Anti-Christian Controversy About a Catholic Becoming Equality Minister

Country: United Kingdom
Date of incident: May 9, 2006
Category: Government Restrictions
Attack against: Morals
Area of case: Political / Private
Ruth Kelly, a devout Roman Catholic was made Minister for Women and Equality. Gay rights campaigners reacted with disbelief and stirred up a worrying debate whether a Catholic was fit for such a government position.
Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Communities, a committed Catholic and member of the Opus Dei group, was embroiled in a renewed row over her religious beliefs. Critics attacked her new role as the Government's equality champion after it emerged she had missed a series of votes on equal rights since 1997.
Journalist Andrew Pierce of the “Times” wrote: “Ruth Kelly, a devout Roman Catholic and a member of the conservative sect Opus Dei, which is featured in The Da Vinci Code, was made Minister for Women and Equality.” Interestingly, he presents a fiction movie as fact, and calls a Catholic lay community a “sect”. The widespread criticism that a Catholic might not be fit to be minister for Women and Equality is of much concern for the Observatory.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,564-2174049_1,00.html http://www.workersliberty.org/node/6211 http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_060510ruthkelly.shtml http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/politics/2005-1413.html