Memorandum submitted by Christopher Thomas (CJ&I 152)

 

Dear members of the Committee

 

I am writing as a Pastor of a church as I understand you will be considering the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill  this week, which would create an offence of inciting hatred on grounds of sexuality. 

No right thinking church or Christian should incite hatred against anyone - we preach a gospel of love, so in many ways this bill should not affect us in any way. However, there is a consistent, coherent and almost universal Christian tradition which holds homosexual activity to be sinful and immoral - and recent incidents have shown that when Christians and churches have pointed that out, they have come under sustained and at times intimidating and hostile scrutiny.  I think it very probable that should this bill become law, there is a high probability of it being used against churches and Christians for their views.

Churches and Christians do much good for this country. In the present climate, I believe strongly that the state and its laws should be concerned to protect Christian liberty and not be naive about the hostility many ordinary Christians face for holding and expressing orthodox views. I do hope you will take these matters into consideration, and that you will hear evidence from responsible and representative Christian bodies.

 

October 2007