Harriet, the Pope and the "Equalities" Bill

After some rumblings we see that the Pope has waded in and spoken out about the Equalities Bill, brain child of one Harriet Harman who as we must surely know has not a bigoted bone in her body, working its way though Parliament.

Let us cut through the specifics and get to the generics.

This is about freedom of association.

Those in favour of the bill are basically saying they support the right of someone, to put it bluntly, thrusting themselves upon an organisation with the lurking threat of a lawsuit if they don't get their way*.

Freedom of association is a fundamental freedom and is far more important, far superior than any employment regulations.

I do not support a special case for religious groups. I support the right of ANY group to decide who it wants to be in or not in that group. Therefore I have no issue with all-women clubs, male-only golf cliques, lesbian tennis associations if that is what they want.

This is very far removed from another problem in employment, that of an individual enacting their own personal prejudices - for or against, mind - in the workplace. However, if there is any claim, to me it is by the group over the group member not conforming to the code. A prospective member has no contract with the group before, say, employment, so I fail to see why a group should be punished because of an errant employee before the claimant gains employment**. Yes, it is more convenient for the State to impose its will this way, but being a supporter of the Rule of Law, administrative convenience is, IIRC, no justification for legislation.


* this is called "fairness". All the more reason to recoil at the Lib Dems' clasping of this disingenuous term to its busom of late.

**it is another thing if an employee is subject to discrimination and nothing is done about it, for then a contract exists)