A call for a British Underground Chruch

We find in the UK that there is an increasing amount of legislation governing how we run charitable organisations, which includes the church.

This covers areas such as employment law, child protection law, health and safety, etc.

It is all good and right.

But I have misgivings.

Because, at the same time, there is an increasing amount of state interference in matters that affect our beliefs.

For example:
In the UK medical staff who believe abortion is murder are not compelled to participate directly in abortion, but they are required to refer the mother to a pro-choice doctor. This is probably a reasonable compromise, but means that the anti-abortion person is still indirectly collaborating with it, in a way which some might deem to be sinful. I don’t want to get into the abortion issue here, its just an example of the interaction of law and church.

More seriously, following the introduction of the sexual orientation regulations, Christian adoption professionals who feel that gay adoption is sinful are not permitted to refer the candidates in the way that anti-abortion doctors can. They have to process the gay adoption without ‘discriminating against gay people’, even if they feel that participating in such an adoption is a sin. I don’t want to get into the gay issue here, its just an example of the interaction of law and church.

In short, the law now compels people to do things they consider sinful. Freedom of religion has been seriously compromised.

It’s not just Christians who are affected – recently a Muslim dentist was found guilty of discrimination because he would not treat a Muslim woman patient until she put on a headscarf, because he felt he would be acting sinfully being in such close proximity to an uncovered woman. I don’t want to get into the headscarf issue here, its just an example of the interaction of law and faith.

I am not saying that the courts and legislators have made the wrong decisions in these cases, what I am saying is that well-intentioned law is increasingly incompatible with personal faith.

Employment law now means that the church cannot ‘discriminate against’ gay people in most cases – there are exceptions – so it means some churches may be acting illegally if they choose to employ a person who they feel embodies their church doctrines in favour of someone who does not embody them in the same way. I don’t want to get into the gay issue here, its just an example of the interaction of law and church.

Similarly, the church of England has been asked to adjust the way it employs clergy to bring it into line with mainstream charity employment laws.

My misgiving is that while all these examples are relatively minor and relatively debatable, they set the scene for more dangerous interventions by church and state.

Other clues are the girl who was not permitted to where her ‘silver ring thing’ at school on safety grounds, though the Hindu (?) girls were permitted their bangles, and the BA employee who got in trouble for wearing a small cross. Also the Christian Fellowship at Exeter University which is in trouble because it will only accept as voting members those who actually believe in its doctrinal position.

The most recent law is that it is illegal to incite hatred against homosexuals – and I agree entirely that this should be so, and it is reassuring to hear pro-gay organisations affirming that these laws will not be used prevent civilised discussion and the courteous expression of religions opinions.

But can you see where I am heading? None of these things are in themselves too serious, but I feel there is a raising of the temperature, a tendency for society and legislation to increasingly restrict the activities of the church.

I was wondering how we can avoid this, and one idea was to not have our churches set up as legal charities, whereby legislation applies. Instead, should they be simply groups of friends that meet or live together? But how would its ministers then be paid? Whatever gifts they receive would be deemed to be payment and then they would incur all the employment law after all. It also reminded me of the conditions that prevailed in the Soviet Union, where church ministers were deemed to be parasites on society because they don’t have a proper job.

However, I seriously think that this is the way we need to go. The world is not becoming more friendly to Christians - unless we give up our distinctive beliefs and subscribe to a vague homogenous cultural deism.

I think it was a mistake for the church to ever get involved with the state, and I think that we now need to separate. I think it was in Kyle Potter’s ‘Vindicated’ blog that I read “The accommodation between church and state is over” or words to that effect.

I think that within five years of me writing this post, Christians will be locked in British prisons because of their faith. And since society will perceive us to be the problem, Amnesty International will look the other way.

I think that a British underground church needs to be formed, or perhaps spawned from the cell groups we already have in many churches, and this underground church will be the church that carries the gospel into the next century.

But for now, I continue as a licensed reader in the state church, following all these rules as best I can, but looking around with an increasing sense of drowning panic.