Britannia Radio

6000 Christians, including Church Leaders, Petition Government to Drop Civil Partnerships Amendment to Equality Bill   Thank you to everyone at CCFON  who signed our Petition on Civil Partnerships.  Yesterday, 23rd March, the Petition signed by over 6000 Christians, including Church leaders, called on the Government to drop a controversial clause in the Equality Bill which would allow churches to carry out Civil Partnerships in places of Worship. The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey has supported our Petition in a letter to The Times today   The amendment, pushed through the House of Lords at the end of a late night sitting by the openly homosexual Peer, Lord Alli, has angered church leaders who had been promised by the Government that it would be given ‘proper and careful consideration’.   The petition, was delivered to the office of Secretary of State Harriet Harman.  The petition called on the Government to “listen to the large proportion of the electorate who perceive the Government’s acceptance of this amendment as a further attempt to progress so-called ‘equality’ today, while ultimately compromising tomorrow’s ‘religious freedom’.”   Andrea Minichiello Williams, Director of CCFON commented : “Lord Alli’s amendment to the Equality Bill dramatically changes the law on civil partnerships. Although it has been presented as an issue of religious freedom, the amendment has the potential to further erode religious liberty in the future. The thousands of individuals who have signed the petition asking the Government to reject the amendment believe that if it became law, what has been called permissive legislation would ultimately lead to coercing religious believers to act against their conscience.”   She says that churches have already seen what has happened under the Civil Partnership Act 2004.   She added: “This was advanced as ‘permissive legislation’, yet it subsequently has had the effect of forcing registrars to act against their conscience or face dismissal.  How long will it be before church ministers are threatened with legal proceedings if they perform Marriages between a man and a woman, but not Civil Partnerships?”.   There is a good deal of media coverage: BBC The Times Daily Telegraph Christian Today   If you would like to help us to continue to run campaigns such as this we would be very grateful. To do so, please click the button below, or visitwww.ccfon.org/donation.php       Andrea Minichiello Williams Christian Concern for our Nation http://www.ccfon.org