British Christians forced to hide belief

The Telegraph | August 23, 2014

Britain is at risk of being “sanitised” of faith because an “aggressive form of secularism” in workplaces and public bodies is forcing Christians to hide their beliefs, a former attorney general has warned.

Dominic Grieve said he found it “quite extraordinary” that people were being sacked or disciplined for expressing their beliefs at work.

He described Christianity as a “powerful force for good” in modern Britain and warned that Christians should not be “intimidated” and “excluded” for their beliefs.

He told The Telegraph: “I worry that there are attempts to push faith out of the public space. Clearly it happens at a level of local power.

“You can watch institutions or organisations do it or watch it happen at a local government level. In my view it’s very undesirable.

“Some of the cases which have come to light of employers being disciplined or 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.” Two years ago the Government changed the law to ensure that councils could not face legal challenges for holding prayers before town hall meetings after the High Court backed a controversial campaign to abolish such acts of worship.

There have also been a series of high-profile cases in which people have been banned from wearing crosses at work or sacked for resisting tasks which went against their religious beliefs.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11053037/Dominic-Grieve-British-Christians-forced-to-hide-belief.html