Stormont calls for ‘conversion practices’ law but admits religious freedom concerns

The Northern Ireland Assembly has pushed the Communities Minister to bring forward a “ban on conversion practices”.

MLAs passed the motion by 41 to 25 votes, which claimed that “harmful and damaging conversion practices are still legal in Northern Ireland”. It backed a recent study featuring examples of mainstream Christian activities described as conversion practices, including participation in “prayer, Bible studies and teaching”.

Although politicians rejected an amendment clarifying that prayer and pastoral support should not be caught by a new law, there was greater recognition of religious freedom concerns than during a previous debate in 2021.

Prayer

While Doug Beattie MLA supports outlawing so-called conversion practices, he said: “The right to pray and preach and to give counsel and pastoral care to someone who seeks support should not be diminished.”

Minister for Communities Gordon Lyons highlighted that the UK, Scottish and Irish Governments have each “experienced difficulties in arriving at a precise definition of conversion practices and of what a potential ban would include”.

He emphasised: “While it is important that we have protections against coercive, abusive and unsafe practices, it is vital that rights, such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion, are protected.”

The Minister explained that the Department will not bring forward any proposals on the matter until it has conducted a consultation and collected further evidence.

Court action

The Christian Institute’s Deputy Director Simon Calvert stated: “The debate around ‘conversion practices’ has been mired in confusion because activists often fail to distinguish between clearly abusive practices which are already illegal – such as holding people against their will – and innocent practices such as prayer and parenting.”

He highlighted Jason Coppel KC’s legal opinion, which demonstrates that activists’ demands are incompatible with Northern Ireland’s human rights obligations because it would impact ordinary Christian practices such as prayer and pastoral care.

Mr Calvert emphasised that the Institute has already warned the Minister for Communities that “we ‘will not hesitate, where appropriate, to seek a judicial review’ if proposals from the Department interfere with the ordinary work of churches”.

Taxpayers’ money

Last month, the Institute slammed the taxpayer-funded study referenced in the motion that called for a new conversion practices law based on the allegations of just ten people.

‘A Study of Conversion Practices in Northern Ireland’, commissioned by LGBT lobby groups with funding from the Department for Communities, interviewed individuals who claimed they were offered or experienced so-called conversion practices in the last ten years.

The authors claimed that seven participants encountered conversion practices through “faith groups”, and listed “prayer” as one of the “frameworks and techniques involved in conversion practices”.

The Institute’s Acting Director Ciarán Kelly said the research is “impossible to take seriously”, following the study’s own admission that it is unrepresentative of the public.