Oh dear

Well, maybe the issues around the recent judgement on fostering and Christian views of sexuality aren't so straightforward after all. Or at least, maybe the judgement isn't as clear cut as orginally presented. At least that's the view of some Christians who have studied the judgement see here, and here, for example. Others, meanwhile are still concerned, albeit for different reasons.

Hmm. Where does that all leave us? First, if it is true that Christians, for whatever reason are deliberately reporting this in a sensationalist manner, that is a cause for concern. Second, whatever the facts about this particular case it does highlight the tensions that arise when everything in public life is framed around questions of "rights". Inevitably, someone else's rights will conflict with mine at some point, and if in some way or other, society opts to prefer one set of rights over the other, someone will be unhappy. Maybe Christians have got too used to other people being unhappy for too long. For all that, there are some important questions here about how we bring up children, that the Bishop of Croydon highlights on his blog. Once the dust has settled on this case, I'm sure it won't be long before a similar one comes out of the woodwork.

Fostering tolerance...?

Yesterday's High Court judgement about the suitability of a Christian couple as Foster carers because of their views on homosexuality is a cause for concern. I must admit that there are many of these cases that have made the press recently where, in all honesty, I'm not sure where my sympathies lie. Where, it looks like some Christians have a victim mentality, or seem to do their best to come across as narrow minded with an unhealthy focus on sex.

But this seems different. The ruling seems to suggest that holding orthodox Christian views about sexuality makes you somehow unfit to care for children of a certain age. Now I don't claim any expertise on this, and certainly don't want to jump on any hyper-conservative bandwagon; however this is troubling. As always, some helpful comment at the Jubilee Centre website...espcially interesting as they had previously suggested that the Christian B&B owners who were in the news last month were in the wrong (and I happen to sympathise with them on this). I've no doubt this won't be the last we hear on this.