Religious rights

Published on Wednesday 3 February 2010 18:54

There is a world of a difference between the rights of religious organisations and the rights of their individual members (Opinion, 3 February). For example, individual Catholics or Muslims have a right to say they do not accept abortion, assisted death, divorce or homosexuality, and conduct their lives accordingly.

It is a separate matter to say that a religious organisation should be above the civil law and introduce discriminatory practices against people on grounds of their sexual orientation, marital status or whatever. The way to less liberal legislation is to elect representatives who believe in a less liberal outlook. The proper role of any religious body should be to encourage its followers to find inner peace, to promote tolerance and understanding, to alleviate hardship where it exists. It should never set itself up as a parallel body to an elected authority.

BOB TAYLOR

Shiel Court

Glenrothes, Fife

Peter Jones asks if we are in danger of creating "a liberal tyranny" through the UK Equality Bill. The answer is no.

Contrary to the spin from the Catholic Church, it has never been proposed that the bill require the church to appoint gay priests. There is now, and will continue to be, a special exemption in the law, which allows the church to exclude lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people as priests and from other posts that involve teaching or promoting the Catholic faith.

Similarly, there is a special exemption allowing the church to exclude LGBT people from its activities, except where it is providing public services under government contract, paid for out of taxes. Adoption agencies are public services paid for from taxes, so are not allowed to discriminate.

Our liberal laws already provide these wide exemptions to all religious bodies. The Catholic church apparently wants more – to be paid public money to provide public services under contract to the state, but to be allowed to turn LGBT people away from those services.

That would tip the balance away from liberalism and into state-sponsored discrimination.

TIM HOPKINS

Equality Network

Bernard Street

Edinburgh