Christian MP sets up inquiry into religious discrimination

An interesting piece published today on the website of The Guardian:

Christian MP sets up inquiry into religious discrimination

Amid General Synod discussions on religious freedom, Gary Streeter calls on colleagues to examine hate crime and equality

By Riazat Butt, Religious Affairs Correspondent

A select committee-style inquiry on Christianity is to be held in order to clarify how the law affects believers, amid increasing claims of religious discrimination and persecution.

The public hearings, scheduled to last for about three months this autumn, will invite peers and politicians to examine legislation on hate crime and equality and evaluate whether changes are needed.

The inquiry is the idea of Gary Streeter MP, a Christian who chairs the cross-party group Christians in Parliament. He said that, while there was religious freedom in Britain, some groups were "whipping up an alternative view and generating fear" where there did not need to be any. He said: "That fear is growing, that voice is growing. There is a particular problem. In the last 12 months, we have had legal cases that provoked concern. These now need to be tackled."

Christian Legal Centre, which is at the forefront of representing those who feel they are being discriminated against in the workplace because of their beliefs, said earlier this year it had about 50 cases on its books and received up to five calls a day from Christians seeking to take action against employers for failing to respect their faith.

Their clients have included Colin Atkinson, an electrician who wanted to display a crucifix in his van, and Owen and Eunice Johns, who refused to tell foster children in their care that homosexuality was acceptable.

Streeter said the panel would invite submissions from legal professionals, businesses, individuals and social policy groups from faith and non-faith backgrounds.

"The outcome of our inquiry might be that the law needs to be nudged back in certain areas and we won't shy away from saying so," he said.

"The public at large don't care what we do but, in the Christian community, there is a measure of concern about the issue. They will be pleased to see Christian parliamentarians doing something. They will be pleased to receive some reassurance that the fear whipped up is not necessary.

"It's only people of the Christian faith running up into the law; secularists aren't doing that. We are not putting one group of people above one another."

The MP's move came as the Church of England grappled with the issue of religious freedom at this weekend's General Synod meeting in York.

The chair of its public affairs council, Dr Phillip Giddings, told the legislative arm of the Church of England that some employers had "interpreted the law in ways which seem to assume that reasonable respectful expressions of faith, are, almost by definition, offensive".

He said: "This is a cause of great concern. We shall continue to monitor the emerging case law on how far employers can lawfully limit the ability of Christians to manifest their faith in the workplace."

Synod member Alison Ruoff asked if he was aware of an increasing marginalisation of Christians, leading to persecution. Giddings replied: "I am well aware that many Christians believe that to be the case. We are reflecting those views in our dealings with government."

The bishop of Bradford, Nick Baines, welcomed the inquiry: "It will be a good thing to have people in parliament doing this kind of thing. They can nail down some of the myths.

"I don't believe Christians are being persecuted. Having said that, I do think there is still a degree of religious illiteracy which is prejudiced against Christians in some circumstances. To say we're being persecuted is nonsense."

Trevor Phillips, who chairs the Equality and Human Rights Commission, claimed last month that the person most likely to "feel slighted" because of their religion was an evangelical Christian.

In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, he said there were a lot of Christian activist voices who appeared "bent on stressing the kind of persecution that I don't think really exists in this country".