Politics
Thursday April 5, 2007
See today's LifeSiteNews stories
UK’s First Gays vs. Church Test Case Against Anglican Bishop
Declined to hire youth worker who admitted to sexual activity outside of marriage
By Hilary White
HEREFORD, April 5, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a test case of the UK’s just passed Sexual Orientation Regulations (SOR’s), an Anglican bishop is defending himself in the dock for refusing to hire a man who was pursuing an active homosexual lifestyle.
The Right Rev Anthony Priddis, the Anglican Bishop of Hereford, rejected the accusation of unjust discrimination, saying that he declined to hire John Reaney as a youth worker because he admitted to engaging in sexual activity outside of marriage.
Reaney, 41, from Llandud-no, North Wales is bringing an action against the Hereford Diocesan Board of Finance, claiming that he was refused the job on the grounds that he was a homosexual. His complaint is being backed by the homosexual group, Stonewall, the notoriously anti-Christian political lobby group largely responsible for the imposition of the SOR’s.
Reany’s “orientation” was not the issue, the bishop said, “But Mr Reaney's lifestyle had the potential to impact on the spiritual, moral and ethical leadership within the diocese.”
The Christian doctrine of sexual purity is still the official teaching and policy of the Church of England, and Bishop Priddis said, “What is at issue is the lifestyle, practice and sexual behaviour, whether the applicant is homosexual, heterosexual or transsexual.”
"The Church's teaching draws distinction between sexual orientation and practice and lifestyle,” Bishop Priddis said. “We didn't discriminate against Mr Reaney on the grounds of sexuality. Had we done so we wouldn't have called him for an interview.”
Until the passage of the SOR’s, secondary legislation associated with the 2006 Equality Act, religious organizations were exempt from previous anti-discrimination legislation. Churches and religious organizations campaigned against the passage of the SOR’s saying that it would lead to their being targeted by homosexual activists in lawsuits.
The Reany case is considered to be the first of these expected test cases.
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
UK Regulations Barring Religious Schools from Teaching Against Homosexuality Approved
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/mar/07032206.html
Back to TopSHARE THIS STORY: E-mail Print Newsvine Digg Reddit Del.icio.us Facebook
Latest Headlines
- Texas Bishop Repents Publicly for Catholic Hospital Which Was Doing Sterilizations
- Poll Shows a Solid Majority of Canadians Want Legal Protection for Unborn Children
- Interview: Bishop Explains Why a Bishop "Would Consider It a Privilege to Die to End to Abortion"
- Christian-Founded Dating Website eHarmony Forced to Cater to Homosexuals
- Italian Government Must Act Fast to Define Food and Hydration as a Human Right to Save Eluana: Prominent Italian Lawyer
- Brazilian Christian Censored and Fined for Making "Homophobic" Remarks in Book
- Grandmother's Account of Traumatizing Experience with Abortion Moves Jamaican Parliamentarians to Tears
- Bush Pushes Ahead with Regulations to Protect Doctors’ Conscience Rights
- Levant Acquitted after Republishing Letter by Pastor Previously Found to Be “Hate Speech”
- The Death of Catholic Culture and the Election of Barack Obama
- Brazilian Psychologists Prohibited from Helping Catholic Church Screen Out Homosexual Priesthood Candidates
- Letters to the Editor for Friday, November 21, 2008
- US Election Message to Catholic Bishops Part III: The Broken Window Strategy
Most Read this Week
- Italian Nuns Refuse to Kill Eluana
- Lawsuits Proliferate Demanding Proof of Obama's Natural-Born Citizenship before Electoral Vote Count
- Christian Prayer Group Sexually and Physically Assaulted by Homosexual Mob
- Vatican Cardinal: "A New World Order is Gaining Ground"
- Mormons, Knights of Columbus Face Chilling Threats and More Vandalism for Prop. 8 Support
- The Coming "War" Between the Obama Administration and the Catholic Church
- Texas Bishop Repents Publicly for Catholic Hospital Which Was Doing Sterilizations
- Obama Fortifies Administration with Team of Anti-Life, Anti-family Radicals
- Arnold Schwarzenegger's Wife: I'm "a Catholic in Good Standing" But Also Pro-abortion and Pro-Homosexual
- Martin Luther King's Niece: Obama Election Heals "White Guilt" at the Cost of Life and Family
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.