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Posted on 01/10/2010 5:41:42 AM PST by marshmallow
The Roman Catholic ban on women entering the priesthood will become illegal under Harriet Harman's controversial Equality Bill, according to Christian charity, CARE.
A new report by the leading charity – backed by a legal opinion from a leading QC – says the Bill will make it impossible for all churches and faith-based charities to insist that their senior staff lead private lives in accordance with their religious beliefs.
CARE said that, under the Bill, which will be considered by the House of Lords on Monday, it would be illegal for a Christian charity to sack a senior manager for adultery or living an openly gay lifestyle.
The same rules would, it added, apply to Muslim and Jewish churches and charities.
However, the biggest potential showdown is likely to be between the government and Britain's 4.3 million Catholics over the church's tradition of an all-male, celibate priesthood.
Previous legislation in 2007, also backed by Ms Harman, the Commons Leader and equality minister, forced the closure of two Catholic adoption agencies for refusing to comply with new laws requiring them to place children with gay couples.
CARE's report – A Little Bit Against Discrimination? – warns that the proposals contained in the Bill are a serious threat to religious liberty in Britain.
John Bowers QC said in a legal opinion for CARE that the Bill could make it unlawful for a church to require a priest or minister to be male, celibate and unmarried, or not in a civil partnership.
When the Bill, which aims to wrap up all existing equality legislation in one piece of law, was debated in the Commons, ministers MPs tabled more than 100 amendments to it – but ministers imposed a "guillotine" on the Bill and prevented most of them being discussed.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Remember when Britain was Great?
Church and State separation, Church and state... oh wait, never mind, it’s England. I’m Henry the Eighth I am, and I’ll tell the church what to do.
Time for a joint challenge composed of Catholic priests, Orthodox Rabbis, Trad Anglican priests, and Muslim Imams.
Man’s law supercedes God’s Law... interesting perspective.
They'll be lining up gayblades in downtown London within weeks and cutting off their heads.
Just when you thought Britain couldn’t get any worse.....
Looks like “Vendetta” will become reality.
Eastern Orthodox, Mormons, most Baptists...the list goes on. What are they going to do? Shut down Churches? Pull tax exemptions? Close religious schools?
Perhaps the Brits will aply the same legal analysis to the lack of female imams.
What female Imams? Are they going to force the mooslims to have female Imams?
Look, Islam also bans women from becoming spiritual leaders. I could see the Leftists trying to force the Catholic church into changing, but they will never— never in a million years— dare challenge muslims. Their practitioners are mostly minorities after all.
Because of that fact, this will disapear pretty quickly— if Catholics are smart enough to point out the above, that is...
Personally, as a Catholic, I don’t really have a problem with women priests— and I also think we should consider letting priests marry. But I don’t want to be forced into it by law or by a bunch of Leftists.
LOL...and hate crimes legislation applies to more than just white people, only you never see it being applied to anyone other than white people. Strange how these types of "rules" work!
On the other hand, the Catholic Church has a sizable component of malcontents/liberals/activists who have been itching for something like this to come along and who will be only too happy to use it to push the envelope.
The Catholic Church is right in the firing line here.
I’ve heard a lot about that show....had to look it up.
You just might be right!
“Personally, as a Catholic, I don’t really have a problem with women priests— and I also think we should consider letting priests marry. But I don’t want to be forced into it by law or by a bunch of Leftists.”
So tell me again, who was it that started the whole assault on the tennants of the Catholic Church as a way to fractionalize it? You say you support their wishes but don’t want them to force it on you? You have let them incrementalize it on you and I see no difference in the two. One just takes longer than the other by the slight of hand rather than at the end of a gun.
If you don’t like the rules you are free to change your affiliation that allows those tennants you seek but you are not free to change it for everyone else.
I am not Catholic but I will defend to my death their rights under our constitution to conduct their faith beleifs as they so choose and I will defend your right to go somewhere else that better suits your sensibilities.
There is an answer, but then a lot of pastors and priests will loose their nice buildings. Stop being a legal corporation and be the Church.
I think in the overall scheme of Divine Providence, that is what this is leading to. We’ll be stripped of a lot of the material possessions on which we’ve come to rely but we’ll become once again poorer and more evangelical.
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