Thinking Anglicans

Religious exemptions in equality law: the role of the Church of England.

Paul Johnson and Robert M Vanderbeck have published a very lengthy article, entitled Sexual Orientation Equality and Religious Exceptionalism in the Law of the United Kingdom: The Role of the Church of England.

Here’s the abstract:

There is a growing literature that addresses the appropriateness and merits of including exceptions in law to accommodate faith-based objections to homosexuality. However, what has rarely been considered and, as a consequence, what is generally not understood, is how such religious exceptions come to exist in law. This article provides a detailed analysis of the contribution of the Church of England to ensuring the inclusion of religious exceptions in United Kingdom legislation designed to promote equality on the grounds of sexual orientation. The article adopts a case study approach that, following the life of one piece of anti-discrimination legislation, shows the approach of the Church of England in seeking to insert and shape religious exceptions in law. The analysis contributes to broader debates about the role of the Church of England in Parliament and the extent to which the United Kingdom, as a liberal democracy, should continue to accommodate the Church’s doctrine on homosexuality in statute law.

The full paper can be downloaded from here.

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Laurie Roberts
Laurie Roberts
6 years ago

The C of E beginning to be held to account for its behaviour ?

Cynthia
Cynthia
6 years ago

This makes my blood boil.

Jill Armstead
Jill Armstead
6 years ago

Could religious exemptions in equality law be removed only in the case of the Church of England? What would the Church of England look like as a State religion, subject to parliament? How would other faiths view such a body? I couldn’t possibly comment.

Bernard Randall
Bernard Randall
6 years ago

This is a really poor piece. It lists the ways in which the CofE engages with Government, as if no other major group in society asked for meetings with Ministers. It attributes (nearly) all the religious input to the debates to the CofE, ignoring its own footnotes which mention Roman Catholic and other input to the debate. It ignores the fact that the CofE explicitly speaks into these matters on behalf of all faith groups. It presents speeches in parliamentary debates taking a different view to faith groups as if they represented the views of everyone else – except that… Read more »

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