Catholic Care refused appeal
The Leeds based charity Catholic Care has lost its appeal against a ruling that they must offer their adoption services to homosexual couples.
The dispute is a long-running one and centres on the issue of whether the charity can continue to operate in a way that is consistent with its religious beliefs, specifically as they relate to placing children with homosexual couples.
The charity stated its fears during a hearing in March that it would lose funding from the Catholic Church and thus be forced to shut down its adoption service should its existing policy on not offering adoption services to homosexual couples be changed.But the charity tribunal ruled in April that the charity could not change its objects to restrict its services to heterosexual couples only.
Catholic Care still has the option of appealing to the Upper Tribunal but the lawyer representing the charity, Benjamin James, said that trustees had not yet decided whether or not to do so.
Andrea Minichiello Williams, CEO of the Christian Legal Centre, commented:
“Catholic Care’s tenacity and conviction has been impressive as they have sought to stand up for religious liberty in a hostile environment.
“Equality legislation must be re-examined in the light of cases such as these, where a charity is forced to stop its good works just because its religious views do not conform to the present political orthodoxy. This decision is not in the interests of children and curtails historic freedom of belief in this nation.”
Story by Peter Norris
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Christian Concern: Religious Freedom
