[transgendernews] [News] [UK] Archbishops’ Council responds to Single Equality Bill proposals

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Stephanie Stevens

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Sep 16, 2007, 9:40:37 AM9/16/07

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Church of England, UK

Archbishops' Council responds to Single Equality Bill proposals

6 September 2007

The preservation of religious freedom, including the right to manifest
religious belief in all its diversity, remains a cornerstone of an
open, liberal and tolerant society, the Archbishops' Council has
stated in its response to proposals for a Single Equality Bill
<http://www.cofe.anglican.org/info/papers/singleequalitybill.rtf>.

"We have been concerned at what has seemed in some recent debates to
be a trend towards regarding religion and belief as deserving of a
lesser priority in discrimination legislation than the other strands
where the law seeks to bring protection," the Council says in its
response to Department for Communities and Local Government's
discrimination law review.

A Framework for Fairness, the DCLG's consultation paper, says
relatively little about the difficult and crucial area of conflicting
rights and how a proper balance should be struck, the response notes.
"The argument appears to be that, because religion and belief is
susceptible of personal choice in a way that is not the same in
relation to other strands, that means that religion and belief should
be subordinate to those other strands when they come into conflict.
We think that this is a false analysis," the Council says.

"Nor," says the Council, "is religious equality achieved by the
elimination of expressions of religious belief in public institutions
such as schools or local authorities. This does not amount to, or
achieve, equal respect for different religious groups and those of no
religion; rather it amounts to an enforced secularism that fails to
respect religious belief at all."

The response notes that the Church of England has been consistent in
its support for the use of the law to combat the manifestations of
prejudice and to promote equality and fairness since the introduction
of the first anti-discrimination legislation more than forty years
ago. It includes a detailed commentary on the consultation document
and can be read in full via the link above.

http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr8207.html

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h/t BLS R af D

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