Dear supporter,
Lawyers representing The Christian Institute have written to the UK Government warning that an excessively broad conversion therapy ban – of the kind demanded by activists – would breach human rights law.
We told the Government that if the ban outlaws the ordinary work of churches we intend to take legal action.
Our QC, Jason Coppel, examined four definitions of conversion therapy touted by activists, including the law recently passed in the Australian state of Victoria. He considered a range of ordinary church activities – including evangelism, preaching, baptism and prayer – and concluded that all of them could be criminalised.
Parents who seek to dissuade their children from changing gender could also be deemed to have attempted ‘conversion therapy’.
Read: CI threatens legal challenge over ban on ‘wrong kind of prayer’
Read extracts from Jason Coppel’s opinion
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Please pray:
- Giving thanks that human rights law clearly protects the ordinary work of churches;
- That the media would report our concerns fairly and not misrepresent us as ‘defending conversion therapy’;
- For Ministers and civil servants making decisions on the wording of the ban;
- For parliamentarians to understand what is at stake.
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Yours in Christ,
Simon Calvert
Deputy Director (Public Affairs)
The Christian Institute
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