Whichever shape Brexit
will take, the four major forces
likely to continue exerting pressure
on religious freedom are the
equality and anti-terror laws,
criminalising offences to feelings,
and the general post-Christian
nature of our society that will
continue to affect Christians
working in the public sphere,
businesses and institutions.
Equality vs. religious freedom
The Equality Act 2010 brought all antidiscrimination
legislation together in Britain. This legislation has
now been applied for a while, and what has become
evident is that that the right to express Christian faith
in workplace is poorly protected. Two appeal cases
to the European Convention of Human
Rights (ECHR) illustrate that.
A BA employee, who had been sent home for
wearing a cross, lost discrimination case at the
Court of Appeal. She appealed to the ECHR, which
found that her right to manifest a religious belief
had been infringed.
A Christian registrar in London was dismissed
for refusing to officiate at ceremonies for the civil
partnerships of same-sex couples on the basis of
her religious beliefs. She was found not to have been
discriminated against. When she appealed to the
ECHR, her application was dismissed.
We can see how the ECHR, which is not an EU
institution, brings some additional levels of protection
for the expression of Christian faith, but only if that is
not seen to violate the rights of sexual minorities or
other groups.
The recent case of Joshua Sutcliffe illustrates
how the rights of sexual minorities are being enforced
in our educational system.
In November last year, Joshua, a Christian
secondary school teacher in an Oxfordshire
school, was suspended for gross misconduct after
‘mis-gendering’ a ‘transgender’ student. He had said,
“Well done girls!” when one of them wanted to be
identified as a boy, and also referred to the young
person as her in some other occasions.
Both in the British courts and the ECHR, the
religious freedoms are seen as secondary to the
rights of sexual minorities. If you want to uphold
biblical teaching on sexuality in the public sphere,
there is always a real danger that it will be seen
to violate the rights of sexual minorities. ➜
Revival Times February 2018 15