The Lords Prayer advert now banned in cinemas.

[George Hannah]

They may be disappointed because they went ahead with the advert without first checking the policy of their intended outlet. They will certainly be disappointed with DCM's policy.

According to the BBC report when the CoE discussed the ad with DCM in June there was no issue about a conflict with their policies.

 

[Damocles]

It is curious that the CoE don't seem to have embarked on a legal challenge yet. I thought they may have been able to argue from the definition of religion or belief in the Act without recourse to a comparator. That by restricting their services in this way DCM are in effect discriminating against all religions/belief systems of which the CoE is one.

http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/documents/EqualityAct/servicescode.pdf

I think it's an interesting challenge to the Equality Act either way and will see the answer come down definitively on one side.

For the reasons above, I don't find the behaviour discriminatory and if it is ruled as such I think it's stupid. Businesses SHOULD be perfectly allowed to discriminate their sales and purchases if they so want - the foundation of capitalism is to allow the market to decide the suitability of business practices and not the state.

I also think that people should be allowed to refuse service to Muslims, gay people, black people, fat people, French people, kids, and anybody else that they so choose. Businesses are not people and should not be held to discrimination laws in the same way as people. Let the consumer decide with their wallet to support or protest the policies of the business.

 

[aguero93:20]

The belief or non belief has to conform to criteria which the Act defines in order to be protected. By not providing a service to a body of protected belief/non belief DCM are acting unlawfully - it could be argued. Maybe I'm wrong I'm ignorant about many things, including the law.

You're ignorant of this law. They're a private commercial company that have made a decision prior to this issue that they will not show political or religious advertising as it's not relevant to their product and could offend. They're not targeting a particular group and they're not stopping anyone from practising their religion. That law was designed to stop people being discriminated against for employment and housing on the basis of religion. Are they discriminating by not employing people of a certain religion? Are they showing adverts from one religion and refusing the others? Because that's the only ways in which the act is relevant to them. They're not going to show an advert of the Lord's prayer because it's not relevant and possibly offensive to anyone who's not a COE adherent.

In their own words:

• In 2013, approximately 2.4 million people participated in a Church of England service on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve. During the same year, 1.3 million people attended an Easter service. (Statistics for Mission, 2013)

That's from 64 million people. Any case of this sort has to prove direct discrimination causing the oppression of someone's rights or to be in the interest of the greater good, try imagining taking their case to a judge.

 

[aguero93:20]

Businesses are not people and should not be held to discrimination laws in the same way as people.

I disagree when it comes to PLCs, they're given many of the same rights as people under law and are seperate and independent legal entities and should have responsibilities to the same degree.

 

[Blue&whitestripes]

Anyone else old enough to remember when Cinemas and Theatres used to play the National Anthem after the last showing/performance of the day? That always caused a stampede to get out of the auditorium before you were stuck in place while it played.

But back to the topic: religion should, in my opinion, be an entirely private matter between the churches/mosques/synagogues/temples and those who choose to participate. And maybe the CoE would be better off using their money for charitable purposes or for the upkeep of their churches instead of spending on on advertisements.

I think it's an interesting challenge to the Equality Act either way and will see the answer come down definitively on one side.

For the reasons above, I don't find the behaviour discriminatory and if it is ruled as such I think it's stupid. Businesses SHOULD be perfectly allowed to discriminate their sales and purchases if they so want - the foundation of capitalism is to allow the market to decide the suitability of business practices and not the state.

I also think that people should be allowed to refuse service to Muslims, gay people, black people, fat people, French people, kids, and anybody else that they so choose. Businesses are not people and should not be held to discrimination laws in the same way as people. Let the consumer decide with their wallet to support or protest the policies of the business.

You want to go back to the days when hotels and boarding houses had signs in the window saying "No dogs, no blacks, no Irish"?

 

[Damocles]

You want to go back to the days when hotels and boarding houses had signs in the window saying "No dogs, no blacks, no Irish"?

Yes, I want the market to decide the acceptability of business practices and consumer protection

 

[Paladin]

I said I'm not. Can't speak for anyone else.

Thanks, and I'm sorry if I misinterpreted your post.

For the avoidance of doubt, I agree with GH that if anyone suggests all people who hold religious views are without a brain, then that person is indeed, speaking from a position of ignorance.

 

[Bill Walker]

I dont care which God people praise, its a personal matter

But I hate how our freedom of speech is being denuded

 

[George Hannah]

You're ignorant of this law. They're a private commercial company that have made a decision prior to this issue that they will not show political or religious advertising as it's not relevant to their product and could offend. They're not targeting a particular group and they're not stopping anyone from practising their religion. That law was designed to stop people being discriminated against for employment and housing on the basis of religion. Are they discriminating by not employing people of a certain religion? Are they showing adverts from one religion and refusing the others? Because that's the only ways in which the act is relevant to them. They're not going to show an advert of the Lord's prayer because it's not relevant and possibly offensive to anyone who's not a COE adherent.

In their own words:

• In 2013, approximately 2.4 million people participated in a Church of England service on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve. During the same year, 1.3 million people attended an Easter service. (Statistics for Mission, 2013)

That's from 64 million people. Any case of this sort has to prove direct discrimination causing the oppression of someone's rights or to be in the interest of the greater good, try imagining taking their case to a judge.

I am relying only on the published code I posted a link to. It seems to state quite clearly that Sections 3 & 7 of the Act relate to the provision of services by private companies for profit. It is not confined to employment and housing.
Counting church attendees is not relevant either to the adherence to Christianity in the UK or what constitutes the greater good. The legislation protects freedom of expression whether of religion or other organised belief systems from direct or and indirect discrimination. This practice is to my mind clearly discriminatory and there is no good reason for it.

 

[aguero93:20]

You're ignorant of this law. They're a private commercial company that have made a decision prior to this issue that they will not show political or religious advertising as it's not relevant to their product and could offend. They're not targeting a particular group and they're not stopping anyone from practising their religion. That law was designed to stop people being discriminated against for employment and housing on the basis of religion. Are they discriminating by not employing people of a certain religion? Are they showing adverts from one religion and refusing the others? Because that's the only ways in which the act is relevant to them. They're not going to show an advert of the Lord's prayer because it's not relevant and possibly offensive to anyone who's not a COE adherent.

In their own words:

• In 2013, approximately 2.4 million people participated in a Church of England service on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve. During the same year, 1.3 million people attended an Easter service. (Statistics for Mission, 2013)

That's from 64 million people. Any case of this sort has to prove direct discrimination causing the oppression of someone's rights or to be in the interest of the greater good, try imagining taking their case to a judge.

Oh and also @George Hannah if the courts were to decide in favour of the COE they'd distort the market for accepting advertising contracts as agencies would be compelled to accept contracts from political and religious organisations at a lower fee for fear of being held in breach of the aforementioned act.