EPS CHALLENGES MORROW, McWILLIAMS, COLLINS TO DEFEND RIGHT OF CONSCIENCE

A week ago in the Northern Ireland Assembly, Sinn Fein, SDLP, Alliance and Green Party voted in favour of a very sinister motion. Basing their argument on the statement by Culture, Arts and Leisure Minister, Mr Nelson McCausland, that he would not attend a service in a Roman Catholic church, these parties have signalled that if people hold public office, they are not allowed to have a conscience, especially if it is a Protestant one. By their logic, evangelical Protestant beliefs, and those who hold them, have "no place in an inclusive society".

Such intransigence is completely unacceptable in a democratic society, and if it had been directed against any other faith group there would have been a deafening outcry by now - and rightly so. 

Instead, there has been a deafening silence from those organizations with a legal responsibility to challenge and address this sort of intolerance.  

We would therefore challenge Duncan Morrow, Chief Executive of the Community Relations Council, Monica McWilliams, Chief Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission, and Bob Collins, Chief Commissioner of the Equality Commission, to unreservedly condemn the sentiments contained in the Sinn Fein motion, and to indicate what steps they intend to take to reassure the evangelical Protestant community.