Foster child to be taken away as Christian couple refuse to teach him homosexuality

[Arthur Gordon Pym]

Foster child to be taken away because Christian couple refuse to teach him about homosexuality

By JAMES MILLS

October 2007

They are devoted foster parents with an unblemished record of caring for almost 30 vulnerable children.

But Vincent and Pauline Matherick will this week have their latest foster son taken away because they have refused to sign new sexual equality regulations.


Vincent and Pauline Matherick: Face being struck off despite fostering 28 times

To do so, they claim, would force them to promote homosexuality and go against their Christian faith.

The 11-year-old boy, who has been in their care for two years, will be placed in a council hostel this week and the Mathericks will no longer be given children to look after.

The devastated couple, who have three grown up children of their own, became foster parents in 2001 and have since cared for 28 children at their home in Chard, Somerset.

Earlier this year, Somerset County Council's social services department asked them to sign a contract to implement Labour's new Sexual Orientation Regulations, part of the Equality Act 2006, which make discrimination on the grounds of sexuality illegal.

Officials told the couple that under the regulations they would be required to discuss same-sex relationships with children as young as 11 and tell them that gay partnerships were just as acceptable as heterosexual marriages.

They could also be required to take teenagers to gay association meetings.

When the Mathericks objected, they were told they would be taken off the register of foster parents.

The Mathericks have decided to resign rather than face the humiliation of being expelled.

Mr Matherick, a 65-year-old retired travel agent and a primary school governor, said: "I simply could not agree to do it because it is against my central beliefs.

"We have never discriminated against anybody but I cannot preach the benefits of homosexuality when I believe it is against the word of God."
Mrs Matherick, 61, said they had asked if they could continue looking after their foster son until he is found a permanent home, but officials refused and he will be placed in a council hostel on Friday.

She said: "He was very upset to begin with. We are all very close, but he's a mature young man and he's dealing with it."

The couple, who have six grandchildren and one greatgrandchild, are both ministers at the nonconformist South Chard Christian Church.

When they first started fostering they took in young single mothers and their babies.

More recently they have been caring for children of primary school age.

Mr Matherick added: "It's terrible that we've been forced into this corner. It just should not happen.

"There are not enough foster carers around anyway without these rules.

"They were saying that we had to be prepared to talk about sexuality with 11-year-olds, which I don't think is appropriate anyway, but not only that, to be prepared to explain how gay people date.

"They said we would even have to take a teenager to gay association meetings.

"How can I do that when it's totally against what I believe?"

Religious campaigners say the couple are the latest victims of an equality drive which puts gay rights above religious beliefs.

Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders have complained that the rules force them to overturn long-held beliefs.

The Mathericks are planning to fight their case in the courts with the backing of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship.

The same organisation is backing Christian magistrate Andrew McClintock who resigned from the family courts in a row over gay adoption.

He says he was forced to resign because he was not allowed to opt out of cases where he might have to send a child to live with gay parents.

The Mathericks' case comes at a time when there is a chronic shortage of foster parents, who work on a voluntary basis.

An extra 8,000 are needed to plug the gaps in the service.

Researchers have found that continually moving children from home to home can have a devastating impact on their education and general welfare.

But a report last year revealed that the shortage of carers meant that some children in care are being forced to move up to three times a year.

David Taylor, Somerset County Council's corporate director for children and young people, said: "No decision has been made about the deregistration of Mr and Mrs Matherick.

"The council is committed to promoting the interests of children and young people and welcomes foster carers from all backgrounds and faiths."

[source]

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[Engelbrecht]

Originally Posted by Plethon

But Vincent and Pauline Matherick will this week have their latest foster son taken away because they have refused to sign new sexual equality regulations.

Amazing! Now they will regulate internal family affairs. What is the next step? Political orientation regulations?

Originally Posted by Plethon

The Mathericks have decided to resign rather than face the humiliation of being expelled.

This is the tolerence of the tolerant. If you are not tolerant we won´t tolerant you. This is just another tricky way to smoke out all those who won´t conform.

Originally Posted by Plethon

They were saying that we had to be prepared to talk about sexuality with 11-year-olds, which I don't think is appropriate anyway, but not only that, to be prepared to explain how gay people date.

They said we would even have to take a teenager to gay association meetings.

A little off topic maybe, but isn´t it ironic that the school first informs the children about how to have sex and how wonderful it is. Then they must theach the same children how to use protection. Really, you don´t have to protect yourself against something that is not harmful.

It´s an organized strategy to break down traditional values and structures, and it´s disgusting.

[Arthur Gordon Pym]

Originally Posted by Engelbrecht

Amazing! Now they will regulate internal family affairs. What is the next step? Political orientation regulations?

It is the creeping dictatorship that is being enacted throughout Europe. It is amazing how most people don't notice that. Most people still trust their "elected officials", think that they live in free societies, honour "abiding by the law" (however stupid and monstruous it may be), trust the establishment (inspite of some occasional critiques concerning the trivia). The sheeple that have been led to slaughterhouse and they don't object. Maybe it is the "over-civilizedness" of most Europeans that is to blame. Having lived in well ordained societies for the long time, people grew accustomed to the fact that the state serves the common good, ergo respecting all of its laws and regulations and being an obedient citizen was considered as something natural and serving your own good. Today the state does not serve that purpose any more, it is becoming a tyranny, but old thinking habits still persist: people still think that it is in their best interest to blindly obey the law, to trust the authorities...

If these trends continue, we will be less free than people living in different authoritarian dictatorships of the so-called Third World, but, of course, we will be forced to think that we are living in the best of all possible worlds, we'll be obliged to feel like "happy slaves".

Time to resurrect the old notion of legitimate rebellion, which is also part of the tradition of the European political thinking. Don't understand me wrong: I am not (necessarily) advocating armed rebellion or insurrection. There are other methods as well, like civil disobedience, or the passive resistance practiced by citizens of some of the former Communist countries (especially Czechoslovakia), or silent saboteering, or Gandhian scorn towards their supposed "higher civilization" (this scorn was the main constituent part of Gandhi's resistance and not the "non-violence" as modern Western liberals simplistically portray it).

The thrust of the matter is that we stop believing that the system is "ours", that politicians are "our" politicians... It's hard, because most people still believe in established order.

Originally Posted by Engelbrecht

This is the tolerence of the tolerant. If you are not tolerant we won´t tolerant you. This is just another tricky way to smoke out all those who won´t conform.

"Not tolerating the intolerant" was one of the main maximes of the modern-day "philosopher" Karl Popper, who also coined the phrase open society (if I am not mistaken) and thought of his philosophy as being in the Aristotelean tradition (Aristoteles must be spinning in his grave...) Popper got the British knighthood for the services he did in advancing principles of the modern society. That also speaks in itself...

Originally Posted by Engelbrecht

A little off topic maybe, but isn´t it ironic that the school first informs the children about how to have sex and how wonderful it is. Then they must theach the same children how to use protection. Really, you don´t have to protect yourself against something that is not harmful.

It´s an organized strategy to break down traditional values and structures, and it´s disgusting.

It is strategy to break down life and normalcy, not just values. It is not sex-education, it is antisex-education.

[Engelbrecht]

Originally Posted by Plethon

It is not sex-education, it is antisex-education.

[Menydh]

Whatever is advocated against this utter perversion, is lawful. They are perverting the innocence of little children to satisfy their corrupted desires for a perverted world.

Homosexuals have been tolerated to different degrees in their private lifes, providing that they did not interfere with the march of normal, healthy and sane societies. Now that they are unleashed, we can see what they are about.

Let them enjoy it while they can, because what they are feeding is the most profound scorn even from people who would have not cared much otherwise.

[Martín Zalacaín]

Originally Posted by Engelbrecht

This is the tolerence of the tolerant. If you are not tolerant we won´t tolerant you. This is just another tricky way to smoke out all those who won´t conform.

A well-known quote:

"Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions" - G. K. Chesterton.


As you say, their aim is not to make us 'tolerate', but to completely change the paradigm. This promotion of homosexuality is one of the multiple 'tricks' included in their strategy to corrupt and eradicate european (traditional) spirituality-values-culture-races-etc. These are something to believe in, and that's dangerous for their ends.

Fortunately, a world with such degenerate and unnatural foundations is condemned to collapse, and soon. We must be ready.

[Portugraal Luzo]

It´s disgusting. The People must fight and believe!

Hug in CHRIST.

[Strengthandhonour]

I can't wait for them to introduce the re-education centers.

[kimm]

Be a stand-up parent, teach your kids the virtues of homosexuality. Forget everything you've been told were wrong, they're right now. Yes, the times are changing.

How gracious they are to the good and thoughtful people left in our societies. These people looked after nearly 30 children and this is the appreciation they recieve...