Squeezing the churches

In 1 Timothy 2.1,2 we read that we are to pray for all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

We are instructed to pray that we would have the liberty to live according to God's righteous laws.

Paul says in the next verse: 'This is good and pleases God our saviour, who wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth' (verse 3). Clearly, when there is liberty for Christians to live according to the Truth then there is also more liberty for the gospel to prosper. Of course the gospel can spread even when the Christians are being persecuted, but we should not seek persecution. We must pray against persecution and pray that the governing authorities will allow us to live in all godliness and holiness.

Romans 13.4 tells us that the governing authorities are God's servants who 'bear the sword' to restrain evil. So, the governing authorities can use force. But, of course, sometimes the governing authorities act unjustly. This means that sometimes Christians will be persecuted by the state because of their Christian faith.

The Bible tells us how we are to act when this happens to our fellow Christians. Hebrews 10.33-34 says, 'Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathised with those in prison...' Then in 13.3 it says, 'Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow-prisoners, and those who are ill-treated as if you yourselves were suffering'.

Clearly we are to have a deep concern and a committed support for those who are persecuted. We must stand side by side, we must act as though we were fellow prisoners, as if we ourselves were suffering.

And we should not be afraid to use the law as we help those who are persecuted. The Apostle Paul was more than happy to use his rights as a Roman citizen when it benefited the gospel. In Acts 16.35-39 we read that he was thrown into jail without trial. When the magistrates realised he was a Roman citizen, they wanted to release him quietly. But he made them do it publicly. As a result, the authorities would have been much more wary of arresting Christians in the future.

Of course, compared to other nations, Christians in Britain currently enjoy a large degree of freedom to live according to the Truth. But over the last 12 months there have been some worrying developments which are chipping away at that liberty.

Consider some recent developments.

Incitement to hatred

Shortly after last year's attack on the twin towers, the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, pushed through emergency legislation which became the Anti-Terrorism Act. This Act included a highly controversial proposal to make 'incitement to religious hatred' an offence.

The primary intention was to protect Muslims from any backlash following the September 11 attacks. However, inciting anyone to commit assault is already a crime.

The incitement offence would have resulted in the state regulation of religious debate. It even included giving the Attorney General the power to decide what constituted 'legitimate religious belief'.

Thankfully there was widespread condemnation for David Blunkett's proposal and, after two resounding defeats in the Lords, the Government reluctantly gave in and dropped the plans. We can be grateful that the Government was defeated on this occasion. It was a crucial issue and an excellent result.

The Hammond case

Mr Hammond was a pensioner from Bournemouth. He was well known in the town centre where he would preach twice a week. He had a placard which read: 'Jesus gives peace. Jesus is alive. Stop immorality, stop homosexuality, stop lesbianism. Jesus is Lord.'

Then one day he was confronted by an angry 40-strong crowd which included gay rights activists. The 69-year-old was pelted with mud and water. Two police officers arrived on the scene and argued for 20 minutes over what action to take. The more experienced officer wanted to protect Mr. Hammond, but amazingly the other officer arrested him! He was later convicted of harassment. The magistrate said Mr. Hammond's sign had 'clearly insulted members of the crowd who had gathered around him'.

Moves were under way to appeal against the conviction. A fighting fund was set up. Sadly, Mr. Hammond has died and as a result his appeal has been thrown into some doubt. The lawyers in charge are confident that the Courts will still hear the appeal but a big question mark hangs over whether the lawyers can raise the funds.

Milnrow Church

Members of Milnrow Evangelical Church in Lancashire distribute Christian literature to Muslims through letterboxes by hand. Muslims in the area also distribute Islamic literature in the same way.

One Saturday evening in June 2002 a church member had a visit from two police officers. They told him that he had committed a serious racial offence by distributing the Christian literature to Muslims. The church member was informed that his name would go on police records. The police left saying that they would file a report. The implication was that a prosecution could follow.

Fortunately the pastor of the church, David Harding, is a former police officer himself. He knew the police should not have acted in this way. After contacting The Christian Institute and a Christian solicitor the church submitted an official complaint.

It is clear that the two policemen involved had stepped way over the professional line by accusing these Christians of being racist for distributing evangelistic literature. Fortunately the law is on the side of the church. The police have now accepted that the Church has broken no law and that their enquiries could have been conducted in a more sensitive manner.

Bill Parry case

Last year a Congregational minister and father of three, Bill Parry, had a sex change operation to assume the identity of a woman. Earlier this year, he tried to sue a church in South Wales because it would not let him be a church member, use the ladies' toilets or join the ladies' meeting.

The church contacted The Christian Institute and we helped them obtain a Christian barrister, Paul Diamond, who has expertise in this area. He represented the church in court. He applied to the court to dismiss the legal action. Mr. Diamond argued that UK law gives no right to a transsexual person to force themselves on a church. In fact, precedents from the European Court of Human Rights protect the freedom of association of churches and the ability to choose their own membership. The move was successful and the legal action was thrown out by the judge before it could go any further.

EU Directive

There is certainly one major issue in the offing which raises a concern for religious freedom: the implementation of an EU employment directive.

This directive, which has been agreed by all the member states of the European Union, bans discrimination in employment on grounds of - among other things - religion, belief and sexual orientation. This means that Christian organisations cannot automatically insist that all their staff members are Christians. They have complete freedom to do this at the moment. But the Government has decided to end this freedom by signing up to the EU employment directive.

Under the directive, a church is still allowed to insist that the church minister is a Christian. There may also be exceptions for other jobs, but churches and other religious groups will have to justify why they need a practising believer for that post. For example, a church will have to argue why the minister's secretary should be a Christian. If someone challenges this view, a secular employment tribunal will ultimately decide whether it was justified to require a Christian for the post.

Having signed the directive, the UK Government is obliged to bring forward regulations which implement the provisions of the directive into UK law. The Government has recently published its draft regulations. These are much more restrictive than the directive requires.

We have serious concerns over the power to dismiss staff. If a church minister's secretary is an evangelical Christian, but suddenly announces that she is going to (a) become a Muslim or (b) live with her lesbian girl friend, then we think the church should be able to dismiss the secretary - as indeed a church can now. But under the Government's draft regulations this will be unlawful in both these cases.

The Government is currently consulting on its draft regulations. When this is complete the regulations will be put before parliament in the first half of next year. The Christian Institute has met with Government officials and will continue to press Christian concerns.

In these and other areas, we can see that Christian freedoms are being gradually eroded by the creeping tide of aggressive secularism. Unless we make a stand on these crucial issues, we will only encourage its advance.

Colin Hart is Director of The Christian Institute, tel. 0191 281 5664.

Colin Hart on the undermining of religious liberties