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A former UK attorney-general has warned that an aggressive form of secularism is forcing British Christians to hide their beliefs.
Dominic Grieve, an Anglican, told the Telegraph that this could see a nation that is “sanitised of faith”.
Two years ago, the UK Government changed the law to ensure that local councils could not face legal challenges for holding prayers before town hall meetings.
This was after the High Court in England backed a controversial campaign to abolish such acts.
There have also been a series of high-profile cases in which people in the UK have been banned from wearing crosses at work or sacked for resisting tasks which went against their religious beliefs.
Mr Grieve said: “I worry that there are attempts to push faith out of the public space. Clearly it happens at a level of local power.
“Some of the cases which have come to light of employers being disciplined or [people being] sacked for simply trying to talk about their faith in the workplace I find quite extraordinary.
“The sanitisation will lead to people of faith excluding themselves from the public space and being excluded.
“It is in nobody’s interest that groups should find themselves excluded from society.”
It is especially important that Christians are not silent, especially given the recent persecution of religious minorities in Iraq, he said.
Mr Grieve lost his post in the UK government during a reshuffle last month, after objecting to plans to give MPs powers to veto decisions made by the European Court of Human Rights.
He said politicians should not be afraid to express their own personal faith, contrary to the example of an advisor who once told Tony Blair, that “we don’t do God”.
“It doesn’t mean that we have the monopoly of wisdom, but I do think Christianity has played an enormous role in shaping this country,” Mr Grieve said.
“It’s a very powerful force in this country, [but] I think it’s underrated, and partly because in the past it has failed to express itself as clearly as it might.
“Recognising people’s right to manifest their faith and express it is very important.”
Source
- The Telegraph
- Image: The Guardian
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