Christian Union Petition

Christian Unions in British universities and colleges often face opposition of one kind or another. Recently, Exeter CU was suspended from the list of official student societies, its student union bank account was frozen, and it was banned from using Student Guild premises for meetings. All this because the Guild claimed the CU's constitution and activities did not conform to its equal opportunities policies; that is, it objected to the CU requiring its leaders to sign a declaration of Christian faith. (See, for example, this Guardian report.)

Other CUs are also facing similar opposition (see this Times article). For example, Edinburgh CU was banned from running a course teaching the orthodox Christian view of sex and relationships because of opposition from homosexuals. Birmingham CU has been suspended because it refuses to allow its meetings to be led by anyone who refuses to sign up to its statement of beliefs and because it refused to alter its constitution to pander to the homosexual lobby.

A petition on the Downing Street web site asks for some sanity to be restored:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to defend the right of Christian Unions to control who may come into leadership of them. Just as one would not expect a left wing political party to welcome people of a right wing persuasion into their leadership a Christian Union should be able to expect leaders to share the declared beliefs of that CU and that the CU has the right to control who may be admitted into leadership; this right should not exclude CUs' access to premises in universities, colleges, schools etc. on a par with other societies in those establishments.

Please sign it.