have welcomed the defeat of the attempt to annul them in the Lords, with the statement that this is an opportunity for Christians to demonstrate compassion and love.

The whole SOR debate concerns me for a number of reasons.Tell anyone outside the Church that you're a Christian these days, and they make one assumption about you. It is not that you are spiritual, or ascetically-minded, or dedicated to helping others, or opposed to the culture of consumerism. It is that you are a homophobe.

From Section 28 onwards, the various Church-led campaigns around this issue have stamped on the mind of the public the image of the contemporary Christian as a gay-hating bigot. The protests against gay clergy such as the Dean of St Albans, Jeffrey John and the US bishop Gene Robinson have not helped. On this issue, I find myself in the uncomfortable position of being yet another conservative agreeing with Polly Toynbee.

This year we are celebrating the bi-centenary of the abolition of the slave trade, a campaign led by evangelicals such as Clapham's William Wilberforce. Would Wilberforce today be campaigning against the gays who go cruising for custom on Clapham Common? I suspect not. He would be campaigning still on behalf of the persecuted and oppressed - such as women forced into prostitution, or women stoned to death for adultery.

Stir Up! Stir Up! It's the SORs!

With the introduction of yet more bureaucratic red tape, or should that be pink tape, under the heading of the Sexual Orientation Regulations, the Government is bending itself into yet more unorthodox contortions in its attempt to do right by this country's minorities. Inevitably, orthodox, Catholic, traditionalist and almost all other Christians save the liberal and most of the Anglican establishment are once more on a crusade against what is perceived as yet another demon of secularisation. Anthony Browne has written a story in the paper and I've done a commentary to which a friend has emailed a response: "I read your analysis today with interest. I hardly think that getting BA to hold a review ( far less apologise, compensate or reinstate Eweida) and the Government backtracking on quotas on faith schools on actions that were pressing against natural justice is letting power go to people's heads.  The SORs are a monstrous infringement of conscience and religious freedom. Ann Widdecombe is right. On this occasion I can't agree with you."