Posted on 12/13/2019 6:55:20 PM PST by marshmallow
Lawsuit a first for Britain
LONDON (ChurchMilitant.com) - An atheist politician who converted to Catholicism is suing Britain's most left-wing, pro-abortion party after it ousted him from candidacy for his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.
"It is a tragedy for democracy that I am having to pursue a discrimination case against the Liberal Democrats because they don't like the views of a practicing Catholic," lamented Rob Flello, former Liberal Democrat candidate for Stoke-on-Trent South.
Flello was deselected by the Liberal Democrat Party, a process in U.K. politics that involves rejecting the person who currently represents one's party as a candidate in the next election.
The 53-year-old, who was hoping to take back the seat he held for 12 years, lambasted the Liberal Democrats as "neither liberal or [sic] democratic and therefore I need to take a stand as much as anything for the sake of British democracy."
Flello, who was an atheist until he became Catholic at the age of 41, left the Labour Party in September, saying it is a party he could "no longer recognize."
Just 48 hours before nomination papers had to be filed, however, the Liberal Democrats, headed by pro-abortionist Jo Swinson, de-selected him for his voting record on gay marriage and abortion.
(Excerpt) Read more at churchmilitant.com ...
He will lose
Mixed feeling on this one. On the one hand, good for him being on the right side of the abortion and gay marriage issues. On the other hand, is it appropriate for a court to dictate the policy positions of a party? If the so-called Liberal Democrats choose to adopt odious positions on various public policy issues and only field candidates supportive of said positions, isn’t it up to voters to reject them rather than a court telling them that they’re out of bounds? (BTW, the British voters DID reject this party very strongly yesterday)
Hewas MP for Stoke on trent south for 12 years from 2005 to 2017 for labour when he was an atheist.
He left labour when Corbyn took over. He joined the lib dems but later converted.
<>It seems we’re almost back to the days when a Catholic couldn’t stand for Parliament,” he observed, referring to the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829, which finally permitted Catholics to sit in the Parliament at Westminster.<>
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