Adoption center fights government for survival

A British Christian charity is warning that the last Catholic adoption agency in the isles is fighting for its life after being told it must give up its faith or close down.

A report at the Christian Institute, which exists for "the furtherance and promotion of the Christian religion," reported Catholic Care is the only one of 11 British Catholic adoption agencies operating in 2007 that has not been shut down.

Others have fallen to the bludgeoning of government regulations that demand that adoption agencies promote children to homosexual couples as well as married couples – whether or not their faith allows it.

The Christian Institute said the nation's Charity Commission interprets the Labour Party's regulations to mean that Catholic "adoption agencies must place children for adoption with same-sex couples, despite it being contrary to church teaching."

Catholic Care already has been told by the commission that church teachings on homosexuality "didn't justify their refusal to place children with homosexuals," reported the Institute, which according to director Colin Hart is a nondenominational Christian
charity committed to upholding the truths of the Bible that is supported
by individuals and churches throughout the U.K.

An appeal, however, has been filed on the decision, citing a favorable opinion from High Court Judge Sir Michael Briggs. The appeal notes the commission ignored the decision in its determination.

"The commission is wrong in its decision," the Institute reported London solicitor Benjamin James saying. "We have lodged an appeal with the charity tribunal and the charity tribunal will request that the Charity Commission responds within 28 days."

The rules and their application have been targeted with criticism in the past, according to the Institute, including by homosexual journalist Andrew Pierce, who has offered his support for Catholic adoption agencies.

The appeal comes during growing concern that Christians rapidly are losing their rights in the U.K. to the bludgeoning of "rules" adopted to favor homosexuals and other alternative lifestyles.

The Institute cited the reports earlier in 2010 of two bed-and-breakfast owners who were accused of refusing to provide double-bed accommodations to homosexuals.

The Christians in those cases are being supported by the Christian Institute’s Legal Defense Fund, officials said.

In the United States, special provisions for protecting homosexuals largely have centered on anti-discrimination or "hate crimes" laws.

A New Mexico photographer was fined more than $6,000 by the state for refusing to photograph a homosexual "wedding" in the state.

The issue also has reached the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is reviewing whether it is proper for San Francisco's government to adopt a formal resolution condemning Catholics as "hateful," "insulting" and "defamatory" and urging members to defy church beliefs.

The formal statement from the San Francisco Board of Supervisers attacked the church's prohibition on the adoption of children by homosexuals.

The resolution, adopted March 21, 2006, calls the Vatican a "foreign country" that is meddling in the city's affairs. Further it states that the church's moral teachings are "insulting to all San Franciscans," "hateful," "insulting and callous," "defamatory," "absolutely unacceptable," "insensitive" and "ignorant."