Academics have claimed that anti-Christian prejudice is hindering Christian groups from doing vital work in the community.
Research by Dr Sarah Johnson and Dr Adam Dinham has shown that the involvement of Christian groups in social and charity workis being hindered by “inaccurate and out-of-date assumptions”.
“It’s not outright hostility, but a misconception that faith-based groups want to evangelise or will restrict their services to people of the same faith”, says Dr Adam Dinham, head of the Faiths and Civil Society unit at Goldsmiths, University of London.
“People and authorities which commission services from faith-based providers are often concerned they will have strings attached. If they can find other services to use, they will do,” he said.
The research found that these assumptions often led to restrictions on Christian groups receiving financial support.
“Charity funders are prone to assuming the same thing; that groups will only provide help to people of the same faith”, said Dr Dinham. He suggested that “subconscious secularism” caused this suspicion towards Christian groups.
Dr Sarah Johnsen, a senior research fellow at Heriot-Watt University,also found that commissioners responsible for public spending often felt “squeamish” about giving tax-payers money to faith-based charities, as they do not want to be seen to “promote religion or discriminate against certain groups”.
Yet Dr Johnsen and Dr Dinham found that fears about religious groups are misplaced.
“The “invisible” support given to state-run projects by faith groups is considerable, and without them a “huge amount of value will be lost and core welfare services would decline quite rapidly”, Dr Dinham said.
Andrea Minichiello Williams, CEO of Christian Concern, said:
“The contribution of Christian groups to charity work is immense, and should not be hindered.
“The Christian faith has shaped this nation for good, and secularism must not be allowed to undermine the foundations of our nation.”
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Christian Concern: Religious Freedom