FAITH ON THE MARGINS

GRAHAM HEDGES Is the Christian faith being marginalised in the United Kingdom today? Is there a case for saying that Christians are being persecuted, especially in the contemporary workplace? Former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, looks at the role of religion in public life, and the important question of religious freedom, in his new book We Don't Do God: the marginalisation of public faith (Monarch, £7.99, ISBN 078-0857210202), co-written with his journalist son, Andrew Carey. Lord Carey raises the provocative question, “How is it possible – in a country which has an established Church and a Queen who by tradition 'defends the faith' – that Christianity is being marginalised and even discriminated against by our twenty-first century society as a whole?” Is Lord Carey's analysis correct? Most readers of this article will be familiar with recent cases in which Christians have been dismissed or disciplined for wearing or displaying crosses, offering to pray for patients or clients, or advising clients to put their faith in God. I must admit that I sometimes read these press reports of alleged discrimination or persecution in the workplace with mixed feelings. I have sympathy for fellow Christians who feel that they are being victimised or marginalised for expressing their faith within the working environment. On the other hand I sometimes suspect that newspaper reports are sensationalising these cases and failing to mention relevant factors. I also wonder whether the alleged victims of some of these cases have been too eager to pursue their cases through the law courts. For example, wearing a cross or other Christian symbol is certainly a legitimate way of expressing one's faith, but no Christian church or denomination insists on this as a condition of membership, and there are other ways of expressing faith in Christ in the workplace. Jonathan Bartley, of the Christian think tank Ekklesia, tells me that his organisation have been monitoring the development of these cases over the last few years, and have spoken to the participants on both sides of the disputes. His experience is that, in most of the cases, mediation is not

explored, and the situation has quickly become polarised. There was a balanced consideration of these issues in Are Christians Being Persecuted? which was broadcast on BBC1 on Easter Sunday in 2010. The presenter, Nicky Campbell, concluded that many of the current problems stem from the failure of equalities legislation to face up to the problem of what should happen if the various “human rights” enshrined in the law conflict with each other. What rights should take precedence, for example, if the equal rights of gay couples conflict with the rights of religious believers to live and speak in accordance with their beliefs? More recently a group of Christian members of Parliament and peers has called for changes in the law to ensure that the freedoms of believers in the UK are not eroded. The Clearing the Ground enquiry – which published its findings in February 2012 – cited fundamental problems with the 2010 Equality Act and failures of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Carried out by Christians in Parliament, and facilitated by the Evangelical Alliance, the cross-party committee's report said that recent legislation has been responsible for generating, rather than reducing, social tensions. They called for changes in the law, more public education about religion in government, better guidance for local authorities and a review of the EHRC. The compilers were clear, however, that the present situation does not justify the claim that Christians are being 'persecuted' in the United Kingdom today. This debate is likely to continue and Lord Carey's book, and the Clearing the Ground report, will have a part to play in clarifying the issues and inspiring further discussion.