Tags: Discrimination
Religion is not a justification for discrimination
Posted: Tue, 08 Dec 2020 by Stephen Evans
A shadow minister was wrong to say religious registrars should be able to opt out of providing same-sex marriages. And her comments are a reminder that we don't need a ministerial office for faith, says Stephen Evans. Read More »
Allowing religious discrimination in school admissions opens the door to other forms of discrimination
Posted: Thu, 03 Dec 2020 by Megan Manson
A state-funded faith school recently rejected a child because her mother isn't Jewish. This shows the absurdity of religious discrimination in admissions, says Megan Manson. Read More »
UNESCO: Putting religious privilege above gender equality
Posted: Wed, 11 Oct 2017 by Megan Manson
UNESCO says gender equality is one of its top priorities. But Megan Manson says it is protecting misogynistic attitudes by awarding World Heritage Status to religious sites that practise sexual discrimination.
As the UK's United Nations Universal Periodic Review... Read More »
Scottish care provider’s decision to drop faith test should prompt a rethink over equality exceptions
Posted: Tue, 13 Jun 2017 by Stephen Evans
When religious organisations are delivering state-funded public services they should neither discriminate nor proselytize – argues Stephen Evans, looking at the case of CrossReach and its implications.
The decision of The Church of Scotland this week... Read More »
The Christian “fired for praying at work” – here’s the other side of the story
Posted: Thu, 23 Apr 2015 by Terry Sanderson
The British media unquestioningly promulgates the false narrative of Christians being discriminated against in the workplace. Terry Sanderson looks at the latest case involving a Christian disciplined for subjecting a subordinate to unwanted and intrusive... Read More »
The Christian Legal Centre makes another attempt to gain privileges for Christians in the workplace
Posted: Mon, 02 Mar 2015 by Terry Sanderson
The Christian Legal Centre's latest 'discrimination' claim follows a familiar pattern – but its use of dissembling tactics shouldn't be permitted to manipulate a change in equality laws, argues Terry Sanderson.
So, here we go again. Another evangelical... Read More »
Britain First – foot soldiers of a ‘Christian Nation’?
Posted: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 by Alastair Lichten
When mainstream politicians endorse the 'Christian Nation' narrative they feed both Muslim and Christian persecution complexes and pander to the far-right, argues Alastair Lichten.
Elements in the current government like to promote the dog whistle message that... Read More »
Teachers shouldn’t be the victims of religious discrimination
Posted: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 by Stephen Evans
The degree to which we tolerate discrimination against teachers in state-funded faith schools would be totally unacceptable in almost all other areas of public life, argues Stephen Evans.
Parents with children at a primary school in East Sussex expressed outrage... Read More »
Will the Equality Act be battered into submitting to religious exemptions?
Posted: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 by Terry Sanderson
Misleading reporting of individual cases and calls for "conscience clauses" feed into a false narrative of Christian persecution aimed at undermining the Equality Act, argues Terry Sanderson.
Recently the vice president of the UK Supreme Court, Baroness Hale,... Read More »
Terry Sanderson’s speech to the Religious Freedom Conference, Chatham
Posted: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 by Terry Sanderson
On 21 June 2014, NSS President Terry Sanderson spoke at the Chatham Unitarian Church, about the importance of equalities protections and secularism to religious freedom. This is a transcript of his speech.
The first problem I have is with a definition of "religious... Read More »
A “religious ethos” is not why faith schools succeed – it’s selection that does it
Posted: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 by Terry Sanderson
Rather than a faith-based ethos, Terry Sanderson argues that it's selection that allows faith schools to outperform other schools – and calls for fairer admissions policies to ensure a level playing field for all.
The headline in the Coventry Telegraph... Read More »
Job applications should not be a matter of faith
Posted: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 by A Teacher
A teacher's perspective on why faith schools should not be able to select staff and students based on their religion.
I am about to begin a role at a state-funded faith primary school, having had a successful start in teaching at an independent Catholic primary.... Read More »
Woking: equal treatment vs. religious privilege
Posted: Wed, 05 Jun 2013 by Stephen Evans
This week, The National Secular Society launched legal action against Woking Borough Council over its policy of offering free parking to worshippers, while charging others.
Woking Borough Council, like Bideford Town Council before it, has come out fighting.... Read More »
Christian activists just won’t let it go
Posted: Mon, 22 Apr 2013 by Terry Sanderson
By Terry Sanderson
You've got to give them full marks for sheer bloody-mindedness.
I'm talking about the paranoid Christian activists obsessed with the idea that they are being persecuted in the workplace. They have brought numerous cases to British courts to... Read More »
Employers must justify requiring Christians to work on a Sunday (and why that wasn’t the headline in the Telegraph)
Posted: Fri, 11 Jan 2013 by Darren Newman
Next Tuesday the European Court of Human Rights rules on the cases of Eweida, Chaplin,Ladele and McFarlane. The case is likely to be quite complicated and I plan to read it very carefully and give it some serious thought before I write anything about it. After... Read More »
Are parliament’s theocrats about to have their day?
Posted: Mon, 10 Sep 2012 by Terry Sanderson
When the Conservative-led coalition Government came to power at the last election we braced ourselves for a raised profile for religion in matters of state.
What transpired, though, were several confrontations between religious groups and Mr Cameron's "modernising"... Read More »
Discriminatory acts have a moral significance
Posted: Thu, 06 Sep 2012 by Dr Ronan McCrea
Joshua Rozenberg's piece on the issue of conscience exemptions from anti-discrimination legislation argues that no legitimate aim has been identified for requiring individuals to provide a service in violation of their religious convictions in circumstances... Read More »
Religious beliefs should be respected - when rights are not impeded
Posted: Thu, 30 Aug 2012 by Joshua Rozenberg
By Joshua Rozenberg
Next week, the European Court of Human Rights will hear four claims against the UK that raise perhaps the most sensitive rights of all: the freedom of thought, conscience and religion guaranteed by article 9 of the European Convention on... Read More »
The myth of the Nadia Eweida case gets another dishonest outing
Posted: Thu, 12 Jul 2012 by Terry Sanderson
During an exchange at Prime Minister's Question Time yesterday, David Cameron was asked by David Davis MP about the case of Nadia Eweida, who has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights after she was told by her employer, British Airways, that wearing... Read More »
Are some Christian politicians deliberately trying to mislead us – or are they just ignorant of the facts?
Posted: Tue, 24 Apr 2012 by Terry Sanderson
In a parliamentary question last week, Karl McCartney, the Conservative MP for Lincoln, asked the Minister for Women and Equalities, Lynne Featherstone, "if she will bring forward legislative proposals to protect workers who choose to wear a visible cross... Read More »
Persecuted Christian story follows familiar pattern of newspaper distortion
Posted: Fri, 30 Mar 2012 by Terry Sanderson
A familiar pattern emerged this week in the latest "Christians are being persecuted at work" case to reach an employment tribunal.
The Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph introduced us to Dr David Drew, who worked in the paediatric department of Walsall Manor... Read More »
