Equality Bill

My Lords, I have thought long and hard about this matter and I wish to share a short and general thought on the issue. Equality, human rights and freedom have become in themselves a religion or a philosophical belief—almost organised, in fact, given the number of bodies that exist to enforce them. We have, therefore, a clash between two sets of religious or philosophical beliefs and I see no reason why one should be superior to the other. Indeed, equality, freedom and human rights have grown out of the older established religions. To prevent the older established religions from continuing to teach their principles will, in the end, produce a generation that cannot see the point in equality, freedom and human rights, the justification for which lies originally in religion. Since we are, in my view, dealing with clashes of philosophical beliefs, there is a danger for those who uphold equality, freedom and human rights—I, of course, am one of them—that this becomes like a juggernaut, crushing all other religions. Anyone who stands in the way gets the sort of treatment that reminds me of what took place when there were clashes between the organised religions a few hundred years ago. It behoves those who believe in equality and freedom to be magnanimous and tolerant and to allow other religions the same freedom that equality itself, and all that goes with it, has. It is for that reason that I support the amendments tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Cathain—with one other proviso. Court intervention in religious matters has not worked well. If, according to European law, we must be proportionate, writing that into the legislation is unnecessary because it is there anyway. However, the courts have great difficulty. I instance a recent judgment about a faith school where the noble and learned Lords of the Supreme Court—not always Lords now—admitted that it was a shame that the case had come to court and that what was being done was not at all appropriate. We ended up with a rather sad judgment, which flew in the face of the way in which Jews have defined themselves for thousands of years. The intervention of the court should be avoided if at all possible. It costs hundreds of thousands of pounds and may not be appropriate. This is a case for magnanimity, tolerance and flexibility. Therefore, I urge your Lordships to support the amendments tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Cathain.