A letter to the UK government: Response to the consultation on banning ‘conversion therapy’

Today a number of church leaders, including Graham Nicholls, Director of Affinity, have published a letter to the government outlining why the legislation on banning so called ‘conversion therapy’ as presently framed would be wrong. We are inviting you to read the letter and consider signing it. 

Visit this website to read and sign the letter, which will be sent to Secretary of State, Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP.

The letter is written by current church leaders and counsellors and shows how entirely appropriate Christian ministry could be affected by this broad and ill-defined ban. Here is an extract from the letter:

In our churches we welcome and show love to many people who have different experience and views, including same-sex attraction and forms of gender transition. We always seek to act in love, with gentleness and respect, for the good of all, and never with any form of coercion or control. 

The category of ‘Conversion Therapy’ is one which is so broad as to be essentially meaningless. It has the effect of implying an equivalence between calling people to conversion to Christ, which is our duty as Christian ministers, and evil and disreputable past practices which are already illegal and which Christians are the first to condemn. Legislating against such a bizarrely broad category is clearly not viable and strongly risks criminalising us as we fulfil our compassionate duties as Christian ministers and pastors. This would be a clear breach of our legal right to manifest our religion.

Continue reading the letter here.

We are calling on our network of churches and agencies to read and sign the letter and to share with as many as possible.

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