Britain experiences umpteenth attack on religious freedom as two women are fired for refusing to remove their necklaces in the workplace. The two are now taking their case to the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
The case involving the two young British women - Nadia Eweida, an air hostess at Heathrow airport and Shirley Chaplin, a nurse – who were fired for refusing to remove their crosses from around their necks during working hours, may seem absurd but it is true.
The two women - who claim they are victims of discrimination - are asking the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg to recognise their right to the freedom of faith. Meanwhile, London legislators have prepared an ad hoc draft law allowing employers to fire staff who refuse to conceal symbols of their Christian faith.
The decision of the Court in Strasbourg will be valid for all countries that are members of the Council of Europe, including Russia, the Ukraine, Belarus and Moldavia. So Russian Orthodox Christians also see this decision as a threat to their own faith.
In a statement to The Voice of Russia radio station, Filipp Riabykh, Moscow Patriarchate representative to the Council of Europe said: “In our Church’s tradition, it is obligatory for us to wear a cross. If the Court in Strasbourg allows English employers to win the case, this could have negative consequences for orthodox Christians in other European countries. We see this as completely unacceptable because faithful are required to bear the symbols of Christianity in all circumstances.”
The Christian cross - an innocuous depiction of a man condemned to death - sparks more protests than any other religious symbol.
It appears, however, that the crucifix represents a real threat to modern man, one which many non-believers call the “superstition of the converted individual”. Indeed, according to ancient Christian tradition, the individual could receive God’s grace and change life at any moment.
If the cross were just a simple little sacred symbol of Christianity, the whole affair would have been forgotten about. Francesco d’Assisi and his friends would have continued to play around with life and perhaps in time would have become a fabric merchant and even richer than his father; Mother Theresa of Calcutta would have contented herself with teaching in a girl’s school in Calcutta instead of dedicating every single moment of her existence to loving the poorest of the poor. Obviously before such a romantic and incongruent ideology of faith, no one could ever have dreamed that the crucifix would be banned from public areas.
But as the Patriarchate of Moscow awaits a verdict from Strasbourg, it has prepared, with the help of some scholars, a document which proves the right of Christians to wear the cross and profess their religion. The document has been sent to Strasbourg and will be included in the documents of the case opened against Britain by Nadia Eweida and Shirley Chaplin.