Over 70% of people in Northern Ireland believe it is wrong for the region’s Equality Commission to prosecute a Christian bakery over its refusalto bake a pro-same-sex marriage cake.
As Ashers Baking Company prepares to face a court in Belfast this week, a poll undertaken by the UK’s Christian Institute found that, not alone did 71% of respondents disagree with the Equality Commission’s proceedings, but a massive 90% said that equality laws should be used to protect people from discrimination and not to force people to say something they oppose.
Ashers found itself on the wrong side of current equality legislation when a gay rights activist asked the Christian-owned bakery to complete a cake bearing the same-sex marriage message alongside a picture of Sesame Street’s Ernie and Bert characters. However, in the poll, conducted by ComRes among 1,000 voters in Northern Ireland, clear majorities supported the right to conscientious objection across a range of scenarios involving people of faith and none.
On the subject of an atheist web designer being tasked with creating a website to contend that God made the world in six days, 82% of respondents said that person should not be forced by a court to undertake such work. Equally, in a scenario involving a Muslim printer asked to print cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, 79% said that person should face no sanction for refusing. And 74% said a similar company run by Catholics should not be forced to run adverts calling for abortion to be legalised.
In addition to the 71% support for Ashers bakery in its stance, 77% of those responding to the ComRes poll said they did not agree with public funds being used to pursue the bakery through the courts.
Responding to the poll findings, Daniel McArthur, general manager of Ashers said: “We have had wide-ranging support from across Northern Ireland over the last nine months and this is backed up in this survey. Whether people agree with our beliefs or not, we are delighted that they respect our right to express those beliefs and that’s what tolerance is all about.”
Meanwhile, Colin Hart, director of the Christian Institute said that, whatever the outcome of the court case, the Equality Commission “have already lost in the court of public opinion”.
“This poll shows that people of all faiths and none in Northern Ireland want to live in a tolerant society where the right to freedom of speech, thought and expression are protected,” he said. “In bringing the case against Ashers bakery the [Equality Commission] is trying to deny people these fundamental rights. It is clear however from the research that the Commission is out of touch with Northern Ireland society and has got this one wrong.”
