Church of England Warns Draft Conversion Practices Ban Must Not Criminalise Prayer and Pastoral Care

The Church of England has asked that the UK government’s draft conversion practices ban for England and Wales not “unintentionally criminalise providing appropriate prayer and pastoral care to those who seek it,” a Church spokesman told The Telegraph, as reported by GB News. “We believe that everyone is made in the image of God and should be cherished for who they are,” the spokesman said.

The Church plans to raise this concern with the joint committee of MPs and peers reviewing the bill. “We will reflect this concern in our evidence to the pre-legislative scrutiny process,” the spokesman said. The spokesman also said that “of course pastoral care and prayer should never be coercive,” and that “a ban on conversion therapy must still allow space for discussion and disagreement.”

A government spokesman defended the draft, saying it “would outlaw a specific form of abuse, setting high bars which protect freedom of expression, including for religious leaders, while ensuring no one is free to commit abuse.” The Church spokesman pointed to a 2017 General Synod vote in which, he said, members “voted overwhelmingly” to call on the government to bring forward a ban on conversion therapy with respect to sexual orientation. According to the Church’s account of that vote, bishops backed the amended motion 36 to 1, clergy 135 to 25 and laity 127 to 48. The motion asked the government to “ban the practice of Conversion Therapy.” Campaigner Jayne Ozanne moved it. Paul Bayes, then Bishop of Liverpool, said that “LGBTI+ orientation and identity is not a sickness,” the Church reported. The motion also asked the Church to “be sensitive to, and to listen to, contemporary expressions of gender identity.” The bill text says this year’s draft explicitly covers attempts to change someone’s sexual orientation or “a transgender identity.”

When the government published the draft on June 25, the Bishop of Manchester, David Walker, spoke for the Church. “I welcome the publication of this draft Bill as a positive step towards banning conversion practices,” he said in the government’s announcement. He added that these practices “have harmed LGBT+ people over many years, leaving many with lifelong trauma,” the Church Times reported.

Not all church leaders shared that view. John Sherrington, the Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool, said there was “a danger that this legislation will create uncertainty around lawful pastoral care by the Church, family life and the legality of open conversations that might take place in a range of social settings.” He called on politicians “to abandon this bill and focus instead on enforcement of existing protections and accessible support for anyone facing abuse or coercion,” GB News reported.

In the House of Lords on July 1, the Church of England’s Bishop of Leicester raised drafting concerns, pointing to “the lack of clarity on the difference between harmful conversion practices and perfectly acceptable practices of pastoral care and indeed prayer,” according to a record of the exchange on the Church in Parliament blog. Lord Collins of Highbury replied for the government that “a religious leader teaching their faith’s views on LGBT+ matters should not be affected by this draft Bill.” The bill’s explanatory notes say it is “also not intended to interfere with people’s right to religious belief and expression.” The government said in June that anyone found guilty of conducting abusive conversion practices “could face an unlimited fine, a custodial sentence of up to 5 years, or both.”

Ozanne, founder of the Ban Conversion Practices Coalition, told the bill committee that she was traumatized by people praying for her to be straight. “It is the fact that they are trying to pray for you to be changed to a thing that they think you ought to be as opposed to praying for you to find a point of peace,” she said. Jasmine O’Connor, co-CEO of the LGBT+ anti-abuse charity Galop, welcomed the legislation, saying, “We know all too well how gaps in legislation have left LGBT+ people unprotected against covert and insidious forms of abuse.” Ian Smith, a survivor of conversion practices, has also described his experience to the committee.

The committee’s call for evidence closes at 5pm on Monday 16 November, Christian Today reported, which is 9 a.m. PT. Galop said in October that the committee will “report its findings with recommendations for the government by 22 January 2027.” A final bill would then have to be introduced and pass both houses of Parliament.

Source: Read the original report