English Lessons: A defence of personal liberty and the coming assault on the First Amendment, based on recent events in Britain

English Lessons: 

A defence of personal liberty

The September 2013 edition of Citizen Magazine featured an article written by Paul Diamond, standing counsel to the Christian Legal Centre, where he discusses the steady assault on the rights of Christians in Britain to speak and act according to their conscience.

"[Over the past 20 years] different parts of the state—our parliament, publicly funded organizations and the judiciary—have opposed and punished the expression of Christian belief and conscience," he said.

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The New Order

In Britain the state is now embarked on a steady but relentless process of “establishing a religion,” which we might call Secular Humanism. It favours this religion over all others, especially the Christian faith, and thereby undermines all of the Judeo-Christian values that have under-pinned our society for centuries.

Christians are being prosecuted for acting out of conscience, and perhaps the most notorious example of this will illustrate that point. This is the case of Nadia Eweida, a member of British Airways’ checkin staff. As an expression of her Christian faith she wears a small cross on a chain around her neck.

Her employers asked her to cover up this cross, even though people of other faiths could freely express their beliefs. (There was no attempt to ask Muslim employees doing a similar job to remove the hijab.) When she refused to remove or cover up her cross, or work in a role where she was not exposed to the public, Eweida was fired.

Thus began a seven-year process, with Eweida appealing to progressively more senior courts in the land. Each time she lost her case. In one ruling, the judgment against her was based not on the fact that she was displaying a religious symbol but that that symbol was Christian. The court held there was no discrimination since employees of other faiths - such as Muslims or Sikhs - also would have been fired for wearing crosses. The case eventually came before the European Court of Human Rights, which in January 2013 ruled in Eweida’s favour.

But it was a rare victory for Christians, and it wasn’t won in a British court.
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Read more: www.christianconcern.com