The Free Church of Scotland’s Public Engagement Group (PEG) is set to respond to the Government’s draft Conversion Practices Bill for England and Wales. The Scottish Government have indicated they would like to extend this legislation to apply to Scotland as well.
Rev Stephen Allison, Public Engagement Coordinator, said PEG is preparing a response on behalf of the denomination, and he is encouraging congregations and members of the Free Church to also respond.
PEG previously responded to the Scottish Government’s 2024 consultation on ending conversion practices. The proposed legislation was not introduced before the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.
At the time, PEG said it condemned abusive, coercive and violent practices, which contradict Christian teaching. The Group said that the Bible teaches that everyone is made in the image of God and worthy of inherent dignity and respect.
However, PEG also raised significant concerns about the breadth and potential implications of the Scottish Government’s proposals. In particular, the Group warned that legislation intended to prevent abuse must be carefully defined to ensure that it does not criminalise ordinary religious teaching, pastoral conversations, prayer or the legitimate expression of Christian beliefs about marriage, sexuality and gender.
The Group highlighted the importance of protecting freedom of religion, freedom of expression and the rights of parents to raise their children in accordance with their religious convictions. It also questioned whether the proposed legislation adequately distinguished between genuinely abusive conduct and respectful conversations in which individuals may be encouraged to consider or live in accordance with the teachings of their faith.
PEG further emphasised that existing criminal law already provides important protections against threatening, abusive and coercive behaviour. Any new legislation must therefore be shown to address genuine gaps in the law, rather than introducing broad offences that risk creating uncertainty about lawful religious activities.
These same concerns remain relevant to the draft Conversion Practices Bill currently being considered at Westminster.
Full details of the latest Bill are available here.
The Bill will ‘create new offences in relation to the carrying out of abusive conversion practices on individuals; to make provision for conversion practice protection orders: and for connected purposes’. The Joint Committee examining the Bill is seeking written evidence by 5pm on Monday 16th November.
The Christian Institute has produced a helpful guide for people in Scotland responding to the Call for Evidence – Conversion-therapy_Call-for-evidence-supporter-guide_Scotland.pdf. If you have any specific questions, you can email Stephen ([email protected]).
PEG’s response to the 2024 Scottish Proposals can be read here.