How much longer can the Catholic church kick the tyres?

Posted 1 year, 6 months ago at 4:05 pm. 0 comments

Ah, there’s nothing I like more than to use my Moral Decline tag, especially when tongue is firmly planted in cheek.  And with the furore over Catholic adoption agencies and the new UK anti-discrimination legislation, it’s been a whole blizzard of diatribe and vitriol.  Tony “does anyone have a spare legacy” Blair has been pushing for an outright ban on any agency, state-led or otherwise, from refusing to place children with same-sex couples merely on the basis of sexual orientation, while the Catholics (as well as a surprising background chorus of other faiths, each with that dear-in-the-headlights look of “maybe I’m next?”) were demanding exemption on the basis that their faith says homosexuality is naughty.

It’s interesting to see the church treat the government as a car dealership.  They know what they’re getting in the normal deal - free mats and a full tank of fuel, or the equivalent in tax exemptions and preferential treatment of their schools - but just like you and I when we’re shopping for a new urban runaround, they’re after some freebies from the options list, too.  Last year they managed to add exemption for faith schools from having to take non-faith students, primarily by taking the stance of squealing loudly and calling on support from conservative (with a small C) religious politicians.  So it’s not all that surprising that they’ve taken the same approach this time round.

Only it looks like the deal has finally been stretched to breaking point, as an incredulous church finds itself without car and distinctly out of favour - the government says “no can do, boys, there’s no profit-margin in that.”  And now they’re left bleating about vague impacts on volunteering rates, perhaps all too aware that when you’re responsible for just 4% of all adoptions it’s hard to make yourself sound essential (later the quote was “they placed one-third of the difficult-to-place children”)

It remains to be seen whether this signals the beginning of the end for religious impact on politics, and the way Catholic adoption agencies handle the next 21 months (the period they’ve been given to “get used” to having to treat gays as reasonable parents) will perhaps be key.  They can either close - and face being ignored as archaic - or come back to the negotiating table, force a laugh or two about unreasonable demands, and maybe have some hope of swaying future policy.