By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
The British court system is on the verge of a landmark collision between homosexual “rights” and freedom of religion as the country’s high court ponders a case involving Christian parents who are refusing to tell their foster children that homosexuality is okay.
World Net Daily.com is reporting that Great Britain’s high court is about to decide on a case involving Owen and Eunice Johns of Derby, England, who some say are unfit to foster children because their Christian beliefs will not allow them to treat homosexual children with the “sensitivity” required by law.
The couple cared for dozens of foster children prior to 1993, and attempted to apply again in 2007 after the country passed the controversial Sexual Orientation Regulations and the Equality Act, which led a social worker to question whether the Johns would be “fit” to care for homosexual children.
“The council said, ‘Do you know, you would have to tell them that it’s OK to be homosexual?'” Mrs. Johns told the Daily Mail. “But I said I couldn’t do that because my Christian beliefs won’t let me. Morally, I couldn’t do that. Spiritually I couldn’t do that.”
The Johns went to court over the problem with the hopes of forcing the courts to decide if couples with Christian views on sexual ethics will be permitted to foster children.
The case is drawing intense public attention. Several British clergy, including the former Archbishop of Canterbury, have already weighed in on the coming showdown between religious freedom and political correctness.
“The High Court is to be asked to rule on whether Christians are ‘fit people’ to adopt or foster children – or whether they will be excluded, regardless of the needs of children, from doing so because of the requirements of homosexual rights,” the clergy write. “This ‘equality,’ however, privileges homosexual rights over those of others.”
“There is a ‘clash of rights,’ which the court must settle,” the clergy continue. “If the court believes that those with traditional Christian views on homosexuality can be discriminated against, the state has taken a position on a moral question, namely that such religious belief is problematic.”
They conclude, “We trust and pray that common sense and justice will be done.”
The Christian Legal Centre (CLC), which campaigns for religious freedoms, is representing the Johns.
“The case will decide whether the Johns will be able to foster without compromising their beliefs,” the CLC said in a statement. “The implications are huge. It is no exaggeration to say that the future of Christian foster and adoptive parents hangs in the balance.”
Jeremy Weston, who represents the Derby City Council, agrees that clarity is needed in this matter, but claims that they defend diversity and equality and have treated the Johns just as they treat everyone else. However, he also says that “it would be difficult and impractical to match children with Mr. and Mrs. Johns if they feel that strongly.”
The couple’s application could be denied for other reasons, he said, such as how Mrs. Johns attendance at church twice on Sundays would limit the time she has available to care for children.
Great Britain’s High Court, which is similar to a federal district court in the U.S., heard testimony earlier this month and is expected to take up to six weeks to hand down its decision.
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