Advice UK, the largest support network for free advice centres in the UK, has pushed out a Christian debt counselling charity from its membership for offering to pray with clients suffering from debt problems.
Despite being an active member of Advice UK for six years, Christians Against Poverty (“CAP”) was forced to leave Advice UK as they were told that its prayer offer was “incompatible” with the organisation’s membership criteria.
Steve Johnson, chief executive of Advice UK, accused CAP of offering prayer as an “emotional fee” for their services (which are provided free-off charge), and stated that “advisers must not offer or impose their values” on their clients.
CAP has denied using prayer as a pre-condition for their services and said it was “fully committed to providing impartial help and advice to all members of society”, but offered prayer simply “as an expression of care for [their] clients”.
Andrea Williams, director of the Christian Legal Centre, said:
“This is a very sad development and further highlights how intolerant our society has become to the Christian faith. There is increasingly a chilling notion prevailing that there is something wrong, something sinister, about being motivated by faith.
“It should come as no surprise that an organisation with the term “Christian” in its name may have a Christian ethos and may offer prayer alongside its primary services.”
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