In Wednesday’s resumed Dail debate on the Civil Partnership Bill, Fine Gael TDs Lucinda Creighton, Leo Varadkar and Seymour Crawford have all come out in favour of an amendment to the Bill in order to protect freedom of religion, although they differ on the amount of protection that should be given to freedom of conscience.
Their calls come after Fine Gael TDs, Sean Barrett and Damien English, also called for a religious protection amendment. As yet, no Fianna Fáil TD has spoken in favour of such a protection.
A freedom of conscience amendment would protect individuals who don’t want to facilitate same-sex civil unions on conscience grounds. A religious freedom amendment would protect religious organisations.
Deputy Varadkar said that he wasn’t in favour of a general conscience clause, which would protect civil registrars or those such as photographers who didn’t want to assist at civil partnership ceremonies.
However he acknowledged that room for exception would arise “for members of the clergy and religious bodies and properties, excluding schools and hospitals funded by the State”.
There were not many gay couples who would seek “to impose themselves on a church or church hall without being welcomed,” Mr Varadkar.
“However, there are the Peter Tatchells of the world who may create cases and cause célèbre which should not be allowed,” he added. “We must recognise and accept there is a religious conscience issue for the clergy and churches, temples, synagogues and so forth.”
Deputy Creighton said that the proposed punishment for civil registrars of a six-month prison sentence was excessive.
The punishment proposed in the legislation, she said, was “not a rational or balanced approach to dealing with somebody who refuses on religious, faith or conscience grounds to register a civil partnership”.
She agreed with Deputy Varadkar that most same-sex couples “would not want to impose themselves on a Catholic church”, but added that it was “reasonable that religious institutions would be able to opt out, or at least to allow for the exclusion of their properties and premises, such as church halls or whatever, from use in terms of carrying out a civil union”.
Deputy Crawford said there had to be a provision for freedom of conscience in the Bill. People in civil structures were entitled to have freedom of conscience, he added.
Deputy Crawford said that were practical ways in which this can be done without getting all tied up in knots and making it unacceptable.
He also pointed out that the issue had not only been raised by Catholics. It had been raised, he said “by people of all denominations, including Baptists, Reformed Presbyterians and different groups, who are genuinely worried about the situation and cannot understand why we cannot allow a level of freedom in this area”.
If the Bill were amended, Deputy Crawford added, it would be acceptable to many more people.
“If it is not amended, for the first time in the history of the State Christians will be in a vulnerable position whereby they can be prosecuted for acting on their beliefs in traditional marriages in a way deemed discriminatory towards gay couples,” he said.
