The Daily Telegraph; By Boris Johnson: If I were Nadia Eweida, I would be starting to think that the whole world had gone completely mad. You remember Nadia, the mild-looking BA worker who found herself suspended because she wore a tiny little cross round her neck for work. Everyone took her side, back in 2006. The entire British press was convulsed with indignation. There were debates in the House of Commons.
The prime minister of the day, Tony Blair, weighed in with all the preachy solemnity he could muster, and advised British Airways to think again. Come off it, we all said: you can’t stop people wearing a necklace with a cross around it. For goodness’ sake — we still have a House of Commons that kicks off daily proceedings with a series of Christian prayers. We have a judicial system that invites witnesses to swear on the Bible, and the same ritual can be observed taking place in the Leveson inquiry.
The entire British landscape is testament to Christian history, from the crosses in cemeteries to the churches that still dominate our villages. The last time I looked, British Airways still had a livery based on the Union flag — and it seemed the height of hypocrisy to indicate a socking great cross on the tailfin of every plane, but to forbid a teensy little crucifix around the neck of an employee.
Categories: CHRISTIANITY, Europe, Human Rights, Separation of Church and State, UK
YES. In the US it comes under “freedom of worship” aka the 1st amendment.