British churches won't be forced to hire homosexuals after proposals to alter employment laws were voted down in a House of Lords meeting on Monday.

According to BBC, peers won over the government by majorities of 38, 21 and seven against changing current laws, which allow for religious organizations to deny employment to people whose lifestyles are not consistent with their doctrinal beliefs.

Many British clergy had expressed fear that the Equality Bill, if passed, would have left churches "more vulnerable" to legal challenges.

A joint statement issued last week by the Bishops of Winchester, Chester and Exeter said the Equality Bill threatened, "the rights and responsibilities of different groups to be protected from harassment and unfair discrimination and the rights of churches and religious organizations to appoint and employ people consistently with their guiding doctrine and ethos."

British Christians in favor of the Equality Bill, however, had said that the proposed changes were not a matter of religious principles, but rather a dispute between "people who believe in non-discrimination and equal treatment" and "people who don't," according to Christian publication Ekklesia who had favored the Bill's changes.

Speaking to peers at the Monday meeting, the Archbishop of York, the Most Rev. John Sentamu noted, "You may feel that many churches and other religious organizations are wrong on matters of sexual ethics. But, if religious freedom means anything it must mean that those are matters for the churches and other religious organizations to determine for themselves in accordance with their own convictions."

 "Where are the examples of actual abuses that have caused difficulties? Where are the court rulings that have shown that the law is defective? If it ain't broke, why fix it?" he added.