New UK trans law risks criminalising prayer, Church of England warns

The Church of England has warned that a proposed United Kingdom law banning conversion practices could unintentionally criminalise prayer and pastoral care, as Catholic leaders also called for the legislation to be abandoned.

UK newspaper, The Telegraph, reports on Saturday that the Anglican Church said the draft Conversion Practices Bill must protect religious discussions and family conversations while addressing abusive attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

According to The Telegraph, the draft Conversion Practices Bill seeks to make it a criminal offence to attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, with offenders facing up to five years in prison.

The proposed legislation would cover parents, meaning mothers and fathers could risk arrest for asking their child whether they want to change gender.

Critics also warn that it could expose therapists and religious leaders to prosecution for providing advice or pastoral care to people questioning their sexuality or gender identity.

The bill has drawn opposition from religious leaders who fear it could affect prayer, family discussions and everyday pastoral conversations.

A spokesman for the Church of England told The Telegraph that its leaders would raise concerns about the proposed legislation with Members of Parliament and peers examining the draft bill.

“We believe that everyone is made in the image of God and should be cherished for who they are,” the spokesman said.

The Church recalled that its General Synod, its legislative body, voted overwhelmingly in 2017 to ask the government to ban conversion therapy relating to sexual orientation.

However, it said the proposed legislation must not undermine legitimate religious activities.

The spokesman said, “It is, however, important to ensure that any legislation does not unintentionally criminalise providing appropriate prayer and pastoral care to those who seek it, and we will reflect this concern in our evidence to the pre-legislative scrutiny process.

“Of course, pastoral care and prayer should never be coercive.

“A ban on conversion therapy must still allow space for discussion and disagreement. We want to prevent abuses of power and coercive practices, which should be the focus of any legislation.”

The concerns were also raised by Catholic leaders, who said the proposed law could create uncertainty around family life and religious activities.

The Archbishop of Liverpool and chairman of the department of social justice of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, John Sherrington, said the bishops recognised the need for governments to protect people from abuse.

However, he argued that existing laws already criminalised abusive practices.

“There is a danger that this legislation will create uncertainty around lawful pastoral care by the Church, family life and the legality of open conversations that might take place in a range of social settings,” he said.

He added that the proposed legislation could expose parents and other individuals to legal action over well-intentioned conversations.

“We are concerned that this legislation will challenge the Church’s ability to fulfil its calling to proclaim an authentic understanding of the human person with clarity, simplicity, love and respect. People of faith must remain free to express their beliefs through speech and prayer.

“We call on politicians to abandon this bill and focus instead on enforcement of existing protections and accessible support for anyone facing abuse or coercion,” Sherrington said.

The vice-president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, Bishop Brian McGee, also criticised the proposal, saying it appeared to extend beyond protecting people from abuse.

“Nobody should fear violence, abuse, or coercion, and the law must do all it can to make sure everybody is protected from such behaviour.

“This law, however, appears to go far beyond the protection of citizens, overreaching into normal daily family life, pastoral conversations and everyday teaching,” he told The Telegraph.

Similarly, deputy director of the charity The Christian Institute, Simon Calvert, warned that the proposed legislation could expose parents’ prayers and other legitimate expressions of religious beliefs to police investigation.

He said it was “quite clear” that the legislation could “criminalise parents praying for their children”.

“It is a bizarre new approach to the criminal law which makes all kinds of legitimate speech vulnerable to police investigation.

“Lawyers are lining up to condemn the way it’s drafted. And the activists the Government are trying to placate are quite open that they really do want the law to ‘put the fear’ into parents over their family prayers,” Calvert said.

Calvert also compared the proposal with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, saying: “Elizabeth I famously declined to make windows into men’s souls. This bill makes a window and will force police, prosecutors and courts to peer through it to decide if your intentions, your beliefs, mean your conversation with your gay or trans friend was a criminal offence.”

The debate over whether prayer could fall within the proposed restrictions intensified after a parliamentary committee heard evidence from Jayne Ozanne, a gay evangelical Christian and founder of the Ban Conversion Practices Coalition.

Ozanne told lawmakers that she had been traumatised by people praying for her to be straight and argued that prayers intended to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity should be prohibited.

“I think we need to be clear about what is wrong and right. Stealing is stealing. Whether you steal a sweet or a car, it is still stealing,” she said when asked whether such prayers should be criminalised, including within families.

She said the issue was the effect of the prayer on the person receiving it.

“A lot of prayer will be directed – somebody will have their hand on you and pray. It is the fact that they are trying to pray for you to be changed to a thing that they think you ought to be as opposed to praying for you to find a point of peace.

“You might say that that is too subtle a difference, but they are worlds apart. Helping me come to a place where I know who I ought to be is very different from telling me that I have to be straight,” Ozanne said.

The UK government, however, has defended the proposed legislation, insisting that it is designed to prevent abuse while protecting freedom of expression and religious beliefs.

A government spokesman said, “Our draft bill would outlaw a specific form of abuse, setting high bars which protect freedom of expression, including for religious leaders, while ensuring no one is free to commit abuse.

“LGBT+ people should never, without exception, have to suffer coercion or abuse in an effort to change who they are. Successive governments have agreed for almost a decade that conversion practices have no place in modern Britain.

“This Government is clear that freedom of belief, whether faith-based or wider, will be respected by the ban, while our draft bill has already been welcomed by religious groups.”

The proposed legislation applies to England and Wales and is undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny by a joint parliamentary committee. It has not yet become law.