UK Bishops Urge Lawmakers to Abandon a Conversion Practices Bill
UK bishops, led by Archbishop John Sherrington, called on lawmakers to drop a draft bill they say threatens pastoral care, parents, and religious freedom.
The facts come first below. My opinion follows in the section marked as opinion.
The Catholic bishops of England and Wales have called on British politicians to abandon a draft Conversion Practices Bill, warning that the proposal is drawn so broadly it could threaten religious freedom, ordinary family conversations, and the Church's lawful pastoral work. The Most Rev. John Sherrington, archbishop of Liverpool and chair of the Department for Social Justice for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, issued the statement on Nov. 10 as the draft bill undergoes pre-legislative scrutiny, the conference published on its site. The National Catholic Register, in a Nov. 11 report from EWTN News, described the same appeal.
"I would like to express serious concern about the provisions of the Conversion Practices Bill currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny before it is discussed in Parliament", Sherrington said. "The Bill is very broad in its scope".
The archbishop summarized the draft's definitions. The bill, he said, treats as "conversion practices" conduct toward someone that intends to make a person have, or not have, a particular sexual orientation or transgender identity, or to make them believe they have or do not have such an identity. A practice would be defined as "abusive," and therefore an offense, if it caused serious harm to a person's physical or mental health, or serious alarm or distress that substantially affects daily life, according to the statement.
The bishops did not defend abuse. Sherrington said "The Catholic Church opposes abuse in all circumstances" and that governments should use appropriate law to protect people from harm. The point of the statement was that such conduct is already illegal. "Current legislation, however, already covers such abusive practices and makes them illegal", he said.
What the bishops object to is the expansion. "This Bill proposes to extend the legal definition of abusive practices in ways that threaten a person's fundamental rights, including freedom of religion or belief and freedom of expression", Sherrington said. "The legislation will also create uncertainty around lawful pastoral care by the Church, family life and open conversations that can take place in a range of social settings". He warned that legal action could be taken against individuals or organizations, "including parents of children, who express well-informed opinions and make well-intentioned statements".
The statement went to the heart of the Church's teaching work. The bishops are concerned, Sherrington said, that the legislation will challenge the Church's ability to fulfill its calling to "proclaim an authentic understanding of the human person with clarity, simplicity, love and respect". "People of faith must remain free to express their beliefs through speech and prayer", he said. The conference's ask was direct: "We call on politicians to abandon this Bill and focus instead on enforcement of existing protections and accessible support for anyone facing abuse or coercion".
The National Catholic Register reported the same warnings and noted that debates over counseling and so-called conversion practices have also been fought in other countries. The statement itself does not offer a line-by-line legal commentary, a list of hypothetical prosecutions, or a timetable for a parliamentary vote. It is a formal objection, issued while the draft is still in the scrutiny stage, from the bishops responsible for public life in England and Wales. The argument is not only British. American bishops have also been pressing public officials on questions of law and human protection, including a recent appeal that U.S. bishops urged the Senate to extend Haiti's Temporary Protected Status.
Opinion:
The bishops are right, and they are not hiding behind a slogan. They condemned abuse. They said the law already reaches actual coercion and harm. Then they told the truth about this bill: a definition wide enough to cover a parent, a priest, or a teacher who will not lie about the human body is not a shield for the vulnerable. It is a muzzle.
A man is a man, and a woman is a woman. That is not hate. It is the created order. People who are confused or hurting should be treated with patience and real care, not flattered into a falsehood and not threatened into silence when someone who loves them says so. Prayer, preaching, and ordinary family speech have to remain free, in Britain and here. A state that already knows how to punish abuse does not need a new crime that treats the truth as a wound. Lawmakers should drop the bill.
