LONDON (RNS/ENI) Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams is downplaying calls by six Anglican bishops, including his predecessor, for an election-year debate on workplace “discrimination” faced by Christians.
In a March 28 letter to the Sunday Telegraph newspaper, the five bishops and former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey cited the case of Shirley Chaplin, a nurse in a National Health Service who was removed from patient care duties after refusing to remove the cross she has worn around her neck for 38 years.
On Easter Sunday (April 4), Williams was critical of what he called “overheated language” used to describe Christian suffering in Britain by groups seeking to protect what they see as their country’s religious heritage.
Speaking at Canterbury Cathedral, Williams said that “wooden-headed bureaucratic silliness,” combined with a “well-meaning and completely misplaced anxiety about giving offense to non-Christians,” should not be mistaken for persecution.
At the same time, Williams also questioned why some atheists, humanists and secularists show contempt and fear towards Christianity while disparaging it as a declining faith, the Guardian newspaper reported.
“If you think of all the high-profile attacks on Christianity that have been published in recent years, you may wonder why those who shout most loudly about the irreversible decline of Christianity campaign so ferociously against something which, on their own account, is withering away,” Williams said.
The six bishops have called for Britain’s political parties to address the issue ahead of national elections scheduled for May.
“This is yet another case in which the religious rights of the Christian community are being treated with disrespect. We are deeply concerned at the apparent discrimination shown against Christians and we call upon the government to remedy this serious development,” they stated.
Chaplin, who alleged religious discrimination by the national health care system, lost her case on Tuesday (April 6), according to the Telegraph newspaper. An employment tribunal ruled that damage to her was “slight” since wearing a crucifix was not a requirement of faith.
