Persecuted Christian for Arse

Abby, I think I need your feedback on this one...

Today I read that a Christian magistrate has lost his appeal against a ruling that he claims would have meant compromising his christian beliefs. Andrew McClintock claims he was forced to resign because he would have been put in a position that could have meant he would have to place children for adoption with gay couples.

Andrew McClintock was a member of the Christian People's Alliance Council, and served as a magistrate in the Sheffield family courts for 15 years. When the Civil Partnerships Act came into force recently, Mr McClintock felt that it would force him to make judgements against his conscience.

The Civil Partnerships Act, which allows same sex couples to marry in civil ceremonies, has meant that gay couples are afforded the same rights as conventional married couples in a number of legal areas. This has in turn meant that magistrates presiding over adoption cases in court are not able to favour conventional couples over same sex couples when making a decision about where to place children.

McClintock requested that he be allowed to opt-out of presiding over cases which could involve having to make a decision involving the placing of children with same sex couples. His employer refused the request. Mr McClintock resigned and took the case to tribunal. A Sheffield Employment Tribunal ruled that his employers were right to refuse his request, and McClintock took his appeal to Employment Appeal Tribunal, a division of the High Court, who upheld the earlier ruling. And it doesn't end there, he is now taking his case to the Court of Appeal, where it is likely to be heard in the New Year.

First, let me say that, while I do have an opinion on gay adoption, it isn't a particularly strong opinion. That is to say, if it wasn't for the fact that I am a father, I probably wouldn't have thought much about this one at all, and I'm fairly sure I really wouldn't care one way or the other. As it is, I do have a son, and of course I have thought about what might happen to him if something happened to me or his mother. The fact is, given the choice, I would prefer him to be adopted into a conventional family if the need arose. That said, a gay couple adopting him would still be preferable to some grotty children's home, but let's not get too bogged down with details. Suffice to say, my overall preference would be a conventional family. That's my opinion.

But there is another issue here. This man appears to have very strong christian beliefs, and he was a magistrate. Moreover, this man was making judgements that were likely to be influenced by those christian beliefs. Let me put this another way. The man was a public servant, employed to uphold the law as defined by the democratically elected government of the land, yet he seems to think that there is a law that supersedes the law he was employed to enforce. Specifically, he believes that the law defined in the bible, as he interprets it, should take precedence over state law if the two clash. This I have a strong opinion about.

One could argue that opting-out of cases that involve the Civil Partnerships Act would be a suitable compromise. I don't believe that is the case. This man has resigned because he was suddenly legally compelled to make decisions that could have resulted in children being placed with gay couples. He could equally well have found himself in a position that required him to make a choice between placing a child with either Christian, or Hindu parents, and there is as far as I know, no specific legislation that would require him to give equal consideration to each couple. I'm quite sure that a christian man like McClintock believes that a child would be far better off with christian parents. I'm also quite sure that belief would influence his judgement.

If his christian beliefs conflict with his ability to uphold the law, then he must be removed from his post one way or the other. There can be no middle ground. He's not a shop assistant refusing to wear the uniform because it makes his arse look fat, he is a magistrate. He is not being persecuted for his christian beliefs as he is claiming, he is being removed from his job because he can't, or won't, do what he's paid for.