EU Directive Action Pack - Act to Stop the Silencing of Christians across Europe - Update

Published: December 17th, 2009

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- Equality
- Religious Freedom

EU Equal Treatment Directive will lead to Oppression and Censorship. Information and Action Pack Available (Update)

Update

The Spanish Presidency will take over leading the negotiations in early January 2010 and is to make the Directive a priority. The Directive has been amended by the Swedish Presidency, who have lead negotiations (with representatives from Member States). A progress report on the Directive was provided from the Swedish Presidency on the 17th of November 2009 which can be found at the following link:

http://www.europolitics.info/pdf/gratuit_en/260898-en.pdf

The progress report shows how much of the recent work to date has been on disability issues. Item 5 under the overall heading "outstanding issues" and specific subheading “other issues” notes the need for further discussion on other questions including:

the concepts of harassment, discrimination by association and discrimination based on assumptions;
the need to find the right balance between protection against discrimination and rights in the private sphere (including freedom of speech and religion).

We are concerned that to date hardly any of these concerns under “other issues” have been addressed and in fact the concept of harassment which causes Christians such concern has been extended further with proposals to include harassment by association. The Swedish Presidency proposed changes included that the concept of harassment may be defined in accordance with the national laws and practices of Member States. This does not help as the concept of harassment in our national laws are even worse than the EU Directives as it does not require unwanted conduct which has the effect or purpose of violating the dignity of a person "and" creating an offensive environment. Our concept of harassment only requires either violating the dignity of a person "or" creating an offensive environment.

The original intention was to have a vote on this proposed Directive in November 2009 but as the progress report states there are still outstanding issues, so at this stage we do not know when a final vote will be taken in the Council of the European Union (Council of Ministers), as this depends on the speed of negotiations but the Spanish Presidency is expected to wish to make progress. The Directive still requires unanimity of all Member States but also now requires a procedure which entails the approval of the European Parliament. However it is vitally important that Christian Concerns are included.

Please continue to act and pray as there is much to be done to raise the profile of Christian Concerns across Europe in the next stage of negotiations.

Please Write to Your MP and Equality Minister

Click here for our Information and Action Pack on the European Union "Equal Treatment" Directive

Click here for our German Mini-Information & Action Pack (Deutsch).

Click here for our Polish Mini-Information & Action Pack (Polski).

Click here for our Lithuanian Mini-Information & Action Pack (Lietuviu Kalba).

Click here for our Latvian Mini-Information & Action Pack (Latviešu Valoda).

To see our example letters and addresses for Equality Ministers in the different European countries, click the links below.

Appendix 1 - Example Letters (Word format)

Appendix 2 - Representatives (Word format)

The proposed EU Equal Treatment Directive has the potential to be used as an instrument of cultural genocide. Its provisions are likely to restrict Christian freedoms to the extent that, in certain cases, we would be silenced and prevented from providing goods or services to the public without violating our consciences, particularly if required to promote other religions or the practice of homosexuality.

The Directive ignores the necessity of providing protection in connection with conflicts inevitably arising out of:

Differences between those expressing religious tenets of one religion and the doctrines of another religion; or
Differences between those expressing religious tenets on sexual conduct and those professing a homosexual orientation.

The Directive purports to eliminate discrimination on the grounds of (amongst other things) “religion or belief” and “sexual orientation” from the provision of goods and services in every European Union country. That means that when providing a service (such as a hotel room) or selling goods (such as books) in the EU, businesses and their employees will have to provide them or risk being sued, irrespective of whether they find themselves facilitating sexual ethics contrary to their religious beliefs, or helping to promote another religion.

If a Christian says or does something whilst providing the goods or the service that someone finds offensive, they can be sued for an unlimited amount of compensation for “harassment”. This will cast a chilling shadow over free speech and freedom of expression for Christians, as it will for those with any views that challenge the prevailing ‘politically correct’ ideology. At the Christian Legal Centre, we have already seen numerous cases in the UK where similar equality laws and policies in the employment field have been used to silence Christians and to suspend or dismiss them from their public sector jobs, such as the homelessness officer who was dismissed for suggesting to a terminally ill client that she might consider putting her faith in God.

“Harassment,” as vaguely defined in the Directive, allows an individual to accuse someone of discrimination merely for expressing something the individual allegedly perceives as creating an “offensive environment”. For example, once someone decides to perceive an offer of prayers or words of comfort by a hospital chaplain (a Christian Minister who is employed in a UK hospital) based on his faith as offensive, that person can bring legal action against the chaplain and the hospital, even if the chaplain at the hospital intended no offence. To further chill fundamental freedoms, the burden of proof then shifts to the chaplain to disprove the allegation.

The Directive contains a number of proposals that will limit the freedom of expression of broadcasters and the press; that will limit academic freedom in education, particularly outside national educational systems; and that will undermine Christians’ right to freedom of association by compelling them to ensure that the principle of equal treatment is applied to all internal rules. For example, it could affect religious associations such as Student Christian Unions in internal membership rules and allow unbelievers the same access to membership as Christians. The Directive also breaches a number of the rules of fairness in law-making, such as the principle that whoever claims to have been wronged must prove his/her case rather than making the defendant prove the negative that they did not discriminate against the claimant.

There is no protection in the Directive for the freedom to follow one’s religious conscience and there are no balancing mechanisms to arbitrate between competing sets of rights, such as when a Muslim’s rights conflict with a Christian’s rights, or when the supposed rights of a homosexual to practise his or her lifestyle conflict with a Christian’s rights to refuse to facilitate that practice.

We believe that Member States should veto the Directive. It requires unanimity amongst all Member States. One country could say “No”. Please pray that it will not be passed and encourage a Christian campaign across Europe to “Say a Loud No to the EU Equal Treatment Directive” before it’s too late. It undermines Christian values, traditional family values and has the potential to be used as a tool to sue and persecute Christians for simply professing their faith in the course of everyday life when they provide a wide range of goods and services. It will cover social security, healthcare, education, housing, and access to the supply of goods and other services that are available to the public in both the public and private sector including public bodies.

The harassment provision should be removed completely, as it will affect freedom of speech and freedom to preach, and the Directive should include a general religious conscience exception as well as balancing mechanisms that prevent indirect religious discrimination. Education, the media and advertising, and Christian businesses should be excluded from the scope of the Directive. Likewise, the Directive should not cover discrimination on the grounds of “sexual orientation”, nor should it include “religion or belief”. The European Commission’s initial proposal was for a Directive that would prevent discrimination on the grounds of disability, which was a constructive suggestion. It is highly regrettable that the Commission changed their proposal to include the controversial grounds of “sexual orientation” and “religion or belief” and they should be removed.

Please download our Information and Action Pack and use it to find out about the Directive so that you can write to your MP and Equality Minister. Please encourage your friends in other European countries to do the same. The pack contains example letters and a list of Ministers from each EU country that might be responsible for equality matters. It is vital that Christians across the EU realise the seriousness of the situation and that Equality Ministers are informed that they can vote “no”.

Please read the first 10 pages of the pack and Appendix 1 (example letters). If you have the time or interest, the other Appendices provide more details.

To access the pack, please click here.