Co-op Bank takes account away from Christian Voice
-25/06/05
The Co-operative Bank, one of the leading corporate practitioners of ethical banking, has asked a UK Christian organisation to take away its business because of its hostile opposition to homosexuals ñ a stance that the director of one lesbian and gay organisation has called “incitement to hatred”.
The bank has given Christian Voice until 6 July 2005 to close its account. The group came to public attention through recent protests about the BBC showing Jerry Springer ñ The Opera. Its supporters wish to see homosexuality re-criminalised, those it defines as ‘perverts’ barred from government, the repeal of the Civil Partnerships Act, and the banning of the Gay Police Association (GPA).
A Co-operative Bank spokesman said: “Christian Voice is engaged in discriminatory pronouncements, based on the grounds of sexual orientation. This public stance is incompatible with the position of the Co-operative Bank, which publicly supports diversity and dignity in all its forms for our staff, customers and other stakeholders.”
She continued: “The Bank believes in respect for all sectors of society and its approach to Christian Voice is based purely on the issue of diversity, and not on the grounds of religion.”
Stephen Green of Christian Voice responded: “The Co-op Bank, for all its fine words, is discriminating against us on the grounds of conscience and religion.”
But he added, “Now we have found out how pro-homosexual the Co-op Bank is we would not want to do business with them. We would have jumped before being pushed.”
Ben Summerskill, CEO of the respected gay charity Stonewall, said that the bankís action seemed sensible and appropriate. Stonewall says it hopes the case will also lead to a direct change in the law.
Currently there is no protection afforded to lesbian and gay people from material that could incite violence. A number of MPs are calling for such protection to be added to the controversial Racial and Religious Hatred bill, which will protect some religious minorities against similar attacks for the first time.
“Christian Voice incites hatred against gay people,” Mr Summerskill declared. “If they peddled the same [views] against black people they would face prosecution, which is why we are asking the government to change the law.”
On BBC Radio 4 this afternoon Liberal Democrat MP Mathew Taylor said that Christian Voice, in spite of its name, “does not speak for the majority of Christians.”
Government minister Ben Bradshaw, the Labour MP for Exeter, said that he hoped people who sympathised with Christian Voice might now be prepared to reconsider their views and to adopt a more open approach to issues of sexuality.
Mr Bradshaw said that he had a number of interests in this case, since he is a Christian, a gay person, and a Co-op customer because of its ethical stance.
It was reported last year that Bradshaw and his long-term partner would forge a civil union. In the 1997 election he defeated a virulently anti-gay campaign from Adrian Rogers, then the Conservative candidate.
Christian Voice is considered an extreme organisation by British church representatives. It says it opposes ìOne World governmentî and wishes to see the re-introduction of the death penalty, withdrawal from the European Union and the arming of the UK population.
Other CV policies include the outlawing of abortion, the building of ìas many nuclear power stations as are necessaryî, a prohibition on sex education in schools, the re-introduction of hunting, Christian evangelism supported through public funds, and the removal of charitable status ìfrom bodies promoting other faiths and those hostile to the Christian faith.î
Christian Voice was widely condemned for facilitating the intimidation of BBC staff over the showing of Jerry Springer ñ The Opera by publicising their contact details. It subsequently apologised for doing this.
However the group went on to exert pressure on a Scottish charity to refuse a £3000 donation that would help cancer sufferers, because cast members from the Jerry Springer show had been involved in raising it at a Cathedral concert.
Christian Voice director Stephen Green also caused widespread offence by refusing to offer any compensation to the cancer sufferers and by saying that he wished to reverse the stereotype of Christianity as “a religion for women and wimps”.
Co-op Bank takes account away from Christian Voice
-25/06/05
The Co-operative Bank, one of the leading corporate practitioners of ethical banking, has asked a UK Christian organisation to take away its business because of its hostile opposition to homosexuals – a stance that the director of one lesbian and gay organisation has called “incitement to hatred”.
The bank has given Christian Voice until 6 July 2005 to close its account. The group came to public attention through recent protests about the BBC showing Jerry Springer – The Opera. Its supporters wish to see homosexuality re-criminalised, those it defines as ‘perverts’ barred from government, the repeal of the Civil Partnerships Act, and the banning of the Gay Police Association (GPA).
A Co-operative Bank spokesman said: “Christian Voice is engaged in discriminatory pronouncements, based on the grounds of sexual orientation. This public stance is incompatible with the position of the Co-operative Bank, which publicly supports diversity and dignity in all its forms for our staff, customers and other stakeholders.”
She continued: “The Bank believes in respect for all sectors of society and its approach to Christian Voice is based purely on the issue of diversity, and not on the grounds of religion.”
Stephen Green of Christian Voice responded: “The Co-op Bank, for all its fine words, is discriminating against us on the grounds of conscience and religion.”
But he added, “Now we have found out how pro-homosexual the Co-op Bank is we would not want to do business with them. We would have jumped before being pushed.”
Ben Summerskill, CEO of the respected gay charity Stonewall, said that the bank’s action seemed sensible and appropriate. Stonewall says it hopes the case will also lead to a direct change in the law.
Currently there is no protection afforded to lesbian and gay people from material that could incite violence. A number of MPs are calling for such protection to be added to the controversial Racial and Religious Hatred bill, which will protect some religious minorities against similar attacks for the first time.
“Christian Voice incites hatred against gay people,” Mr Summerskill declared. “If they peddled the same [views] against black people they would face prosecution, which is why we are asking the government to change the law.”
On BBC Radio 4 this afternoon Liberal Democrat MP Mathew Taylor said that Christian Voice, in spite of its name, “does not speak for the majority of Christians.”
Government minister Ben Bradshaw, the Labour MP for Exeter, said that he hoped people who sympathised with Christian Voice might now be prepared to reconsider their views and to adopt a more open approach to issues of sexuality.
Mr Bradshaw said that he had a number of interests in this case, since he is a Christian, a gay person, and a Co-op customer because of its ethical stance.
It was reported last year that Bradshaw and his long-term partner would forge a civil union. In the 1997 election he defeated a virulently anti-gay campaign from Adrian Rogers, then the Conservative candidate.
Christian Voice is considered an extreme organisation by British church representatives. It says it opposes ‘One World government’ and wishes to see the re-introduction of the death penalty, withdrawal from the European Union and the arming of the UK population.
Other CV policies include the outlawing of abortion, the building of ‘as many nuclear power stations as are necessary’, a prohibition on sex education in schools, the re-introduction of hunting, Christian evangelism supported through public funds, and the removal of charitable status ‘from bodies promoting other faiths and those hostile to the Christian faith.’
Christian Voice was widely condemned for facilitating the intimidation of BBC staff over the showing of Jerry Springer – The Opera by publicising their contact details. It subsequently apologised for doing this.
However the group went on to exert pressure on a Scottish charity to refuse a £3000 donation that would help cancer sufferers, because cast members from the Jerry Springer show had been involved in raising it at a Cathedral concert.
Christian Voice director Stephen Green also caused widespread offence by refusing to offer any compensation to the cancer sufferers and by saying that he wished to reverse the stereotype of Christianity as “a religion for women and wimps”.