Christians Facing Prosecution for Comments on Homosexuality

I have ben growing increasingly worried by police ( and other government organisations) involvement in outlawing peaceful public debate about several issues, especially their intervention in discussion about the place of homosexuality in society. It smacks of facism or totalitarianism to me. and seems to spring from our government's deliberate attempt to impose its own liberal agenda on society.

Zenit.org part an article by Father John Flynn
In many countries speaking out publicly against homosexuality leads to serious legal problems. And in the battle under way to protect freedom of speech for Christians to express their beliefs, the future is far from clear. A recent victory in Britain saw legal charges against Stephen Green dropped, the Telegraph newspaper reported Sept. 29. Green was arrested by police in early September after handing out pamphlets at a "Mardi Gras" homosexual festival in Cardiff, Wales. The pamphlet contained Bible verses about homosexuality. During a hearing before a magistrate's court last week, the Crown Prosecution Service announced it would not proceed with charges.
A Sept. 6 report in the Daily Mail newspaper quoted police as saying Green had not been violent or aggressive. His only offense was distributing the pamphlet. The article noted it was the latest in a series of police actions regarding opposition to homosexuality.
Writer Lynette Burrows was warned about a "homophobic incident" after she suggested on a BBC Radio Five Live program that homosexuals did not make ideal adoptive parents. A Christian couple in Lancashire were warned after they complained about their local council's policies in favor of homosexual rights. And police in London investigated Sir Iqbal Sacranie, a former leader of the Muslim Council of Britain, after he said in an interview that homosexuality was harmful. Police behavior regarding homosexuality was questioned by the Christian Institute in a press release dated Sept. 22. While action against Green was pending, the group noted that the Gay Police Association will not be prosecuted for publishing an advertisement that accused Christians of violent assaults on homosexuals. More than 40,000 complaints by the public were made about the advertisement, according to the Christian Institute.

EU pressure

The Green case could soon be followed by many others, if pending regulations proposed by the British government are approved. The Sexual Orientation Regulations would, among other provisions, make discrimination against homosexuals illegal. In a commentary published Oct. 2 in the Telegraph, Philip Johnston noted that the regulations were being introduced at the insistence of the European Union. After a process of consultation, which saw strong opposition from religious groups, the government will now consider whether to modify the proposed regulations. One of the problems involved, observed Johnston, is the conflict of rights.
Christians argue for their right to express views based on their religious beliefs, while homosexual groups want any opposition silenced on the grounds of prohibiting discrimination. "These are the murky waters that we enter when we seek to enshrine more and more 'rights' in legislation," Johnston concluded. The proposed regulations came under strong fire from Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien. In a homily to parliamentarians delivered June 14, he warned that the rules are "a threat to freedom of conscience" and "to religious freedom." The cardinal's words were delivered right at the heart of the British Parliament, in a crypt at the House of Commons. "Laws which are passed by any human authority must always respect the dignity of the human person and each person's integrity of conscience, whether that is a conscience formed by Christian principles or any other belief system," Cardinal O'Brien insisted. "The role of the state is overreached when it tramples legitimate moral freedoms and when it imposes values which are without rational and sociological merit." This lack of freedom was illustrated by a recent case in Scotland.
Nine firefighters from Strathclyde were disciplined after refusing to hand out safety leaflets at a "gay pride" march, the Guardian reported Sept. 1. The march took place in June. As punishment, the firefighters were ordered to undergo intensive "diversity training." One of the men was reduced in rank, consequently losing around 5,000 pounds ($9,400) in salary. Writing in the Sunday Herald on Sept. 3, Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow explained that while homosexuals, along with all other groups, should be given fire-safety advice, the place to do this is not at a carnival-type festival. The firefighters, he noted, were aware that by going to the event they "would be subjected to cat-calls, inappropriate comments and, for some of them, gross insults to their religious beliefs." The archbishop said that the real reason for handing out the material at the march "was not to offer life-saving advice to the individuals present -- it was to enable the brigade as an institution to be seen as tolerant, 'embracing diversity' and politically correct." The tolerance, however, did not extend to the firefighters' beliefs.