Overly restrictive recommendations made by the Bill of Rights Forum could damage community relations instead of allowing rights and freedoms to flourish.
01 April 2008
Overly restrictive recommendations made by the Bill of Rights Forum could damage community relations instead of allowing rights and freedoms to flourish, the Evangelical Alliance Northern Ireland has warned.
The Alliance made a formal submission to the Forum last month, recommending that the Forum steers away from overly detailed and restrictive legislation.
Commenting on the final proposals, National Director StephenCave said: “Responsibility towards others, alongside the protection of rights, is critical to a Christian understanding of a free and healthy society.
“But if the emphasis is too strongly on individual rights, there is the potential to fracture rather than reconcile, and we feel this is the danger with this report.
“A focus on shared responsibilities, on the other hand, would have the potential to transform society through hope, imagination and active citizenship.”
He added that the lack of consensus evident between members of the Forum on the recommendations lends weight to the Alliance’s call for the Bill to reflect Northern Ireland’s aspirations for the future rather than to be overly prescriptive.
“There are undoubtedly positive proposals within the final report, for example on the issue of human trafficking,” he said.
“However, we believe this, along with many other proposals, would be better dealt with in the context of the Northern Ireland Assembly.”
Responding to the controversy about rights for the unborn child, Stuart Noble, Parliamentary and Development Officer for CARE in Northern Ireland said: “We are disappointed that the Forum felt it appropriate to highlight the right to lawful reproductive health care while at the same time overlooking the rights of the unborn child.
“Along with many others, we have already signalled our strong objection to MPs in Westminster about the threat to change the law on abortion in Northern Ireland by way of an amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.
“We are equally opposed to attempts to change the law on abortion by way of a Bill of Rights.”
Media Contact:
Karen Jardine
Evangelical Alliance Northern Ireland
077333 58548
k.jardine@eauk.org
Notes to editors:
The Evangelical Alliance, formed in 1846, is the largest body serving evangelical Christians in the UK, and has a membership including denominations, churches, organisations and individuals. The mission of the Evangelical Alliance is to unite evangelicals to present Christ credibly as good news for spiritual and social transformation. According to a Tearfund survey (Churchgoing in the UK, 2007), there are approximately 2 million evangelical Christians in the UK. For more information, go to www.eauk.org.
