Scots Cardinal Says Pro-Gay Act Is Threat To Religious Freedom
Jun 21, 2006
New Government proposals to make it illegal to withhold goods or services on the basis of sexual orientation are a “ threat to religious freedom” according to the leader of Scotland’s Catholics.
(totalcatholic.com, June 19, 2006) In a strongly-worded homily delivered to a congregation of Catholic peers and MP’s, Cardinal Keith O’Brien said the proposed regulations designed to outlaw “sexual orientation discrimination” constitute “a threat to freedom of both conscience and religion”.
“A fundamental principle that has to underpin any proposals for regulation is that the freedom of conscience of individuals must be respected,” he said.
“It is not licit to force an individual to act contrary to his moral belief. It is a well-established and reasonable moral position to regard homosexual acts and the promotion of the moral equivalence of heterosexual and homosexual relationships as wrong.”
New regulations based on the Equality Act 2006 are expected to take effect in October, but Cardinal O’Brien said that if approved the Government will have “overreached” the boundaries of its authority.
He accused the Prime Minister of “trampling legitimate moral freedoms, imposing values which are without sociological merit”. He added; “Democracy which separates itself from truth soon becomes thinly-veiled totalitarianism.”
Scots Cardinal Says Pro-Gay Act Is Threat To Religious Freedom