University Christian Unions have joined the list of free speech martyrs after being banned from official student society lists or denied access to facilities by Student Unions at four UK universities.

At Exeter, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt Universities, Christian Unions have been suspended for breaching rules on equal opportunities, denying executive membership to non-Christians and for being homophobic. The Vice President of the Christian Union at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh denied the accusation, saying they put homosexuality 'in the same category as fornication and adultery so it doesn't single it out and say it is worse than anything else. According to the Bible we have all sinned.'

It would be far more fruitful for student unions, in the spirit of academic inquiry and debate, to encourage these backward ideas to be challenged with common sense. Instead, the shameful resort to the 'no platform' solution is irrational and intolerant. Students need to grow up from this sort of tit-for-tat game of censorship: 'You don't give a platform for homosexuals, we won't give a platform for Christians...' Talk about an eye for an eye.

Nathalie Rothschild