Engaging with government on religious freedoms

How can our church respond to Government research on religion and belief and help protect freedoms?

Important research on freedom of religion and belief in the UK
As you may know, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is currently conducting a major research project into freedom of religion and belief in the UK.

The Commission is keen to hear from Christian individuals and organisations about real-life experience of living out the Christian faith in a public context. No experience is too small – and the Commission is interested in both positive and negative scenarios.

This is an important opportunity – the results will influence the Commission’s future advice to Government, law and policy-makers, legal teams, employers, local authorities and other service providers.

Please respond now

Responding is easy – and should take between 10 and 30 minutes. You can respond online here. You can download a copy of the questions here so that you can examine them in advance.

• To find out more about the research exercise, click here > 
• To respond to the EHRC click here > 
• To forward to a church leader or friend, click here >

If responding on behalf of a church or Christian group / charity, select ‘Organisation’ when prompted.

The final deadline is 14th October – but please respond as soon as possible.

Who should respond? 

Leaders of churches, Christian groups, charities and other organisations serving the community should respond. Issues that you could raise might include the following:

• Have members of your congregation or group had positive or negative experiences in the workplace or in the community while seeking to live out their faith publicly? Do you detect any trends or themes in the way that faith is handled? What concerns you?
• Have you ever received positive or negative comments from local authorities, groups or individuals as a result of your interaction with the local community?
• What has been your experience of trying to publicise church and / or other Christian events in the local area?
• Have you had a positive or negative experience of trying to secure public funding for your activities that serve the local community? Do you feel that local figures have a good understanding of the Christian faith and Christian ethos organisations?
• Do you hire local facilities from other organisations or local authorities? Have you ever been refused hire? Do you hire your own facilities to local individuals or groups? Have you ever refused to hire them out? Why?
• Have you ever had any complaints made against you (e.g. noise abatement) for carrying on normal church activities (e.g. singing in services)? If you have ever applied for planning permission for buildings etc. was your experience positive or negative? Did you encounter a good understanding of the church or group’s needs and reasons for them?

Please note that the EHRC is looking for incidents that have occurred since January 2010 onwards.

Why should I take part?  

Your response is crucial to enabling the EHRC to build an accurate picture of both good practice and current challenges faced by Christians in the UK.  This information will help to inform future advice to the Government and employers, and could be significant in ensuring that freedoms for Christians are protected more effectively, whether at work, school, church or other public setting. 

Why has the call for evidence been launched? 

The EHRC’s research has been prompted partly by a number of high profile cases where individuals have faced challenges when seeking to live out their faith in public life. These include Christian Legal Centre clients, Shirley Chaplin and Gary McFarlane, whose cases were heard at the European Court of Human Rights.

The EHRC says that, in spite of these cases, very little is known about how frequently issues surrounding religious belief occur in practice.  It wants to gather as much information as possible from individuals about their personal experiences – whether positive or negative – as part of its work to examine whether current laws designed to protect freedom of thought, conscience and religion are effective in practice.

Will my story be publicised? 

No. All information provided will be confidential and anonymous and held by NatCen (the independent research organisation responsible for conducting the EHRC’s call for evidence) on a secure computer server. The EHRC will not have direct access to the data.

Respond to the Call for Evidence now >

Read a press release issued by the EHRC for more information >

Thank you for taking this step to help inform the EHRC about being a Christian!