Church license plea 'dangerous'

by Peter Stanford PROPOSALS made earlier this week by Lord Denning that every religious body in this country should be licensed have caused concern in the Catholic community.
Lord Denning's remarks were made in the light of the recent comments by Mr Justice Latey who described the Church of Scientology as "Corrupt, immoral, obnoxious, sinister and dangerous", and reflect widespread public concern at the alarming growth of such cults. Lord Denning himself has received many distressing letters from parents whose children have been enticed into various cults, including the Hare Krishna and Rajneesh Movements and the Unification Church (the so-called "Moonies").
The former Master of the Rolls suggested a licensing system under which the Church of England, the Roman Catholic and the Baptist Churches and various other "mainstream" Churches, as well as all cults which claim to be religious bodies, would have to apply to be licensed by a Commissioner for Religious Bodies.
Cults deemed harmful could then be refused a licence and made liable to prosecution. "Some sort of licensing system for religious bodies is the only
way I can see that the harmful activities of these cults can be stopped", Lord Denning said.
However, his views have been described as "very dangerous" by Fr Anthony Churchill of the Catholic Media Office. He echoed Lord Denning's concern at the activities of cults (there are an estimated 170 operating in London alone) but felt that the current law was adequate to deal with them. He mentioned in particular the legal capacity to remove the charitable status of cults which are shown to use harmful methods.
Since the Catholic Church had been subjected to some three centuries of persecution for its views, Fr Churchill pointed out that he would be slow to talk about registering religions, and feared that such a move might eventually become "the thin edge of the wedge" of interference in religious freedom.
Catholic Member of Parliament, David Alton, who has called for the expulsion of the Church of Scientology from this country, took issue with Lord Denning this week for "prescribing the wrong remedy". Again Mr Alton shared Lord Denning's concern at the growth of cults and their effects on family life, but he thought the proposals offensive to the principle of freedom of religious worship,. and recommended instead the plans of Richard Cottrell MEP.
Mr Cottrell has suggested a code of conduct for cults, which would allow parents a right of access to their children and would regulate the charitable status of such bodies. The British Council of Churches has rejected Mr Cottrell's plans as damaging to religious freedom, but Mr Alton believes that they could form the basis of government action.
Lord Denning, however, told the Catholic Herald this week that he felt that established Churches should have no fears as to the effect of his proposals. He did concede that perhaps a body could be set up to decide which Churches could be exempted from his licensing proposals, but he did not feel that Mr Cottrell's code of conduct would be feasible to enforce.