The last Catholic adoption agency in Britain

Religious freedom and gay rights are colliding in Britain as a prominent charity is being forced to choose between offering adoptions to same sex couples or following the teachings of its church. The impasse began in 2006 with the passing of Britain's Equality Act and culminated a few weeks ago with the charity, Catholic Care, losing an appeal for an exemption.

The Equality Act and the subsequent Sexual Orientations Regulations in 2007 mandated that all British adoption agencies allow same sex couples to adopt. Then prime minister Tony Blair said, according to an article in the Guardian, there was "no place" for discrimination in British society. As anti-discrimination laws increasingly conflict with religious freedom claims across the world, religious groups are scrambling for ways to adjust the balance between private belief and public practice.

There were three ways for Catholic adoption agencies to comply with the law in Britain:

1. Stop being a Catholic charity by cutting ties with the Catholic Church and allow same sex adoption services.

2. Cease all adoption placement work.

3. Seek an exemption from the law for religious reasons.

According to LifeSiteNews.com, Britain's eleven Catholic adoption agencies fought the passage of the 2007 Sexual Orientations Regulation. After it passed, three agencies severed their ties with the church and pursued an open door policy. Seven ended offering adoption placement. This left Catholic Care having to make its own decision.

An article on CharitiesDirect.com, article said, "Although some bishops and clergy may not feel able to sit on the boards of such agencies, it is argued that this does not necessarily alter their Catholic heritage, charism and ethos."

Catholic Care, however, thought differently.

The charity began working with orphans in 1865 and began adoption services in the 1920s. Since 1963 Catholic Care assisted in the placement of more than 1,388 children in the Leeds area. There were, however, other sources for same sex couples to adopt children. But Catholic Care followed Catholic definitions of family and morality. They looked to place children with a married man and woman or with a celibate single. The new laws set up the question of the limits of religious freedom and traditional Christian definitions of morality versus a government's new definitions of equality and morality.

After a temporary exemption period expired, Catholic Care applied to the government's Charity Commission for a permanent exemption.