The Church of England’s governing body has overwhelmingly backed Christians manifesting their faith in the public square.
On Sunday night the Church’s General Synod backed a motion affirming the “calling” of Christians to manifest their “faith in public life as well as in private”.
The motion was introduced by Revd Stephen Trott who warned of “very determined attempts” to “drive the Church out of the public square”.
Monolithic
During the debate Revd Trott pointed to examples of Christians being marginalised for their faith.
He expressed concern about the possible creation of a “monolithic state, which imposes a conformist ideology on all aspects of public life”.
Revd Trott’s motion was passed by 263 to 25 votes. It comes as four religious liberty cases are set to be heard in the European Court of Human Rights in September.
Manifest
One of the cases involves Lillian Ladele, the Christian registrar who was disciplined for her stance on civil partnerships. Her case is being supported by The Christian Institute’s Legal Defence Fund.
The motion said: “That this Synod express its conviction that it is the calling of Christians to order and govern our lives in accordance with the teaching of Holy Scripture, and to manifest our faith in public life as well as in private, giving expression to our beliefs in the written and spoken word, and in practical acts of service to the local community and to the nation.”
Earlier this year Lord Carey warned that Christians in Britain are being treated as “bigots” and sacked for expressing their beliefs.
Remove
The former Archbishop of Canterbury also warned of a “drive to remove Judaeo-Christian values from the public square”.
He accused Britain’s courts of consistently applying “equality law to discriminate against Christians”.