We sit as secular judges serving a multicultural community of many faiths. We are sworn (we quote the judicial oath) to ‘do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of this realm, without fear or favour, affection or ill will’. The judges acknowledged that there was a “tension” in the case of Mr and Mrs Johns between the rights of individuals to maintain their religious beliefs and the rights of homosexual people to live free from discrimination. – Telegraph
A court decision which has the potential to shake the pillars of Barbadian society was recently handed down in England, coincidentally a Commonwealth jurisdiction. Barbados similar to England is a country built on the back of the Christian faith. The decision by a British Court to deny a Christian couple the right be foster carers because of their view on homosexuality will no doubt have wide ranging implications for how countries like Barbados reorder their societies.
The learned judges based the decision on the right of homosexuals to equality which “should take precedence” over the right of Christians to manifest their beliefs and moral values. Contrary to a view held by many Barbadians that our laws are influenced by Christian beliefs the judges were of the mind that “Britain was a “largely secular”, multi-cultural country in which the laws of the realm “do not include Christianity”.
BU’s view on homosexuality should be known, bigoted or not, having posted several blogs on the subject. What is becoming clearer by the day, especially for traditionalists, is the need to accept that Barbados sooner rather than later will have to relaxed its views on homosexuality. Careful observation of the local media reveals that the so-called ‘gay agenda’ is alive and well. To quote the Telegraph, “the ruling in the case of Owen and Eunice Johns, from Derby, is the latest in a series of judgments in which Christians have been defeated in the courts for breaching equality laws by manifesting their beliefs on homosexuality.”
The issue which Barbados will have to resolve is how a country operating in a global village which operates vastly using Christian precepts, a debatable point we know is called to action by this and other recent court rulings in the Motherland. Of interest is the recent stoking of the issue by Bajan homosexuals reputed to have sought asylum in Canada citing intimidation and victimization.
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