Lord Carey and other church leaders will urge senior judges to stand down from Court of Appeal hearings involving religious discrimination
UKPA is reporting:
The former Archbishop of Canterbury and other church leaders will urge senior judges to stand down from Court of Appeal hearings involving religious discrimination because of “disturbing” and “dangerous” rulings handed down in recent cases, it has emerged.
Lord Carey and other senior church figures are said to want them replaced with a panel of five judges who have a proven understanding of religious issues.
They believe a case being heard in the Court of Appeal on Thursday will not get a “fair” ruling if it is held before judges who they claim have shown a lack of understanding of Christian beliefs.
Gary McFarlane, 48, a Christian relationship counsellor from Bristol, is appealing against an employment tribunal decision that backed his sacking for refusing to give sex therapy to gay couples.
The Telegraph have also covered this.
These comments have already been predictably pounced on as evidence of Christians demanding “special Status”. Meanwhile Melanie Phillips has also reported on this in the MailOnline and is almost as predictably in support of Carey’s stance.
Personally I don’t think this will do the cause any good at all and expressing a desire for favourable judges will not be viewed positively by many.
It is also a dangerous move to keep publicly citing individual legal cases that have yet to have their day in court, as we have discovered time and again and yet the lesson seems not to have been learnt.
Is it not more seemly and prudent to identify the law itself as an ass, rather than the presiding judges? I wonder what impact Carey’s comments will have on this particular case!
Of course the nub of the problem resides in all of the hastily constructed new laws that judges are confined to work within, which have been hashed together as a result of obsessive compulsive legislation mania.
Anyway, Clayboy has put together a good piece on this which is well worth a read, and do note his comments regarding the upcoming Gary McFarlane case, as it does all appear a trifle hypocritical.
Clayboy – Carey’s Sharia: how to lose the battle before you start?
Tags: Christianity, Law Moral Ethical, News
April 13th, 2010 at 6:25 pm
” … which have been hashed together as a result of obsessive compulsive legislation mania.”
“The Caria Sharia”
Laws that have been passed without scrutiny or due consideration of there consequences some vigorously supported by the church hypocrisy of the highest order, but it was never about making good laws.
May 3rd, 2010 at 12:24 am
Lord Carey has a point in my opinion. In this case concerning Gary
McFarlane the judges went to the extreme. When the law changes
suddenly, then those that it will affect should be given a right to be
accommodated. In this case this was not presented and therefore the
judges discriminated against Gary for his rooted Christian faith. If the
laws passed in Parliament are going to section people in different
categories, then for this to work it has to be fair and balanced on either
side. If homosexuals want counselling then they should be accommodated with someone who is comfortable with this. If a muslim needs to be counselled then let them be counselled by someone who is comfortable with their faith etc… Both parties would be much happier.
May 3rd, 2010 at 12:29 am
There needs to be a balance to live in today’s society. If there is not then there will be chaos. This generation is heading straight for this… God help them, for they know not what they do.
May 3rd, 2010 at 12:35 am
One more thing, I found interesting searching history is that the Grecians found that if they took over the Egyptian temples they could “control” people thus infiltrate laws and judgement… What comes around, goes around. History has a way of repeating itself in any nation….