Risk of “state intervention in Christian doctrine” if recommendations of UN expert on LGBT issues are followed, warns WEA
By Joel Forster, Evangelical Focus.
A large majority of countries dialoguing with the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Independent Expert of the United Nations, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, praised the report he presented at the 53rd session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.
The document on how religious freedom could collide with the rights of LGBTQI people received good feedback from countries attending the “interactive dialogue” happening on 21 June.LGBT people “are often marginalised, stigmatised and excluded from religious communities simply because of who they are”, Madrigal-Borloz told the Council. This report was his last as his 6-year mandate comes to an end.
But while his views were applauded in the Council, there also were many absences. No countries from Asia (except Vietnam), Africa (except South Africa) nor Arab countries attended the session, which can be seen as a form of boycott. Furthermore, the report (read here) raised question marks among FoRB advocates, including the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA).
Defining sin is not persecuting people.
Among the NGOs who attended the presentation of this issue at the Human Rights 53rd session, was the Organization for the Right to Education and Freedom of Education (OIDEL). Its Director, Ignasi Grau, said: “Calling an act sinful should not mean persecuting a person. Otherwise, all believers would be persecuted or rejected”.
“Although the report does not say this explicitly, it seems to suggest that public authorities should prevent religions leaders to call what they consider a sin a sin. For clarification purposes, is the report preventing religious leaders to talk about sins?”, he asked.
Grau also warned that the report of the SOGI Independent Expert could potentially “force” faith-based schools “to teach content contrary to their core beliefs or to hire people that publicly contradict in their speech or behavior the schools’ core beliefs”.
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