UK Judges Rule Against Christian Adoption

By Chris Perver
Prophecy in the News

In a landmark ruling, a high court in Britain has decided against allowing a Christian couple to foster children, on the grounds that their moral beliefs may be 'inimical' (inherently harmful) to any children they adopt.

In 2007, Eunice and Owen John applied to the Derby City Council to foster a child, but their application was subsequently blocked by the council due to the Johns' refusal to portray homosexuality as an equally valid lifestyle in the eyes of the child.

In November 2010, the two parties took the matter to the high court, and today the judges ruled against the couple fostering children. The court decided that placing a child in the care of a couple that hold beliefs like those of the Johns could result in “a conflict with the local authority’s duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of looked-after children”.

Although the judges acknowledged that tension exists between the equality provisions concerning religious discrimination and those of sexual orientation, they ruled that when it comes to fostering, “the equality provisions concerning sexual orientation should take precedence”. They also ruled that a local council can require foster parents to demonstrate a positive attitude toward homosexuality. The Equality and Human Rights Commission interjected in the case, submitting that children should not be "infected" with Christian moral beliefs. The court added that the Johns have not been religiously discriminated against in the ruling, because they were barred from fostering on the grounds of their moral beliefs, not their religious beliefs.

The Christian Legal Centre responded to the decision...

“What has happened to the Johns is part of a wider trend seen in recent years. The law has been increasingly interpreted by Judges in a way which favours homosexual rights over freedom of conscience.

Significant areas of public life are now becoming out of bounds to Christians who do not want to compromise their beliefs. If Christian morals are harmful to children and unacceptable to the State, then how many years do we have before natural children start being taken away from Christians?

At the Christian Legal Centre our clients have included, amongst many others, a nurse suspended for offering prayer; a Council worker suspended for talking about God to a client, a teacher suspended for offering prayer; a nurse forced off frontline nursing because she wouldn’t take off her cross. We have dealt with Civil Registrars who have been demoted because they did not want to officiate at civil partnerships, and a Christian counsellor who lost his job for not wanting to give sex therapy to homosexuals. In the last few years, several Catholic adoption agencies have been forced to close because they refused to place children with homosexual couples.

This news comes just a week after plans were unveiled by the British government to launch a review of the Civil Partnership Act, which could open up the way for homosexual 'marriages' to be held in churches. And just last week, U.S. President Obama announced that the government was not prepared to defend the constitutionality of the Defence of Marriage Act, meaning that the federal law defining marriage as between one man and one women could be repealed in the not too distant future.

We are reminded in the Bible of that time when the princes of the provinces of Babylon sought an occasion against the prophet Daniel. King Darius had promoted Daniel to be ruler over all the provinces of Babylon, "because an excellent spirit was in him" (Daniel 6:3). Filled with envy, the princes sought to have Daniel demoted, but they "could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him". Then they said, "We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God".

You see, Daniel believed in an Authority that was higher than the king of Babylon. And he would, if necessary, go against the word of the king rather than to displease his God. So the princes devised legislation prohibiting prayer being offered to any deity except the king, knowing full well that Daniel would fall foul of the new law.

But it says that when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, that "he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime" (Daniel 6:10). Notice two things here. Daniel didn't seek to hide his faith during the time of persecution. Nor did he compromise his beliefs. And we know how God miraculously preserved him during the time of trial.

Satan is once again seeking to find occasion against the people of God. Not only in this country, but in many countries around the world. Many governments are now passing laws that true Christians cannot accept. It's not that Christians are intolerant and judgemental of homosexuals. It's actually got nothing to do with homosexuality itself. The problem here is, the government is asking Christians to give credence to something that God says is wrong.

The issue of homosexuality just happens to be the tool that seems to be most effective at the present time. But like the prophet Daniel, we also serve another King, one Jesus (Acts 17:7). Praise God that the Most High still rules in the kingdom of men (Daniel 4:17). And praise God that the Judge of all the earth shall do right (Genesis 18:25).

The Lord prophesied that these days would come, shortly before His return (Luke 17:28).

Are you prepared to meet God? When you stand before the Judge, how will you plead? Turn away from your sins, and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation today.

And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead (Act 17:30-31).

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