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Religious Freedom

A core element of the Catholic Union’s work is promoting religious freedom. This includes helping Catholics to play a full and active part in society; in the places we live, work, and study. It also involves highlighting the plight of people in other countries who face persecution on account of their faith. The Catholic Union is part of the FoRB Forum of groups and organisation committed to promoting freedom of religion or belief.

Do your parliamentary candidates support freedom of conscience?

Each of the three main parties has been accused of discriminating against people with religious beliefs. There appears to be an alarmingly low level of understanding of the nature of a religious belief and about what it means to respect the beliefs and consciences of others.

The Catholic Union has therefore formulated three questions for you to ask your parliamentary candidates. It also sets out some facts for discussion should you wish to use them.

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Catholic Union calls for freedom of religion or belief manifesto commitments

The Catholic Union has called for a manifesto commitment from the three main, national parties to tackle religious persecution.

Writing to Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn, and Jo Swinson, the Catholic Union has called for freedom of religion or belief to be at the heart of government policy, whoever who wins the election.

The Catholic Union has specifically called for a commitment to implement the recommendations of a recent report into Christian persecution, carried out by the Bishop of Truro.

Read More »Catholic Union calls for freedom of religion or belief manifesto commitments

Catholic work to promote religious freedom praised by Special Envoy

The Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, Rehman Chishti, has praised the contribution of the Catholic Church to tackling religious persecution.

Speaking at a talk hosted by the Catholic Union on 7 November, Mr Chishti said that the Church and Catholic charities like Aid to the Church in Need are helping to provide information on the ground in some of the worst affected places. He also drew on the words of Saint John Henry Newman – lead kindly light – as inspiration for tackling religious persecution.

The event at Mary Moorfields Church in Moorgate began with a talk from the Bishop of Truro, Philip Mounstephen, who led a recent report into Christian persecution.

Bishop Philip said that whilst he had been asked to lead the report by the Archbishop of Canterbury, he saw this as an ecumenical project and praised the contribution of Catholics to the review. He said that persecution of Christians was a “bellwether” for other forms of discrimination, both religious and other types.  Read More »Catholic work to promote religious freedom praised by Special Envoy