Agenda Volume 3 - Methodist Conference

59. Memorials to the Conference
of religious belief, and to the central role
Christian faith and values have played in
British life for many centuries, not least in
helping to shape our modern health and
education systems and in eradicating such
evils as the transatlantic slave trade.
While recognizing the equal rights of
other faiths to their forms of public
devotion and practice, the West Somerset
Circuit requests the Conference to make
representations to HM Government
to make clear the concern of the
Methodist Church of Great Britain that
a clear Christian presence in society
be safeguarded and celebrated as an
important strand in British multicultural
life, and as a vital contribution to the
spiritual and moral health of the nation.
Reply
The Conference notes the concerns of the
West Somerset Circuit Meeting. This is a
concern shared by others; indeed the allparty
group Christians in Parliament recently
conducted an inquiry into the topic, to which
the Methodist Church submitted oral and
written evidence. The report of the inquiry,
Clearing the Ground, found that Christians
in the UK are not persecuted for their faith
but that there is evidence of Christianity
being ‘squeezed’ in public life. This is partly
due to the consequences of the working out
of equalities legislation, partly because of
our changing society, and partly because of
‘religious illiteracy’ which sees religion as a
private eccentricity rather than as a central
part of a person’s life and being.
Much of the concern in this area is around
whether different rights are in competition
or if one right can ‘trump’ another. Under
Article 9 of the Human Rights Act, the
right to hold a belief, is absolute; the right
to manifest it (for example by acting in
accordance with your faith) is a qualified
right. Therefore, the right to manifest your
religious belief can be limited if such a
limitation can be justified as necessary in
a democratic country, including to protect
the rights and freedoms of others. This is
as it should be in a civilised society: the
question is where this balance should lie.
The Clearing the Ground report found that
perceptions of marginalisation are greater
than people’s personal experiences of
it. There are a number of cases which
have reached the courts, some of which
were arguably unwisely pursued by those
involved, whilst others explored legal
points which had not been tested before.
Christians should not use a few difficult
cases to bolster the myth that Christians
have fewer rights than people of other
faiths or that others’ rights always ‘trump’
those of Christians. Christianity has been
in a position of power for many centuries;
some of the discomfort people feel may be
a recognition that this power relationship
has shifted as our society has changed.
Nonetheless the Equality and Human
Rights Commission has recently
acknowledged that the operation of
equalities legislation is still deficient in
places, and has suggested that courts
should take greater account of whether
a person’s human rights have been
interfered with, before then looking at
whether that interference is reasonable.
The Clearing the Ground report called for
‘reasonable accommodation’ between
Conference Agenda 2012 797