The Guardian reports that former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey claims Christians are being persecuted and driven underground in the UK.
Christians are being “persecuted” and “driven underground” while the courts fail to protect their religious values, a former archbishop of Canterbury has claimed.
Lord Carey said Christians were excluded from many sectors of employment because of their beliefs, “vilified by state bodies” and left in fear of arrest for expressing their views.
The former archbishop’s claims are part of a written submission to the European court of human rights, seen by the Daily Telegraph, before a landmark case on religious freedom.
The hearing will deal with the cases of two workers forced out of their jobs after wearing visible crosses, a Relate therapist sacked for saying he was not comfortable giving sex counselling to gay couples, and a Christian registrar who refused to conduct civil partnership ceremonies.
The British Airways worker Nadia Eweida, a Pentecostal Christian, received widespread publicity when she was sent home in 2006 after refusing to remove a necklace with a cross or hide it from sight.
An employment tribunal ruled Eweida had not suffered religious discrimination, but the airline changed its uniform policy after the case to allow all religious symbols, including crosses.
From The Telegraph notes that Carey believes Christians are being “framed” by homosexual activists:
“It is now Christians who are persecuted; often sought out and framed by homosexual activists,” he says. “Christians are driven underground. There appears to be a clear animus to the Christian faith and to Judaeo-Christian values. Clearly the courts of the United Kingdom require guidance.”
He says the human rights campaign has gone too far and become a political agenda.
Keith Porteous-Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, said: “The idea that there is any kind of suppression of religion in Britain is ridiculous.
“Even in the European Convention on Human Rights, the right to religious freedom is not absolute – it is not a licence to trample on the rights of others. That seems to be what Lord Carey wants to do.”