NSS Calls For Fundamentalist Christian To Be Removed From Equality Body

THE appointment by the Government of an anti-gay Christian fundamentalist to the new Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is a slap in the face for Britain’s gay community, says the National Secular Society.

The Government has appointed Joel Edwards, general director of the Evangelical Alliance, as one of its commissioners. Mr Edwards has been prominent in campaigns to undermine recent equality legislation for gay people in the areas of employment and the provision of goods and services. The appointment will damage the reputation of the Commission and raise questions about its objectivity.

On April 10 last year Mr Edwards was reported to have said:

Forgiveness, respect, hope and trust are rooted in the Christian faith and they are the antidote to a culture that is being railroaded into an individualistic, rights-orientated mentality.

“We consider this denigrated the underlying basis for Human Rights,” said the NSS, in a statement issued today.

The NSS noted that Mr Edwards said on his appointment:

As a Christian leader, I believe one of my primary responsibilities will be to ensure that the values of faith communities – our concerns for important issues such as respect and tolerance – play an effective role in this commission.

Said the NSS:

This shows a disturbing focus on representing the values of faith communities rather than totality of Human Rights .

NSS President, Terry Sanderson, added:

This appointment must be reversed immediately. Mr Edwards comes to the job with a pre-formed agenda that is based on a literalist reading of the Bible. How on earth is he going to look objectively at gay issues when he has made a career out of opposing equality for homosexuals?

The new Commission amalgamates previous watchdog bodies dealing with race, disability and gender and adds new strands dealing with sexual orientation and religion and belief.

Mr Sanderson said:

It has been a concern from the inception of the Commission that trying to accommodate religion under the same Human Rights umbrella as homosexuality is an impossible task. Religious people can change and abandon their religion or interpret it differently if they want to, but gay people cannot change their orientation. Mr Edwards would doubtless like to claim they can, and seeks to persuade them to desist from any sexual activity whatsoever.

The NSS has written to Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, requesting that she rethink Mr Edwards’ appointment as a matter of urgency.

UPDATE (by Dave McK): What exactly is the Evangelical Alliance’s position on homosexuality and gay rights? Here is a selection of “Affirmations and Recommendations” taken from their report Faith, Hope, and Homosexuality (a .pdf download):

- We affirm that monogamous heterosexual marriage is the only form of partnership approved by God for full sexual relations today.
- We oppose moves within certain churches to accept and/or endorse sexually active homosexual partnerships as a legitimate form of Christian relationship. We stand prayerfully with those in such churches who are seeking to resist these moves on biblical grounds.
- We oppose moves within certain churches towards permitting the ordination of sexually active lesbians and gay men to ministry.
- We call upon evangelical congregations to welcome and accept sexually active homosexual people, but to do so in the expectation that they will come in due course to see the need to change their lifestyle in accordance with biblical revelation and orthodox church teaching
- We commend the work of those organisations which seek to help homosexual Christians live a celibate life, and also commend those groups which responsibly assist homosexuals who wish to reorient to a heterosexual lifestyle.
- We believe habitual homoerotic sexual activity without repentance to be inconsistent with faithful church membership. Where someone is publicly promoting homoerotic sexual practice within a congregation, there may be a case for more stringent disciplinary action.
- We would resist church services of blessing for gay partnerships as unbiblical.

So much for equality!