Persecuted Christians? No, but nobody is claiming that.

A number of senior bishops and former bishops, including former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, have written a letter to the Sunday Telegraph asking the government to address the issues around an increasingly intolerant approach to Christianity in the UK.

It is an issue that Mouse has addressed in the past, and he generally has sympathy with.  Teachers and nurses can no longer offer to pray with the people they work with, and BHA written guidance to employers tells them that talking about your faith to a work colleague is 'highly likely' to be considered harassment.

The Telegraph letter highlights the case of Shirley Chaplin, the nurse who has worn a cross to work every day for over 30 years, but has been told to remove the cross or face the sack.

Some have questioned the relevance of this example, as the reason the NHS Trust have given for the necklace ban is health and safety, rather than anything religious based.  Further, these critics, led by Ekklesia from the Christian perspective, argue that Christians claiming persecution whilst enjoying the privileges of the established church makes the bishops 'look stupid'.  This is a line or argument that Ekklesia have used before.

However, Mouse feels obliged to point out that no-one is claiming Christians are persecuted.

What the bishops are pointing to is the steady drift of legislation in the name of equality which removes many previously accepted religious freedoms.

The case of Shirley Chaplin is relevant because of the change of position.  For 30 years she has worn a cross to work, but now she is told to stop.  Not only that, but she is threatened with the sack if she refuses.  The health and safety line comes from the fear that patients will grab necklaces and harm nurses.  You would have thought that Ms Chaplin would be able to sign up to the risk and continue as she has for the last 30 years.

Lord Carey's view on Christian persecution in Britain could not be clearer, as he has set it out in a speech just a few weeks ago.  He said,

We should be careful however not to draw too many parallels between the experience of Christians in the UK and the plight of Christians abroad. As far as the UK is concerned Christians are rarely ‘persecuted’, and direct comparisons should be avoided. What is happening in Western Europe is not persecution but a marginalising of faith which seeks to portray it as a matter of personal conscience only. Some examples of this originate from a mistaken but well-meant political correctness that is anxious not to upset minority faiths by seeming to ‘privilege’ Christianity. Hence the regular ‘pantomime’ every Christmas where some local Council or another absurdly gives Christmas another name.

The letter may be clumsily worded, however.  Specifically the claim that 'numerous cases' of Christians being dismissed is open to the accusation that the number involved is pretty low.  However, the overall point they make is that there is a danger of religious freedoms being undermined.

This is a point which is supported by Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty, who commented specifically on the Chaplin case, saying "Rights and freedoms have to be seen to protect everyone with an even hand.  Safety concerns about the wearing of crosses can easily be met with breakable chains, but freedom of thought, conscience and religion should bind people of all faiths and none together. There are many who seek to create divisions in society and irrational bureaucracy plays into their hands."

The bishops are right to raise the issue and ask politicians to consider it in the context of the forthcoming election.  The argument only looks 'stupid' when a distorted straw man version of it is put up for the purpose of knocking down.