UK: Atheist cleaners could sue Christian over Crucifix

[Whitney]

Atheist cleaners could sue Christian care homes over crucifixes, warn bishops

By Stephen Adams
Published: 2:54PM BST 08 Jun 2009

Church care homes could be forced to remove crucifixes from their walls in case they offend "atheist cleaners" under the new Equality Bill, Catholic bishops have warned.

The way the bill is written means non-Christians could sue for harassment if church authorities do not remove religious imagery, according to Monsignor Andrew Summersgill, general secretary of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.

He said the bill, currently being examined by Parliament's Equality Bill Committee, could have a "chilling effect" on religious expression.

Under the terms of the bill, harassment is defined as "unwanted conduct with the purpose or effect of violating a person's dignity, or of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading or offensive environment".

Bishops are concerned that religious authorities could be left in an impossible legal position, because under the bill it would be up to the employer to prove that displaying such an image did not amount to harassment or an employee.

In a written statement to the committee, Mgr Summersgill said: "A cleaner may be an atheist or of very different religious beliefs. Nonetheless if a cleaner found the crucifixes offensive there would be no defence in law against a charge of harassment."

He added: "If this bill is serious about equality, everything possible must be done to avoid it having a chilling effect on religious expression and practice."

The bishops are also worried that they Equality Bill will establish what they believe would amount to a "hierarchy of rights", with the rights of homosexuals overruling those of religious expression.

Source:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... shops.html

[karadan]

Hmm. This sets a strange precedent. It gives the religious ammunition against atheists. Anyway, I thought atheists were supposed to be the tolerant ones. I certainly don't care what people choose to adorn their walls with, especially if that is where they live. It is a christian home after all.

[Jolly Sapper]

Under the terms of the bill, harassment is defined as "unwanted conduct with the purpose or effect of violating a person's dignity, or of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading or offensive environment".

I'm not sure if there are any precedents already in British law that say that having a religious icon in your own property is always to be considered a "violation of a person's dignity, or of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading or offensive environment."

It seems it wouldn't be hard for an employer to prove that it wasn't trying to intentionally harass an employee if that employee is tasked to clean a church or something.  

I can think of ways in which this law could be used if the employer WAS trying to intentionally harass an employee, but assigning the employee to work in a church would only be the trigger AFTER the employee has other evidence of harassment based on religious (or lack thereof) beliefs.