THE Scottish charity regulator is coming under pressure to change its laws after a church body that carries out “exorcisms” for homosexuality looks set to expand its presence in Scotland.
Forward In Faith Church International Incorporated (FFCII) has bought premises in Edinburgh and has plans to expand into areas such as Dundee and Fife, according to its annual report.
The organisation – which originated in Zimbabwe and promotes “vicious homophobia and misogyny" according to campaigners – was handed charity status earlier this year by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).
The National Secular Society (NSS) has now laid out its serious concerns about the law which deems “advancement of religion” as a charitable purpose in its own right.
The organisation has written to Equalities Minister Kaukab Stewart (below) stating the current law is “significantly impeding” the Scottish Government’s efforts to tackle misogyny and is out-of-step with plans to outlaw conversion therapy, but the Scottish Government has said decisions around charitable status are the responsibility of OSCR.
An “Apostles Update” on the FFCII website from 2017 describes the exorcism of a man possessed by a “homosexual spirit” that had “bound him for many years”.
It goes on to say he was freed during a “miracle night” in St Kitts and Nevis amid an “electric” atmosphere.
Elsewhere on the website a blog post from 2012, entitled A Wise Women’s Responsibility by Pastor Fiona Arthurs, suggests sex is "the very reason" for marriage, adding: "When we said 'I do' we were saying 'I do' to his desire for sex. A foolish woman continues to make excuses.”
It adds that wives should not “nag” their husbands and should make their home a “haven for your husband”.
Another blog entry describes the “deliverance” of a 14-year-old girl in Zimbabwe who was taken nightly to "eat human flesh and drink human blood" as part of a “witchcraft” ritual.
Alejandro Sanchez, human rights lead at the National Secular Society, told The National: “This is a church that celebrates as a miracle the exorcism of a man from a homosexual spirit.
“You can conclude from that that homosexuality is somehow caused by demonic possession, that it’s evil, something that someone needs to be delivered from which sounds an awful lot like conversion therapy which the Scottish Government is trying to criminalise as we speak.
“It’s an internally inconsistent approach to, on the one hand, try to ban this practice, and then on the other hand, enabling charities via tax breaks to promote these views.”
In its letter to Stewart (below), the NSS highlighted a couple of other cases where churches with “sexist and misogynistic” ideology had been given charitable status in recent years.
The pastor of Rosyth Baptist Church, which re-registered in January, gave a sermon that month in which he said “a husband is the head of his wife”, while the pastor of Moray Coast Baptist Church, which registered in 2022, said in a 2021 sermon that the “primary function” of women is “to be married, to have children, and to tend to household affairs”.
Sanchez added: “Religious views seem to be treated as a distinct category [in charity regulation]. We’ve seen this repeatedly with Rosyth Baptist Church which said that wives must submit to their husbands. We had the Moray Coast Baptist Church where the pastor said that housework is the primary function of wives and women.
“This seems to be the trend and the regulator seems unwilling or unable to take action so that’s why we think the charitable purpose of advancement of religion requires review.”
The NSS said in its letter all three charities – including FFCII – had been reported to OSCR but it had “refused to act”, saying it “cannot intervene in the activities of religious charities seeking to promote their religious beliefs unless their activities have the clear and direct effect of harming others or otherwise breach the law”.
Neil Barber, of the Edinburgh Secular Society, added: “If organised groups are doing work that is obviously in the public interest, then whether they have a faith motivation or not is irrelevant.
“The notion that the advancement of religion is, in itself, deemed to be in the public interest stems from a time many years ago when that was deemed to be the case, when there were an awful lot more religious believers and the church had a lot more power than it [does now].”
The NSS has also accused OSCR of “appearing to prioritise” the protected characteristic of religion over sex “by failing to prevent charities from promoting ideas which are clearly discriminatory to women.”
“There is no reason to believe OSCR would permit comparable misogyny propagated by a non-religious charity,” the letter added.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Charities and OSCR are independent of the Scottish Government. Decisions about charitable status are a matter for OSCR.”
An OSCR spokesperson said: "The organisation became a registered Scottish charity after they submitted an application that successfully met a charity test.
"The Charity Commission for England and Wales (CCEW) are the lead regulator for Forward In Faith Church International Incorporated. Our Memorandum of Understanding with CCEW allows them to take the lead on any investigations into charities which operate in both England and Scotland.
"In general terms, we cannot intervene in the activities of religious charities seeking to promote their religious beliefs unless their activities have the clear and direct effect of harming others or otherwise breach the law."
FFCII has been approached for comment.
