THE Catholic Church is to go to war over new legislation on rights for homosexuals, vowing to create "gay rights martyrs" if the laws are passed.
In a change of tactics, Church officials now say they will not close down adoption agencies as a result of new laws forcing them to deal with applications from gay couples.
Instead, they will deliberately break the law in order to bring a case to
court. The Church believes it could then challenge a guilty verdict through Article 9 of the Human Rights Act, which upholds the freedom of religious expression.
The challenge considerably increases the temperature in a row that last week left the Cabinet divided and prompted warnings from Church leaders that the issue would prompt them to campaign against Labour in May's Scottish elections. Scotland has two Catholic adoption agencies, which place about 200 children and offer aftercare to 2,000 more.
Previously, Church leaders have said that the agencies would be forced to close, however, a spokesman for the Church told Scotland on Sunday: "We will not shut down the agencies. We will carry on working until someone takes us to court for breaking the law." He added: "There would then be a case where one of our agencies would be found guilty of breaking the law and would be put out of business."
He went on: "We believe there is an opportunity for a judicial review on the grounds that compelling people to act against their religious beliefs contravenes Article 9 of the ECHR."
The plan follows a similar challenge brought against the government in Northern Ireland, where the act has already been introduced. Brought by the Christian Institute, the bid will go ahead in March, in an attempt to topple the regulations in the Province.
The Church is now also warning of other examples where its members may find themselves breaking the new legislation. Once passed, the Equality Act, will ban any discrimination in the provision of services on grounds of sexuality.
The spokesman added: "We will see priests prosecuted for saying they are not renting the hall for a same-sex celebration." He went on: "What about the Christian bookshop which refuses to stock gay literature? They will all be breaking the law."
MSPs took the step of allowing gay adoption barely a month ago, when they passed the Adoption Act. That legislation contained a compromise for church leaders allowing Catholic adoption agencies to pass gay couples on to other agencies, rather than being compelled to take them on. Ministers in London are now updating the Sexual Orientation (Provision of Goods and Services) Regulations, which would apply throughout the UK, and are desperately trying to broker their own compromise with the Church.
One option being examined is a regulation in the bill that would mirror the deal made with clerics in Scotland.
Westminster officials last night insisted that Prime Minister Tony Blair and communities minister Ruth Kelly - the two Cabinet supporters of a Catholic 'exemption' - had not fully capitulated over the gay-adoption issue and were maintaining efforts to seek a "workable compromise". Home Secretary John Reid floated the possibility of following Scotland's lead in pacifying the Catholic Church and the gay community - although he insisted the thrust of the equal-opportunities legislation should not be diverted.
"If there's a transitional period - or in Scotland they've suggested other ways of handling this - then by all means do it," Reid said. "But it mustn't overrule the fundamental principle."
A spokesman for Kelly's department said she was investigating all possible alternatives, including the "Scottish solution". He added: "There is a will to produce the most acceptable regulations possible."
