Eunice Johns greets me, a total stranger, with an embrace. “I like to hug,” she says. A minute later, when I am looking for a tissue to blow my nose, she hands me half her packet. These are the actions of a true Christian. And that’s the problem. Eunice lives according to the instruction she finds in the Bible – and one of those instructions is that sex should be confined to marriage. For that reason, she and her equally beaming, gentle husband, Owen, have not been allowed to foster children.
Yesterday, two High Court judges upheld the decision of Derby City Council not to approve the Johns family as carers. There were no objections to them saying grace before meals or taking foster children to church on Sunday. The sticking point was their answer to the question: “Would you tell a child it was OK to be homosexual?” The Johns replied that they would not. They would love a child regardless, but not endorse that lifestyle.
Both Eunice, 62 and Owen, 65, are born-again Christians. They came to Britain from Jamaica in their teens and found their “vibrant” form of worship – clapping and gospel singing – out of kilter with the Church of England. They joined The Church of the God of Prophesy, based in Tennessee; Eunice teaches at Sunday school.
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