Christian dissenters take cases to Europe

A marriage therapist sacked for refusing to give sex therapy to homosexuals, a register who refused to conduct gay marriages, and a nurse and an airline steward who insist on wearing crucifix jewellery have taken their cases to the European Court of Human Rights.

They claim they are being discriminated against on the grounds of their Christian beliefs but all four lost their cases against their employers in Britain.

The four say British law does not protect their rights to freedom of religion and freedom from discrimination at work, and they want the laws changed.

They have won the support of the former archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, who said Christians were being treated like doormats and being subje-cted to heresy trials.

Nadia Eweida, a British Airways check-in employee, was placed on unpaid leave on Oct 2006 when she refused to remove the crucifix she wore around her neck, contravening BA’s uniform policy on jewellery.

Ms Eweida, 61, took her case to the employment tribunal but lost on grounds that being asked not to display the cross was not discrimination. BA changed its policy to allow employees display such religious items four months later, and she returned to work.

Shirley Chaplin, from Exeter, who nursed elderly people in an NHS hospital, was moved to a temporary non-nursing desk job when she refused an order to remove a crucifix necklace in compliance with a hospital dress code prohibiting frontline staff from wearing any type of necklace in case patients try to grab them. The temporary role ceased to exist a few months later.

The other two applicants say same-sex relationships are contrary to God’s law and that being forced as part of their work to condone them was against their Christian beliefs.

Lilian Ladele, 52, a registrar of births, deaths, and marriages in London, was fired after refusing to sign a new employment contract to conduct civil partnership ceremonies between gay couples when a new law came into force in Britain in 2005.

Gary McFarlane, 50, worked in Bristol as a counsellor with Relate, a national organisation providing sex therapy and relationship counselling. The service included psychosexual therapy that aims to improve a couple’s sexual activity by improving the relationship overall.

However, he refused to provide counselling to same-sex couples and, like Ms Ladele, was dismissed on the grounds that his actions contravened equality rules.

Lawyers for the four told the European Court of Human Rights that British law failed to adequately protect their right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion as protected under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The court is expected to give its ruling on whether the case is admissible and on its merits at a later date.

Last year, the court ruled that crucifixes could be hung on walls of schools in Italy after Catholics there took a case against a state ruling banning them.