Clash over case of sacked Christian counsellor

In a powerful dismissal of the application to appeal, Lord Justice Laws said legislation for the protection of views held purely on religious grounds could not be justified. He said it was an irrational idea, "but it is also divisive, capricious and arbitrary".

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey had sent a statement to a judge hearing an application to appeal by Christian Gary McFarlane.

The senior church figure called for a specially-constituted panel of judges with a "proven sensitivity and understanding of religious issues" to hear the case.

Lord Carey said recent decisions involving Christians by the courts had used "dangerous" reasoning and this could lead to civil unrest.

The judge's ruling continued: "The precepts of any one religion – any belief system – cannot, by force of their religious origins, sound any louder in the general law than the precepts of any other.

"If they did, those out in the cold would be less than citizens, and our constitution would be on the way to a theocracy, which is of necessity autocratic.

"The law of a theocracy is dictated without option to the people, not made by their judges and governments.

"The individual conscience is free to accept such dictated law, but the State, if its people are to be free, has the burdensome duty of thinking for itself."

Lord Justice Laws said the former archbishop's statement revealed a misunderstanding of the law. Lord Carey called for a special court to hear such cases, headed by the Lord Chief Justice, and said he disputed that the manifestation of the Christian faith in relation to same sex unions was discriminatory.

Mr McFarlane, 48, from Bristol, wanted permission to appeal against an Employment Appeal Tribunal ruling which supported his sacking by Relate Avon in 2008.

The father of two had alleged unfair dismissal on the grounds of religious discrimination.

Lord Carey said: "The description of religious faith in relation to sexual ethics as 'discriminatory' is crude and illuminates a lack of sensitivity to religious belief."

He added: "The comparison of a Christian, in effect, with a 'bigot' (i.e. a person with an irrational dislike to homosexuals) begs further questions. It is further evidence of a disparaging attitude to the Christian faith and its values."

Lord Carey and other Christian leaders began expressing concerns after Lord Neuberger, who as Master of the Rolls is head of the civil Court of Appeal, ruled in December last year that Lillian Ladele, a Christian registrar, was breaking discrimination laws by refusing to conduct civil partnership ceremonies.

Referring to that case, Lord Carey said in the statement: "It is, of course, but a short step from the dismissal of a sincere Christian from employment to a religious bar to any employment by Christians."