Comments on: Unions call for removal of Evangelical Christian from equality commission

By: Jo

Jo — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:57:19 +0000

Just a couple of points re: information given in the news article …

Joel Edwards stands down from his post as General Director of the Evangelical Alliance this month [see: http://www.eauk.org/media/joel-to-leave-alliance.cfm ].

After he leaves the EA he'll be involved with Micah Challenge (a Christian organisation seeking to tackle global inequality) and with Tony Blair's Faith Foundation, as well as the EHRC post.

Also it wasn't the Evangelical Alliance, but the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship/Christian Concern for our Nation – with Andrea Minichello Williams at the helm – who started off the extremely nasty anti-SORs campaign in May 2006 . Nevertheless, given its size and influence, the Evangelical Alliance had the clout to stop the nastiness and inaccuracy of the LCF/CCFON campaign and persuade its own members to work through the issues calmly and in a more properly informed way. Shamefully, the Evangelical Alliance did nothing – except to be seen to collude with the LCF/CCFON campaign.

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By: johnny

johnny — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:45:09 +0000

Part of the legacy of Mr Blair's time in office as Prime Minister (himself a fundamentalist Christian of sorts) has been the placement of promenent members of the Christian coalition thanks to the efforts of Ministers who are themselves Christian and supporting his policy in this area. The Evangelican Alliance presence on the Equality and Human Rights Commission has all the hallmarks of a careful political maneuver to effectively limit if not actually prevent the Gay Rights Movement on the one hand, and to bolster the influence of the fundamental Christian lobby on the other in matters they hold to be traditionally theirs to uphold. Joel Edward's does not engender confidence to actively seek to further my human rights as a Gay man, nor would I think he would in any other member of the GLT community either. He should resign, or be removed if he will not do so.

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By: apYrs

apYrs — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:19:59 +0000

he's black and a Xian. Ticks 2 boxes for the nuLabour apparatchiks

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By: flapjack

flapjack — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:38:38 +0000

Got to ask, who would put such a blatantly prejudiced individual in charge of an equality commission in the first place? Were the quality control committee on sick leave that day?

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By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:55:09 +0000

Anyone with such views is entitled to them. However, they should not be in a position to undermine exisiting equalities legislation or allow it t0″slip" because of their so called beliefs.

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By: RobFox66

RobFox66 — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 23:50:38 +0000

To have appointed ANY individual with an a priori commitment to the inferiority (or, indeed, the invalidity) of gay relationships to the EHRC seems as absurd and indefensible as appointing a member of the Ku Klux Klan!

Need I point out that it's not so very long ago that many of Mr Edwards' spiritual forebears would have been robustly defending the institution of slavery, and opposing racial equality, with proof-texts from the very same Bible Joel Edwards holds in indefensibly high regard? Probably not.

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