Prosecutors will not bring charges against the publishers of a Dutch translation of the Nashville Statement on homosexuality because it would interfere with their freedom of religion

The prosecution service received several complaints about the declaration, published in the Reformatorisch Dagblad newspaper, which said it was ‘a sin to approve of homosexual impurity or transgenderism’.

Hundreds of orthodox Protestant preachers and community leaders, as well as Kees van der Staaij, leader of the testimonial SGP party, signed the statement, which was originally published in the US in 2017 as a guide for Christians on faith, marriage and sexuality.

Campaigners filed formal police complaints against Van der Staaij and the newspaper claiming they were in breach of Article 1 of the constitution, which forbids ‘discrimination on the grounds of religion, belief, political opinion, race or sex or on any other grounds.’

Emancipation minister Ingrid van Engelshoven said the publication of the Nashville Statement in Dutch was a ‘step back in time’, while gay and transgender rights campaign group COC said it was putting ‘LHBTIs back in the closet’.

But prosecutors decided that publishing the text was not a criminal offence because it was ‘directly related to the religious convictions of those who were concerned with the Nashville declaration’.

An appendix was added to the Dutch translation stating that gay people should be given pastoral support. A revised and simplified version of the text was published in February to address ‘misunderstandings’, according to spokesman for the working group Rinie van Reenen.