In Depth:  The Christian Institute

Edward (Ted) Donnelly passed away on 4 March 2023 after a long illness.

The Christian Institute writes: ‘He was the minister of Trinity Reformed Presbyterian Church (RPC) in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, for the best part of four decades until his retirement in 2011. He had also served pastorates in Dervock and Portrush, Co. Antrim, and with a Greek-speaking church in Cyprus. He and his family were among the UK citizens evacuated from Cyprus at the time of the Turkish invasion.

An Employment Tribunal has ruled that Scotland’s biggest grant-making trust unlawfully discriminated against its CEO because of his Christian views on marriage.

It found that Kenneth Ferguson was unfairly dismissed by The Robertson Trust. It also found that he had been subjected to religious discrimination by the Trust and its Chairwoman, Shonaig Macpherson, for believing marriage is exclusively between a man and woman.

West Yorkshire Police has agreed to pay Huddersfield street preacher David McConnell (see photo) £3,250 in damages for wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and breach of human rights.

McConnell was preaching in 2019 when he faced hostile questions about abortion and sexuality, issues he had not been preaching about. Complaints were made and he was arrested without being informed as to what offence he was suspected of committing. In a case backed by the Christian Institute, the police force admitted liability.

Baroness O’Cathain – economist, businesswoman, member of the House of Lords and patron of The Christian Institute – has died aged 83.

Lady O’Cathain, who always insisted on being called Detta, was praised by the Institute’s director for her extraordinary political courage, formidable intellect and strong Christian faith.

A multimillion-pound charitable trust has been accused of conducting a ‘sham’ disciplinary hearing before dismissing its CEO over his beliefs on marriage.

Kenneth Ferguson is suing The Robertson Trust for unfair dismissal and religious discrimination. He was sacked when trust chairwoman Shonaig Macpherson objected to Stirling Free Church, where he is an elder, renting premises owned by the Trust. Macpherson was reportedly ‘incandescent’ when she learned of the arrangement, as the church does not endorse same-sex marriage. An employment tribunal heard that her decision to dismiss Mr Ferguson was made before any disciplinary proceedings had taken place.

An atheist activist has welcomed the Scottish Government’s controversial hate crime Bill as an opportunity to report the Bible and church sermons for so-called hate speech.

Ian Stewart, Convener of Atheist Scotland, said atheists saw ‘some merit’ in the SNP’s Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill ‘as it will enable the prosecution of all Scotland’s religions and their Holy Books for spreading hatred’.

In April, Liz Truss MP, Minister for Women and Equalities, announced changes to gender law, including restricting irreversible treatments for under-18s.

She made the comments to the Women and Equalities Select Committee now that the government has analysed responses to its public consultation on the Gender Recognition Act (en September 2018). A full response will be expected by the Summer.

In April, the Crown Prosecution Service pulled its LGBT hate crime guidance for schools following a legal challenge by a 14-year-old girl.

The guidance warned schools they could face legal action if they do not allow transgender pupils to use the toilets and changing rooms of their choice. It also claimed that children could be guilty of a hate crime for ‘rejecting someone’, ‘not wanting to work with them’ or excluding them from a friendship group.

A woman who lives as if she is a man cannot be recorded as the father on her child’s birth certificate, the Court of Appeal ruled in late April.

The judges upheld the High Court’s ruling, saying the law requires those who give birth to be listed as mothers.

A midwifery student threatened legal action against her university after it cancelled her hospital placement over her pro-life views, it was reported in February.

Julia Rynkiewicz was suspended from her placement after a lecturer at the University of Nottingham reported her involvement with the university’s Students for Life society. Although the allegations against her were dismissed, the university’s inquiry forced her to delay her studies. She will now graduate a year later than her peers and without access to student finance.

By the age of 13, more than one in three children who use smartphones have been exposed to sexting, a parenting app revealed in December.

Jiminy, which enables parents to check on their children’s phone use, analysed over 54 million messages and 1.5million hours of phone usage to better understand the extent of sexting among children. Its research showed that on phones monitored by the app, one in seven children had sent or received a sexual message by the age of ten.

The UK government confirmed that Northern Ireland will have some free speech and religious liberty protections in place when civil same-sex marriage becomes law in mid-January, followed by religious ceremonies in April.

The Christian Institute had warned the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) that it faced possible legal action if protections were not in place when the law came into force.

In September a video promoting assisted suicide was branded sensationalist and scaremongering by Hospice UK, a leading UK end-of-life charity. The message was described as ‘misleading and irresponsible’ and Hospice UK called for the video to be removed.

It accused the activist group who produced the video, Dignity in Dying – formerly known as the Voluntary Euthanasia Society – of playing on people’s fear and anxiety. Dignity in Dying refused to back down, claiming that the video gives a ‘realistic portrayal’ of some deaths in the UK.

A transgender person has lost a legal case to be recorded as the father on the child’s birth certificate.

Sir Andrew McFarlane, President of the High Court’s Family Division, said someone who gives birth to a child is a mother. Freddy McConnell, born female but now legally male, retained female reproductive organs and conceived via donated sperm and IVF. McConnell was not permitted to list the relationship to the child as ‘father’ on the birth certificate and so challenged the Government.

Northern Ireland is under increasing pressure to liberalise abortion and introduce same-sex marriage after politicians in Westminster voted to impose changes to the law in July.

MPs voted by 383 to 73 to approve same-sex marriage and 332 to 99 to approve abortion during the committee stage of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill on 9 July. The House of Lords subsequently debated and backed the Bill, which means abortion and same-sex marriage will be imposed on the Province if there is no devolved government in place by 21 October.

A minister in the Church of Scotland has accused Christian charity Scripture Union (SU) of discriminating against homosexuals, it was reported in May.

The Revd David Young, from Helensburgh Parish Church, told the Kirk’s General Assembly: ‘A member of my staff was told she would not be welcome in helping to lead an SU group because she is in a same-sex marriage.’

Transgender hate laws are being questioned by an ex-police officer via a new campaign called A Fair Cop, it was reported in May.

Harry Miller is spearheading the group after being visited at work by police in Humberside after retweeting a limerick about trans women. The force admitted there had been no crime committed. They had received training by Mermaids, the controversial group which teaches that there is a spectrum of genders.

A man who was convicted of domestic abuse has been allowed into a female domestic abuse hostel, it was reported in April.

Mark Addis, who calls himself Melissa, has been allowed to come and go from the East London Women’s Project because he ‘identifies’ as a woman.

The UK Government plan to force an abortion programme into non-Western nations, it was reported in May.

In her previous role as International Development Secretary, Penny Mordaunt announced that a £42million grant will be given to Marie Stopes and Planned Parenthood. The programme will be part of the government’s global sexual reproductive health rights (SRHR) strategy, which claims to protect women and offer ‘safe’ abortions. Mordaunt voted against a ban on sex-selective abortion in 2015.

Concerned parents joined forces in April to persuade Oxfordshire County Council to withdraw its Trans Toolkit from local schools.

The booklet, created by many local authorities, labels the view that there are only two genders ‘transphobic bullying’ and sees gender more as a ‘cloud rather than a spectrum’. Tracy Shaw set up a parents’ group, which believes that the trans schools guidance undermines parents, promotes stereotyping, and puts ‘aside biological reality’. In six months, 97 parents have joined. One child was referred to a support group for gender-confused children by a teacher, who was concerned because the girl had short hair and wore trousers.

A controversial poll of its UK members on physician-assisted suicide by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) revealed continued opposition to it. Despite this, in March, the RCP announced that it had adopted a ‘neutral position’ on doctors helping people to die.

Despite the RCP opting to move to a neutral position prior to the poll being carried out, neutrality was shown to be the option least favoured by its members. Only 25% support a neutral position, while 43.4% said it should continue its long-standing opposition.

In March, the Government was told it must revise its Prevent guidance for countering extremism after the Court of Appeal ruled that some of the guidance violates free speech and is ‘unlawful’.

The ruling came after a judicial review by Dr Salman Butt, a Muslim writer accused of being a non-violent extremist. The Court of Appeal ruled that the Prevent guidelines on controversial speakers were not balanced and did not do enough to protect free speech in universities.

A sociologist told MSPs in February they are ‘living on another planet’ if they think parental smacking is a form of violence, as the Holyrood committee was taking evidence on the Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Bill.

Dr Waiton warned that a smacking ban would mean cases of genuine abuse being missed because professionals are ‘reporting every smacking incident’. He argued that discipline is different to violence, and to be consistent the Scottish government would have to ban any kind of discipline.

Children who see their father walk out on their family in late childhood and early adolescence are at particular risk of suffering emotional or behavioural problems, according to research from the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at UCL reported in February.

Using data from the Millennium Cohort Study, researchers studied 6,245 children born between 2000 and 2002, where both parents were living together when the child turned three. They examined reports of children’s mental health at ages three, five, seven, 11 and 14, including emotional problems, such as feelings of low mood and anxiety, and behavioural problems, such as acting out and disobedience. Information on children who experienced family breakdown was compared with those where the family remained intact.

Premier League goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes spoke in February about how his faith in Jesus changed his life.

The former Tottenham Hotspur keeper, who has plied his trade at Watford since 2014, plans to retire at the end of the season and was reflecting on his career.

Crossbench peer and disability-rights campaigner Tanni Grey-Thompson said in January that the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) consultation on assisted suicide risks bringing the body into disrepute.

She was responding to the news that the RCP has ended its official opposition to seriously ill patients being given lethal drugs to end their lives (en February). Writing in The Times, Baroness Grey-Thompson criticised the RCP for its announcement that it will adopt a neutral position on assisted suicide unless 60% of respondents say otherwise. Lady Grey-Thompson said the reason for this change was ‘the assisted dying lobby’.

An attempt to include secular humanists and atheists on BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day was rejected in November.

A letter from patrons of Humanists UK had urged BBC Director-General Tony Hall to air non-religious beliefs during the religious slot. Opponents of the move said that BBC output was already overwhelmingly secular and humanist.

Viewing pornography should be regarded as a public health problem, MPs warned in late October.

The issue was raised by the Women and Equalities Committee, chaired by Maria Miller, which wants to launch a campaign to stop people consuming pornography, including a ban on watching it on public transport, which men have been witnessed doing.

The BBC plans to further promote LGBT culture on-screen and within the organisation, in order to avoid a ‘heteronormative culture’ it was reported in early November.

People’s LGBT identities will be shown more often, regardless of relevance to a story-line or news item. The corporation is also encouraging all staff to use non-binary pronouns when speaking to or about someone who identifies as neither male nor female.

Police apologised to Dale McAlpine, a Christian street preacher, in October after threatening him with arrest and forcing him to leave Bath city centre earlier in the year.

Avon and Somerset Police contacted all police staff in Bath ‘to ensure that they understand the importance of freedom of expression’.

‘Named Persons’ were reported in July as being told to routinely ignore the wishes of parents in an online tutorial sponsored by Scotland’s 32 councils.

The YouTube tutorial, which was taken down after being exposed in the Scottish press, told teachers acting as Named Persons that consent is needed before pupils’ personal information can be shared. But it then instructed these ‘state guardians’ to override consent ‘by default’, explaining ‘otherwise you’ll have to show you obtained parent and child consent’.

Patients suffering from brain damage have lost an ‘important safeguard’ that protects their lives, campaigners said in response to a Supreme Court decision on 30 July.

The judge ruled that if families and doctors agree to withdraw food and fluids, they can do so without a court’s permission.

During June, the case for the legal use of cannabis derivatives was brought to the front of the news agenda by the heart-rending situation faced by Billy Caldwell.

Billy’s mother had flown to Canada to obtain a medicine that stopped his constant seizures. The medicine was confiscated at the airport upon her return to the UK. It was reported that customer officers were in tears as they removed it from her as she explained it was the only thing that gave her son some relief from his untreatable condition.

Sex education which is ‘fully inclusive of all genders and sexualities’, and covers schoolchildren from the age of five, was announced by the Welsh Government in May.

Re-branded as Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE), the subject will be embedded within the curriculum – although the parental right of withdrawal is set to remain in Wales, but not in England.

While primary school pupils in Cambridge take part in celebratory ‘transition’ assemblies, Welsh ‘boys’ share dorms with girls, and Scottish 12-year-olds are being encouraged to have their birth certificates altered, women on Twitter were banned, in May, from stating biological facts about men and women.

The social networking giant, Twitter, censored tweets which state what the women say are ‘basic, incontrovertible biological facts’, claiming the content goes against its ‘hateful conduct’ policy. The group, Fair Play for Women, wrote an open letter to Martha Lane Fox, a peer who also sits on the board of Twitter, asking her to help stop their views being silenced. She is yet to respond to them. The letter speaks out against a ‘concerted attack on women’s free speech’.

After politicians on the island rejected assisted suicide, Guernsey will review its end-of-life care, including increasing palliative support, it was announced on 18 May.

Deputies on the island comprehensively voted against looking into legalising assisted suicide, after a passionate three-day debate. Ahead of the vote, former Paralympic star Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson had warned that such a move risked making disabled people ‘collateral damage’.

A gay clergyman who was disciplined for violating Church of England teaching on marriage lost his case at the Court of Appeal in mid-March.

Canon Jeremy Pemberton entered into a same-sex marriage in 2014, despite CofE rules not allowing clergy to do so. The Court said the Church had applied ‘its sincerely -held beliefs in a way expressly permitted’ by the Equality Act.

Girl Guide leaders are protesting against new rules allowing transsexual boys to share changing rooms, tents and shower facilities with girls, it was reported in March.

Guidance released by Girlguiding UK last year says biological males can ‘use the facilities of the gender that they self-identify as’.

The government was urged in February to allow faith schools to teach sex education in accordance with their religious ethos by councillors in a London borough.

Barnet Council unanimously backed a motion calling for tolerance to be shown to people of faith. This came after the government concluded a ‘call for evidence’ on the new primary school Relationships Education subject, and on secondary school Relationships and Sex Education. A full consultation will follow.

In mid-December, the annual report by the schools’ regulator Ofsted, noted that it would try to give its ‘British values’ drive a new lease of life, despite it being mired in controversy for the last three years.

It also suggested that home-schoolers should have to register with the state. There is no requirement under law to do so at present. Ofsted appears to want a change in the law so that families who home-school have to register and be subject to inspection.

A Christian printer declined to print business cards for a company promoting equality and diversity in October, saying he does not want to promote a cause which might impact negatively on Christians.

Nigel Williams, a small business owner in Southampton, said he could not fulfil a request from SEE Change Happen, because of its approach to diversity.

A ‘serious lack of clarity’ and absence of safeguards highlighted by senior judges have still not been addressed by the Scottish Government’s Named Person plans, lawyers warned in August.

Following a legal challenge, ministers drastically watered down their original proposals in a new Bill, but the Faculty of Advocates has said that the revised plans do not go far enough. It warned that teachers and social workers’ jobs could be made ‘considerably more difficult’ by the new proposals. The group also cautioned that families’ trust risked being ‘undermined’ by the ‘imposition’ of the Scottish Government’s proposals.

The new relationships and sex education subjects should be ‘LGBT-inclusive’, the Minister for Equalities said in a PinkNews article in August.

Nick Gibb also promised a wide-reaching consultation on the plans, which cover English schools. Ministers have denied parents the right to withdraw their children from the primary-level classes on Relationships Education, but the right is set to remain at the secondary-level.

A mother shared in July how she refused to have an abortion while battling cervical cancer, choosing instead to carry her baby to term.

Amy Cupit, from Nottingham, was told she could abort her child and have surgery to remove a grade one tumour. But she chose life and doctors were able to treat her cancer while she was still pregnant.

A disabled activist spoke out in July against any future legalisation of assisted suicide, saying it would send a message that disabled people are ‘a burden’.

Jamie Hale made the comments in The Guardian, responding to the legal case involving Noel Conway, who wants to make assisted suicide legal. Hale wrote: ‘When legislating to allow assisted suicide, it is impossible to implement effective safeguards that limit it to people at the end of their lives who are not experiencing mental illness or undue pressure.

People want churches to ‘keep up with modern attitudes’ and carry out same-sex weddings, Justine Greening claimed in July.

The Education Secretary and equalities minister said she did not want to ‘prescribe’ how faith groups deal with the issue, but that ‘it is important that the church in a way keeps up and is part of a modern country’.

Western countries are ‘spitting in the face’ of African democracy by attempting to impose abortion on the continent against its will, a Nigerian pro-life campaigner said in July.

Responding to a Family Planning Summit in London, Obianuju Ekeocha said that wealthy nations which spend large amounts of money promoting and funding abortions are behaving like ‘old colonial masters’.

The star of ITV’s Grantchester criticised screenwriters and producers in April for constantly portraying faith in a negative light.

James Norton, who plays Reverend Canon Sidney Chambers in the detective drama, said he was proud to play the role of a churchman.

Conservative Peer Lord Shinkwin hit out at Britain’s abortion laws in late March, describing them as a ‘licence to kill for the “crime” of being disabled’.

In an article for The House magazine, Lord Shinkwin warned that the number of disabled babies being aborted increased by 68% between 2005 and 2015. And he highlighted that 90% of babies diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome are killed in the womb. In Britain, abortions take place before 24 weeks, but disabled children can be aborted up to birth.

Legislation to ‘criminalise emotional abuse’ of children is set to be introduced in Scotland, despite concerns about a previous attempt to bring in a similar law in England and Wales, it was reported in early March.

Such a law could see parents criminalised for raising children according to their religious beliefs. Parents and other concerned citizens will be given an opportunity to share their views in a consultation on the ‘scope and nature’ of the law later in the year.

An outcry by Christians over plans to register and inspect Sunday schools is forcing the Government to ‘tread carefully’ over the matter, it emerged in mid-January.

During a debate in the House of Lords, Lord Nash, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the School System, revealed that a consultation on the out-of-school settings plans received 18,000 responses.

Dr Kevin Yuill, Senior Lecturer in American History at the University of Sunderland, examined euthanasia in a talk in the North East in January.

Pro-euthanasia organisations were established in America and the United Kingdom in the 1930s, in an atmosphere where eugenics was advocated by some in the medical profession.

All holders of public office could be forced to swear an ‘Equality Oath’ showing their allegiance to so-called British values, a Cabinet Minister said in December.

Sajid Javid, the Government’s Communities Secretary, believes those who do not accept such values will ‘struggle to play a positive role in British life’.

Ashers Baking Company’s principled stand for traditional marriage and free speech was criticised by the Government minister responsible for faith and integration in November.

Lord Bourne told Premier Radio that there should be ‘no hatred on the basis of sexual orientation’ as he discussed the case last week. The Christian Institute responded by saying that the minister had shown himself to be ‘out of step’ with public opinion by going ‘out of his way’ to attack the family-run Christian bakery. [And out of step with the details of the case, as it was made clear by the judges that Ashers had not discriminated against Mr Lee due to his sexuality – editor.]

The government committed itself to revising the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) to further accommodate transsexualism, despite only 24 MPs being present during a backbench debate at the end of November.

Dismissing public safety concerns, government minister Caroline Dinenage welcomed several recommendations in the debate.

Theresa May said Christians should be able to speak about their faith in the workplace during Question Time in parliament in late November.

The Prime Minister said the UK has a ‘very strong tradition’ of ‘religious tolerance and freedom of speech’, and added that ‘our Christian heritage is something we can all be proud of’. Fiona Bruce MP had raised concerns that many Christians are worried ‘about mentioning their faith in public’, after a report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) hit out at organisations which suppress Christianity for fear of causing offence.

The government has said it will push ahead with its plans to give schools’ regulator Ofsted the power to investigate church youth work.

Ministers have announced that they will ‘set out next steps’ for proposals to register and inspect all out-of-school settings which provides instruction to children for more than six to eight hours in any week. This could include church youth groups and one-off events such as holiday Bible clubs.

Medics who conscientiously object to abortion are facing pressure to sacrifice their principles or change job, MPs were told in report released in July.

Witnesses to the All Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group gave numerous examples of people who had been sidelined because of their view on abortion, despite conscientious objection being recognised in the 1967 Abortion Act.

A former Cabinet Minister called for sex education to be made a compulsory subject in all schools during a House of Commons debate in July.

Maria Miller, the former Culture Secretary who steered the same sex marriage Bill through the Commons, is now Chairman of the Women and Equalities Committee.

Scotland’s largest teaching union backed a motion calling for the ‘workload, contractual and legal implications’ of the Named Person scheme to be investigated.

At the Educational Institute of Scotland’s (EIS) annual general meeting, delegates asked its council to investigate and report on how the role of named person – which will fall to many teachers – affects their present workloads.

The Scottish Government’s controversial law against sectarianism and religious hatred could be abolished, after every opposition party backed its repeal, it was reported in May.

The Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 (OBFA) was roundly criticised when it was being drafted, for endangering religious liberty and free speech.

Chief Constable Simon Cole, the police lead for the government’s Prevent programme, the government’s counter-terrorism drive, voiced concerns in May that upcoming legislation could lead to people being criminalised simply for expressing unpopular views.

In an interview with The Guardian, Mr Cole said the government’s plans may not be enforceable and could make police officers judges of ‘what people can and cannot say’. He argued that we have to ‘have some limits about what you can say, but they need to be as broad as they possibly can be’. Cole added: ‘Unless you can define what extremism is very clearly, then it’s going to be really challenging to enforce. We don’t want to be the thought police.’

A group of Christian organisations issued a joint statement in June regarding the Welsh Government’s plan to register and inspect church youth work, which parallels that of the plans the Government has for English church groups.

The statement is clear that the Welsh Government should not appoint a state regulator of religion and an inspection is an unwarranted incursion into private religion and family life. Although inspection would only be triggered by a complaint, the scope for vexatious complaints is considerable.

The Ashers Baking Company case was heard from 9–12 May. The Lord Chief Justice cited the Irish referendum as a reminder that not everyone who supports gay marriage is gay, as the McArthur’s reiterated that their concern was with promoting a message on a cake, not the unknown orientation of the customer.

David Scoffield QC told judges at the Court of Appeal in Belfast that discrimination must be against ‘another person’, not an idea or an object (like a cake).

A man who ran London’s biggest brothel and was planning a murder told the BBC in April how his life was turned around by Jesus Christ.

John Lawson described his former self as a ‘horrible animal’, but an encounter with God transformed him and he now goes into prisons to tell others the gospel.

Christian voluntary work in society is a ‘glue that holds together the fabric of our communities’, the House of Commons has heard on 5 May.

Fiona Bruce MP cited prison visiting, work with the homeless and helping victims of human trafficking, as she led the debate.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon came under fire in late March for claiming that the Named Person scheme is ‘not compulsory’, despite her Government saying exactly the opposite.

Simon Calvert, spokesman for No to Named Persons (NO2NP), said: ‘She may be the only person in Scotland who doesn’t know that the Named Person scheme contains no opt-outs and no provision for parental consent.’

In early March, senior judges in Belfast decided that Northern Ireland’s Attorney General, John Larkin QC, has raised an arguable case that anti-discrimination laws in the Province directly discriminate against those who hold certain religious beliefs.

Simon Calvert of The Christian Institute said: ‘These questions will now be fully argued when the appeal comes before the court in May.’

Colin Hart, Director of The Christian Institute has warned Christians not to let the Government use the country’s focus on the June EU referendum to smuggle through unwanted and draconian laws that could interfere with church youth work and label Christians as ‘extremists’.

Proposals to give Ofsted the power to carry out ‘British Values’ inspections on English Sunday schools and plans for Extremism Disruption Orders, or EDOs, are possible laws to be introduced during the next few months.

In February, Peter Tatchell, prominent gay rights activist, gave his support to the McArthurs as their court appeal was delayed until May.

The delay is due to legal arguments put forward by the Attorney General, concerning Northern Irish legislation upon which the McArthurs’ legal team were neutral.

Hundreds of taxi drivers in Scotland are being ordered to report conversations about children to their Named Person, a secret recording revealed at the end of December.

Jim Terras, a Child Protection Training & Development Officer, was recorded saying that taxi drivers have a ‘legal duty’ to pass on information to the Named Person. Speaking at a training day for voluntary sector workers, Mr Terras, who works for Scottish Borders Council, emphasised the need for workers to pass on confidential information to the authorities. Using the example of taxi drivers, he said the idea of ‘what happens in the taxi, stays in the taxi’ doesn’t exist anymore.

A play which portrays Jesus as a transsexual has faced strong criticism, ahead of its launch at a publicly-funded LGBT festival in Northern Ireland, it was reported in mid-November.

The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven is part of the Outburst Queer Arts Festival in Belfast, and is advertised with the tagline: ‘Jesus is a transsexual woman. And it is now she walks the earth’.

The historical advisor to ITV’s successful series, Downton Abbey, revealed in mid-November that religious references were deliberately left out for fear they would alienate increasingly secular audiences.

Alistair Bruce, whose role is to ensure historical accuracy in the drama, said that the beginning of a meal is never shown because no one was ever allowed to see a grace being said. Bruce said: ‘I think that the view was that we’d leave religion out of it.’

The Government is consulting on giving Ofsted powers to investigate whether church youth work complies with ‘British values’ in a consultation closing on 11 January.

Any out-of-school setting which provides instruction for more than six hours in any week would be covered. The plans would easily include holiday Bible clubs, church weekends and summer camps. In effect, Ofsted would become the state regulator of religion.

Ashers Baking Company’s legal challenge is set to be heard on 3 February by the Court of Appeal in Belfast.

The grounds for appeal include questioning whether the judge was correct in saying the bakery had discriminated on grounds of sexual orientation, religious belief or political opinion. It also questions whether the judge was right to refuse to grant the McArthur family’s belief protection under the European Convention on Human Rights.

On 23 October the House of Lords debated a Bill which seeks to restrain the operation of shari’a councils in England and Wales.

The Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) Bill was tabled by Baroness Cox.

A motion calling for the redefinition of marriage failed to pass in the Northern Ireland Assembly in November.

The DUP tabled a ‘petition of concern’, which requires a majority of MLAs from both the unionist and nationalist communities to approve any change.

Free speech would be restricted under Government plans to combat extremism, a senior Conservative MP warned in October.

David Davis said proposals for anti-extremism orders ‘just won’t work’. His comments were echoed by the Shadow Home Secretary, who cautioned that ministers must ‘proceed with the utmost caution’.

The Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said in mid-September that nobody should feel forced to decide between their faith and their job.

He made the comments at the launch of a guide by a national group representing British Jews, which aims to help employers understand their beliefs and the needs of Jewish staff.

A student union that banned a secularist speaker because she may offend Muslims has reversed its decision following public pressure at the end of September.

The atheist society at Warwick University had applied to Warwick Student Union (SU) for permission to host ex-Muslim and activist Maryam Namazie to speak about secularism at an event in October. But Warwick SU refused the application, saying that Namazie could ‘insult’ religion and ‘incite hatred’. She is now free to speak against Islamism, which she had experienced fleeing an Islamist regime.

Campaigners vowed to fight on after Scotland’s highest court rejected their concerns over the Scottish Government’s controversial Named Person scheme in early September.

In a written judgment, the Inner House of the Court of Session ruled that the legislation does not conflict with human rights or data protection laws. Responding to the judgment, Simon Calvert, spokesman for the campaign group No to Named Persons (NO2NP), said that they will be appealing.

A legal case seeking to weaken abortion law in Northern Ireland would lead to disabled unborn children having no rights, Belfast High Court heard in mid-June.

Currently abortion in Northern Ireland is illegal, except to save the life of the mother. The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) – a government funded quango – is arguing for abortion to be extended to cases of ‘serious malformation of the foetus, rape or incest’.

The Christian Institute, in mid-June, strongly criticised a raft of proposals on religious education from former Education Secretary Charles Clarke.

It claims that the plans would ‘wreck church schools’, further secularise the education system and lead to the compulsory teaching of non-theistic views such as humanism and atheism within RE. The wide-ranging plans include Government control of religious education in church schools, and requiring all schools to teach humanism – a belief system held by just 15,067 people, according to the 2011 Census.

former Star Trek actor Sir In June, the Patrick Stewart, stood by his defence of Ashers Baking Company in the face of criticism from LGBT supporters.

In a post online, the Shakespearean actor stressed that his support for the McArthur family’s stand was based on the ‘fundamental right’ of free speech. Responding to accusations of being ‘anti-equality’, he wrote: ‘This particular matter was not about discrimination, but rather personal freedoms and what constitutes them, including the freedom to object.’

Planned anti-extremism orders (EDOs) are a disaster area both legally and from a religious perspective, a lawyer and theological college principal said in mid-June.

The Revd Dr Mike Ovey, who leads Oak Hill Theological College and was formerly a Parliamentary draftsman, said that declaring Jesus is the only way to salvation could fall foul of the EDOs.

A doctor who was filmed offering an abortion on the grounds of the baby’s sex is to face a public hearing and could be struck off the medical register, it was reported at the end of April.

Despite the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) failing to bring charges against the doctors, subsequently taking over a private prosecution of the doctors and then ‘fining’ the claimant £25,000 costs, the General Medical Council (GMC) launched its own inquiries. The GMC banned the doctors from authorising or carrying out abortions while the investigations were being carried out.

Baroness Cox has called for a judge-led shari’a inquiry into courts, in a report issued at the end of March which looked at discrimination against UK Muslim women.

She outlined the provisions of her Private Member’s Bill, which would curb the growth of quasi-legal systems, such as shari’a courts, in England and Wales.

Over 2000 people came to hear from Christians who have faced legal action because of their faith at meetings in Northern Ireland in mid-February.

The speakers included B&B owner Hazelmary Bull; Christian printer Nick Williamson, who spoke about his experience of facing the threat of legal action from an equality quango for refusing to print a gay magazine; and Daniel McArthur, the General Manager of Ashers Baking Company, which is facing court for refusing to decorate a pro-gay marriage campaign cake last year. He said: ‘We believe that God in his sovereignty is in control and his purposes will prevail.’

Politicians in the Isle of Man voted overwhelmingly in mid-February to reject a Bill calling for assisted suicide to be legalised.

Members of the House of Keys, the Manx Parliament, voted 17 to 5 to reject the call, put forward by the Minister for Home Affairs, Juan Watterson. The Isle of Man is one of the most recent places to oppose the introduction of assisted suicide after the Welsh Assembly voted against it in December.

A Scripture Union book designed to help with the move to secondary school has been banned at a Scottish school after humanists complained it could ‘distress’ pupils, it was reported in late February.

Robert Douglas Memorial School in Scone, Perthshire, decided to stop handing out the book to primary school leavers after a complaint from one humanist parent. The move was described as ‘petty’ by the Revd David Robertson, the incoming Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland.

Home-schooling parents in Westminster, London are campaigning against council plans to impose an annual home visit to monitor their children, saying it contravenes their parental rights, it was reported in January.

The council wants to visit families who are educating their children at home once a year, in order to ‘look after the welfare of children’. But Leslie Barson, who homeschooled her two children, denied that this is a ‘safeguarding issue’. She commented: ‘There is no duty on a local authority to approve home education – it’s a parental responsibility. This is about approving and monitoring. I feel an inspection is an illegal infringement of my rights as a parent. The law says I’m responsible for my children’s education. The authority’s responsibility starts if there’s evidence of a problem or a concern. They think our children are at risk because they are not being seen daily by a teacher. But children are not safe just because they are at school.’

A free speech safeguard has been introduced into a new anti-terror Bill, following widespread concerns that Christian Unions and other university societies could face censorship.

Warnings about the threat to free speech have come from student charity UCCF, university leaders, a top QC and numerous Peers. Under the draft guidance for the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, university societies would be forced to hand over presentations to be vetted.

Parents are being marginalised by Scottish sex education guidance that encourages teachers to speak to a child’s named person about any wellbeing concerns, with no mention of the role of parents in the section on confidential-ity, it was reported in December.

Under the Named Person scheme – which is currently being legally challenged by The Christian Institute, by other organisations and by concerned parents – all children in Scotland will be given a state guardian to monitor their wellbeing.

The regulations for techniques to create three- and four-parent babies were published in late 2014, with MPs and Peers due to vote early in 2015 on allowing the two procedures, Maternal Spindle Transfer (MST) and Pro-Nuclear Transfer (PNT).

MST involves replacing the nucleus in a healthy donor egg with the nuclear DNA from the prospective mother – resulting in a child with DNA from three parents. PNT creates a child from four different individuals: a chromosomal mother, a chromosomal father, an egg mother and a sperm father.

The UK’s highest court has overturned a decision affecting the case of two Roman Catholic midwives who had previously won the right to avoid supervising staff involved in abortions.

Last April, judges at Edinburgh’s Court of Session ruled that Mary Doogan and Connie Wood’s conscientious objection to abortions meant that they had the right to refuse to delegate, supervise or support staff involved in abortions.

The Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has come under fire for describing equality as a ‘Trojan Horse’, it was reported in late November.

Referring to ‘fundamentalist bigots’ and homophobia during a meeting in Enniskillen, Adams said: ‘What’s going to break them is equality. Who could be afraid of equality?’ He has subsequently said that he partly regrets using the Trojan Horse analogy.

Plans to assign a named person to every child in Scotland clash with fundamental human rights, Scotland’s supreme civil court heard in mid-November. 

Speaking during the judicial review against the scheme, leading human rights QC Aidan O’Neill accused the government of putting out ‘rubbish’, and not being open enough about the legislation. He told the judge, Lord Pentland, that the plans interfere with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, requiring respect for private and family life.

Every Church of Scotland congregation on Lewis, the largest island in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, has opposed moves to allow practising gay clergy being ordained as ministers, it was reported in mid-October.

Lewis Presbytery, the body representing Church of Scotland congregations on the island, is already opposed on biblical grounds to same sex marriage. The CofS is considering whether or not to reverse its traditional stance against appointing homosexual ministers.

Members of the Scottish Parliament in late October were handed a petition proposing that the existing law on adultery should be amended, to cater for same sex couples.

The legal definition of adultery has come into question following the introduction of same sex marriage. Currently, adultery can only take place between a man and a woman in the eyes of the law in Scotland, as in the rest of the UK. As a result, proponents of same sex marriage argue that having no definition of adultery in same sex marriage amounts to a breach of ‘human rights’.

A Northern Ireland equality watchdog issued on 5 November a new legal threat against a Christian-run bakery, claiming that its refusal to produce a pro-gay marriage campaign cake breaches political discrimination laws.

In a 16-page letter, the taxpayer-funded Equality Commission for Northern Ireland demanded that Ashers Baking Company offer compensation to the complainant within seven days, or face litigation.

The concept of a Named Person for every child in Scotland is the ‘ultimate insult’ to every loving parent, senior academic, Dennis Hayes of Derby University, warned in mid-September.

Under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, every child under the age of 18 in Scotland is set to be assigned a state-employed Named Person who will be able to share information with a wide range of public authorities. Professor Hayes noted that, as a result of this law, a decisive battle in the war against parents is about to take place: ‘What this Act does for the first time is to say to parents that a person appointed by the state has authority over them and their child.’

The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland only took advice from a senior barrister after its threat of legal action against a Christian-run bakery led to a global media outcry, it was reported in late September.

Documents shown to the The Belfast News Letter under the Freedom of Information Act revealed a key email exchange between senior staff at the taxpayer-funded Commission. Anne McKernan, the Commission’s Director of Legal Services, wrote to the Chief Executive Evelyn Collins highlighting local and national interest in the case.

On September 30, Home Secretary Theresa May announced plans which many believe will have alarming implications for free speech.

Extremist Disruption Orders (EDOs), designed to silence people who have not committed any crime, look set to exceed the Religious Hatred Bill in their scope.

A 17-year-old Great British Bake Off contestant has said she is not ashamed of being a Christian as it is ‘such good news’.

In an interview for the Christian Today website, Martha Collison said it is ‘the most amazing thing’ to be able to rely on God in difficult times.

A child well-being survey linked to the controversial Named Person scheme in Scotland has been ‘paused’ by a local council after parents raised serious concerns about the intrusive nature of the research, it was reported at the end of August.

North Ayrshire Council suspended the ‘ChildrenCount’ surveys, which were carried out by researchers who knocked on doors and asked parents questions about their children.

Local Tory chiefs in July warned David Cameron that his introduction of same sex marriage is causing a decline in Tory membership ahead of the next General Election.

Annual reports for some local associations showed an average drop of 10% across constituencies in 2013, at least 15 of which attributed the fall to gay marriage or unhappiness with national decisions. In Cameron’s own constituency of Witney, the number of association members dropped by 170 to 1,083.

In early August, David Cameron announced that Communities Secretary Eric Pickles would take over the responsibilities of Faith Minister, following the departure of Baroness Warsi.

In April this year, Pickles sparked debate by saying that militant atheists should ‘get over’ Britain being a ‘Christian nation’ and has previously taken a strong stance on matters involving religious liberty.

It was reported in mid-June that a group of children’s charities had suggested that Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) should consider allowing assisted suicide for children.

The submission to the Holyrood committee looking into the Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill said that MSPs should note that ‘terminal illnesses do not discriminate based on the age of a person and accordingly, neither should health care’.

A Christian-run bakery was, at the time of EN going to press in mid-July, facing legal action from a government agency for refusing to produce a cake carrying a picture of the Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie and the slogan ‘support gay marriage’.

Ashers Baking Co, based in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, cancelled an order for a novelty cake with a picture of the puppets arm in arm printed onto the icing saying that it went against the directors’ religious beliefs. They believe that producing the cake with the slogan and the logo of QueerSpace, a gay rights group the would-be customer supports, would amount to endorsing the campaign for the introduction of gay marriage in the province, and would go against their religious convictions.

Parents who home school in Northern Ireland could be caught by ‘deeply alarming’ and ‘intrusive’ proposals, the largest home education group in the province warned in June.

The Education and Library Boards in Northern Ireland have proposed a new draft policy, which would give government officials sweeping powers, including visits to homes at least once a year.

It was reported in mid-June that the Ministry of Justice has written to The Christian Institute and confirmed that the new Serious Crime Bill will not criminalise religious parents who teach their children biblical principles.

Conservative MP Damian Green told the Institute that the Bill, which partly aims to deal with child neglect, would only target ‘cruelty likely to cause physical or psychological suffering or injury’ to children.

Scotland’s named person scheme has sparked much outrage after it emerged that parents will be reported to the state for trivial family incidents, including forgetting their children’s hospital appointments.

Holyrood passed a Bill earlier this year that contained the controversial scheme, despite warnings from family groups and a leading human rights lawyer who said the state employee’s powers would ‘cut across’ parental rights. Critics have dubbed the named person scheme a ‘Big Brother’ invasion of private family life.

A sweeping parenting law that would criminalise emotional neglect was included in the Queen’s Speech on June 4.

The new law would carry a maximum prison sentence of ten years for anyone who deliberately harms a child’s ‘physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development’. But critics have warned against the legislation, saying it would mean that ‘every mother and father is at risk of being labelled an abuser’.

The Department of Health has confirmed the biggest liberalisation of abortion practice since 1967, in guidance published on May 23, the day after the European and local elections.

The document says there is ‘no legal requirement’ for doctors to see women seeking an abortion before approving it. Under current abortion law, two registered medical practitioners must certify that they are of the opinion, formed in good faith, that at least one of the legal grounds for abortion exists. The new guidance suggests doctors can reach an opinion by considering relevant paperwork or speaking to other health professionals. It also says that the doctor could have a ‘discussion by phone or over a webcam’ rather than physically seeing the woman.

In early April, one of the first Bibles to be published in Welsh was returned to the house where its translator was born.

Bishop William Morgan began translating the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Welsh in around 1579 on the instructions of Queen Elizabeth I. It is credited with being the single most important act in keeping the Welsh language alive.

A new Cabinet Office investigation, released in late March, has found that, out of hundreds of professions, clergy experience the most job satisfaction.

Farmers, fitness instructors and primary school teachers were also amongst the happiest professions, but publicans topped the list of unhappiest jobs.

The Evening Standard

The Law Society was accused of ‘promoting’ shari’a law on March 25, after issuing guidance on wills that comply with the Islamic system.

The advice for solicitors in England and Wales covers shari’a-based wills, which discriminate against women. Under shari’a, male heirs ‘in most cases receive double the amount inherited by a female heir of the same class’, the guidance says. It adds that non-Muslims ‘may not inherit at all’, ‘only Muslim marriages are recognised’ and adopted children should be ‘excluded’ from wills.

Westminster MPs backed changes to a raft of centuries-old laws on March 5.

A committee of MPs approved new rules to go alongside the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act, proposing changes such as replacing the term ‘widow’ with ‘woman whose deceased spouse was a man’ or ‘that person’s surviving spouse’ in some instances. Under the rules, other Acts were excluded from the remit of same-sex marriage, so that a gay King’s ‘husband’ is prevented from becoming Queen.

Churches will continue to have a voice on local authority education committees, after the Scottish Government, in late February, rejected a bid to end the practice.

The Edinburgh Secular Society (ESS) had wanted changes to rules which require education committees to appoint representatives from religious organisations. Under the 1973 Local Government Act, three religious figures should be included, representing a range of Christian churches. The secularists’ idea had faced criticism from churches who said they offer a helpful service to schools.

Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Sajid Javid announced in February that banks including the Islamic Bank of Britain will offer Home Purchase Plans (HPP) meaning that Islamic mortgages compliant with shari’a law will be available as part of the Government’s Help to Buy scheme.

Bishop Nazir-Ali noted that this step makes the Government itself subject to shari’a law. HPP will allow Muslims to buy property without paying interest, since paying or receiving interest is against Islamic law. Muslim borrowers will pay monthly instalments consisting of rent and an acquisition payment.

A human rights lawyer has said that the SNP’s plans to appoint a state guardian for every child under 18 ‘may be unlawful’, it was reported on January 17.

Under Alex Salmond’s Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill 2013, children will have a ‘named person’– a state employee – who will monitor them and have powers that cut across the rights of their parents. QC Aidan O’Neill said that the SNP’s plans amounted to ‘unjustified interference’ and may fail to protect people from ‘arbitrary and oppressive’ governmental powers.

Amnesty International called for prostitution to be decriminalised in order to protect human rights, it was reported in late January.

The proposal says: ‘The criminalisation of voluntary sex between adults, whether for direct monetary gain or otherwise, threatens the rights to health, non-discrimination, equality, privacy, and security of person.’

On December 20, an MP was reported as saying that part of a Bill which charities believe will restrict their ability to speak for vulnerable people should be dropped.

The comments of MP Lisa Nandy, shadow voluntary sector minister, came as peers in the House of Lords debated the controversial lobbying Bill, after the government put on pause the progress of the legislation for five weeks amidst widespread concerns.

High Court judge Sir Paul Coleridge, disciplined for media comments he made in support of marriage, said the response was ‘disproportionate’, it was reported in December.

The formal warning relates to his involvement in articles for The Times newspaper in December 2012 and for the Telegraph’s website in July 2013.

A technique which would create three-parent babies was criticised as a eugenic practice and ‘incompatible with human dignity’ by members of the Council of Europe in mid-October.

A group of eight British MPs and peers, along with 26 other European politicians, signed a declaration saying that the technique is against international law. In the UK, the government has backed moves to allow scientists to take genetic material from three or four adults to create a child. Politicians have to vote on the technique before it can become law in the UK, with supporters saying the technique would help avoid mitochondrial disease passed on from mother to child.

Scottish charities said at the start of September that an SNP plan to allocate a ‘state guardian’ to all under 18-year-olds is rushed, unhealthy and unnecessary. The Scottish Parent Teacher Council described the plan as ‘ill thought through and offers no benefit to the majority of children, whose “named person” is already in place — their parent or carer’. The Autism Rights charity warned that the idea was ‘as unhealthy as it is impracticable’. Christian charity CARE for Scotland warned that the plan could result in young people being given contraception or abortions against the desires of their parents.

Morag Driscoll, from the Law Society of Scotland, said: ‘The proposals could interfere with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the right to respect for private and family life’.

Church leaders have called for a conscience clause in the same-sex marriage legislation in Scotland to protect individuals who believe marriage is between a man and a woman.

The Free Church of Scotland wants the Scottish Government to include a clause within the Bill that is similar to abortion legislation which protects medical staff who oppose the procedure. A spokesman said: ‘The legislation has worked well for abortion, another deeply contentious moral issue, and it would make sense to have similar provision for same-sex marriage’.

A gay lobby group has been given lottery cash to promote ‘alternative families’ in Scottish primary schools, it was reported in mid-August.

The Awards for All scheme gave £10,000 to Stonewall Scotland to circulate DVDs celebrating same-sex parents.

Wealthy gay dad, Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, said in early August that he and his civil partner Tony will go to court to force churches to host gay weddings.

He told the Essex Chronicle that he will take legal action because, ‘I am still not getting what I want’. A government bill legalising gay marriage passed Parliament over the summer, but it was said to include measures to protect churches from being forced to perform same-sex marriages.

In mid-June, the head of a Christian charity delivered a powerful gospel message at the opening of the week’s business in the Scottish Parliament.

During his speech, Andy Hawthorne OBE, and CEO of The Message Trust, said: ‘When Jesus Christ said, “I will build my church and hell itself will not be able to stop it”, I am sure the religious leaders watching him suffer and die thought: “Sure thing, you’re going to build a church. You’ve never set foot outside of a country smaller than Scotland; you’ve never written a book; you’ve got no money, and you’ve got hardly any followers any more. You’re dying a criminal’s death and yet you claim you’re going to build a church that will spread throughout the world and go on into eternity”. Well, I have good news. Jesus Christ keeps his promises. More people will discover what I discovered almost 40 years ago: a God who delivers on his promises for his planet, and his promises for individual faithful people. Promises of peace, joy and love of a glorious hope for the future. Now, that is good news’.

There is hope for Christian-owned bed and breakfasts that restrict double rooms to married couples only, following a Court of Appeal ruling issued in July.

Although the B&B at the centre of the case, owned by Susanne Wilkinson, lost its appeal, the court said its marriage policy should not be regarded as ‘direct discrimination’ against same-sex couples. The Master of the Rolls, Lord Dyson, said in his ruling that he would prefer to treat such a policy as indirect discrimination, which can be lawful if the policy is justified. But he said he ‘reluctantly’ had to follow a previous ruling in a similar case which held the policy to be direct discrimination, which does not allow for any justification.

The creation of genetically modified three-parent babies was backed by the government in late June, amid warnings from genetics experts.

The controversial technique, which uses IVF to take genetic material from three or four adults and create an embryo, is currently illegal. If the technique is legalised, leading scientists and ethicists have warned that it could cause medical risks for future generations, and have raised concerns about the potential for it to dehumanise relationships between children and parents. But supporters of the technique say it will help avoid mitochondrial disease, which is passed on from mother to child. Parliament will vote on final regulations for the technique next year.

The repeated stereotyping of dads as ‘lazy or stupid’ on TV shows, adverts and in books has been criticised by a new survey, it was reported in mid-June.

Online parents group, Netmums, quizzed 2,000 people and nine out of ten said the portrayal of dads was flawed. Almost half of parents polled slammed books, adverts and children’s TV shows like Peppa Pig, The Simpsons and the Flintstones which show dads as lazy or stupid. Almost a third of parents, claimed there is a very subtle form of discrimination against dads.

Two Roman Catholic midwives with conscientious objections to abortion, who won their case against the NHS, may now face a further legal challenge, it was reported in June.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has announced it will appeal Scotland’s supreme civil court ruling that Mary Doogan and Connie Wood would not have to delegate, supervise or support staff involved in abortions. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) backed the midwives’ legal fight. SPUC’s General Secretary Paul Tully said: ‘We are disappointed, particularly for Connie and Mary, as this means prolonging this lengthy case even further’.

All married men can legally be called ‘wives’ and all married women called ‘husbands’ under the government’s gay marriage bill, it was announced in late June.

The redefinition is found in the small print to the official explanation of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill.

The Church of Scotland on May 22 voted to allow practising homosexual men and women to become ministers.

The Kirk’s ruling assembly voted in favour of a proposal to allow liberal congregations to opt out of the church’s traditionalist stance on homosexuality. It followed a report by the church’s theological commission which set out traditional and liberal arguments.

The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill passed its first hurdle in the House of Lords on June 4 with the bill being supported by peers with 390 votes to 148; opponents have vowed that ‘it’s not over yet’.

Lord Dear led the opposition to the Bill in the Lords. He said the legislation would: ‘Completely alter the concept of marriage as we know it’. He believed the bill was ‘ill-thought through’, had no democratic legitimacy and was ‘fatally flawed’. Government minister Baroness Warsi refused to back the bill saying that she had misgivings about its impact on faith groups.