THERE are many reasons given for voting to stay in or leave the EU.

One reason to leave is to scrap the Human Rights Act 1998 and restore so called sovereignty to the UK parliament.

I am a Christian who believes that Christian values have over many years formed what we under as British values. Many Christians fear that these Christian foundations are increasingly under threat. Our national courts do not have a track record of recognising and respecting Christian faith.

The European Court of Human rights has shown a better understanding of Christian belief and a greater commitment to protecting Christian freedoms than we have seen in the UK courts in recent years.

Christian Concern lawyers have defended many of the cases against Christians bought before the courts. There is a local connection to Christian Concern. Andrea Minichiello Williams, brought up on Portland, is the Co-Founder and Director of Christian Concern and the Christian Legal Centre.

One proposal is that a UK Bill of Rights will replace current human rights legislation. What would this legislation mean for Christians, and what would be the philosophy behind it? The idea that human beings have dignity and inherent worth and value is grounded in the biblical idea that we are all made in the image of God. It is this Christian understanding of human dignity that formed the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human rights. This is not a national concept.

As a Christian, I know there is a higher sovereignty than Westminster, that of God of the Bible. I will be voting to stay in the EU to keep universal human rights and the option to appeal to the European Courts.

David Winterburn

Weymouth