Christians lose discrimination case

Three out of four Christians have lost cases against discrimination in the European Court of Human Rights.

Shirley Chaplin, Gary McFarlane and Lillian Ladele lost their employment tribunal hearings in England and argued that their employers’ actions went against articles 9 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protected their rights to “freedom of thought, conscience and religion” and prohibited religious discrimination.

Shirley Chaplin was moved to a desk job by Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust after they changed the uniform code to a v-neck, exposing the necklace bearing a cross she had been wearing.  Chaplin’s employers suggested that her cross on a chain might get caught on somebody.  There was no evidence it ever had.  At the same time, however, the employers allowed two Muslim doctors to wear a close-fitting hijab.

Gary McFarlane is a Christian counsellor who was sacked from his job with Relate in 2008 because he confided that he would not be comfortable counselling homosexual couples about sexual problems. Even after Relate conceded that they were wrong to sack Mr McFarlane without giving him notice, they still didn‘t give him his job back.

Lilian Ladele was a Christian Registrar for the London Borough of Islington, appointed before the Civil Partnership Act 2004 changed the law.  Originally she was allowed to swap shifts with colleagues so she would not have to compromise her convictions. However, in March 2006 two homosexual registrars complained about Ladele’s refusal to perform gay unions.  The local authority changed its rules in December 2007 and she was dismissed.  Even though she initially won her case against Islington Council in July 2008, the Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled against her later that year.

In all three cases, the European Court Judges held that the UK had not violated the applicants’ rights.

In the fourth case, British Airways was held to have violated the rights of Nadia Eweida under Article 9 when it told her to remove or cover up a necklace with a cross.

Ms Eweida, 60, a Coptic Christian from Twickenham in south-west London, told the BBC she was “jumping with joy” after the ruling, adding that it had “not been an easy ride”.

The four made individual applications to the ECHR after losing separate employment tribunals but their cases were heard together.

David Cameron faced charges of hypocrisy after calling for a Christian ‘fightback’ and then instructing ministers to contest the claims.  As a result, the UK argued that the rights of the employees were only protected in private.

The ruling severely limits the extent to which Christians who take their beliefs seriously can hold down jobs in the public sector and is a step back for religious freedom in the United Kingdom.

Elizabeth Oldfield, Director of Christian think-tank Theos, said:

‘One does not have to agree with the beliefs of the applicants to support their cases. It should not be beyond the wit of an employer to work with strongly-held religious commitments, rather than dismiss them. However, what we are increasingly seeing is an unwillingness to accommodate them reasonably.’

See: Christians take cases to Euro-Court (Sep 2012)

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