This is in reference to my earlier blog posted on 29 March!
Nurse Shirley Chaplin was in court to defend her right to wear a cross on a chain, around her neck, while performing her ward duties. She had been wearing the cross for 38 years! However Royal Devon and Exeter NHS determined that she lost her case, and with it the right to wear a small cross 'for health and safety reasons'. Her conviction for wearing it, and the Archbishop of Canterbury's comments are shown below, as reported in Sky News.
"To deliberately remove or hide my crucifix or to treat it disrespectfully would violate my faith," she testified. But the tribunal ruled against the nurse, who had worn the emblem throughout her 30-year career. Mrs Chaplin's case was highlighted by the Archbishop of Canterbury in his Easter sermon last weekend. He referred to "wooden-headed bureaucratic silliness" which has seen some Christians stopped from wearing religious symbols at work.
There is a General Election coming up on the 6 May, and I for one, will be watching closely the positions of the parties on matters of the Christian Faith, and the Church's freedoms. It seems we now have to stand up and be counted, because the established government bodies, like the NHS, are starting to take away common sense rights on a whim. What possible reasons can there be for anyone NOT to wear a cross around their neck as a symbol of their faith?
These changes are being brought about by stealth, and under the guise of spurious legislation like 'health and safety'. I think it was well expressed by the Archbishop as,"wooden-headed bureaucratic silliness" which has seen some Christians stopped from wearing religious symbols at work.
We now need some straight talk from our government bodies and MPs as to how they will defend the basic Christian principles like this one. Do we wait until all rights have been removed before we wake up?
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