Neil McNicholas: Attack on faith shows why we must leave EU

Legislation like this is another good reason for exiting the European Union and regaining a degree of control over our own courts of law once again.

My initial reaction was as a person of faith, but also concern for an apparent flouting of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states ‘everyone has the right to manifest his religion in freedom of belief in practice, worship and observance’.

The European Court appears to have ignored this Declaration in the name of every member state of the European Union also signed up to the United Nations Charter.

The basic aim of the European Court’s decision is to remove the potential for an employer being accused of discrimination if they asked a Muslim woman to remove her headscarf, or a Christian to remove a crucifix. But reading further, the legislation seems to also provide protection against a charge of discrimination if a customer refused to be served by someone wearing a headscarf.

Why would anyone refuse? Is it the headscarf or her presumed religion? My first thought is that it would be someone looking for an excuse to cause trouble – in which case their attitude would be discriminatory regardless of what the European Court says.

Surely the easiest solution would be for them to take their custom (and their small-mindedness and even bigotry) elsewhere. Instead we now have a change in legislation in support of “political correctness” gone berserk as usual.

I don’t think we should be legislating on what people can and cannot wear, although these are troubled times.

Wearing a full burka might be problematic in certain situations from a security point of view – and from a safety point of view in some work situations, but I don’t know that you can argue against a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf or hijab as her way of dressing modestly – and, actually, any woman whether for religious reasons or not.

This new law seems to focus on Islamic practices, but in an attempt to broaden that focus, the legislation also includes any and all visible religious symbols of whatever faith – so it mentions the Sikh turban, the Jewish kippah, and the Christian crucifix.

It all comes down to the attitude of the employer and whether he or she is sufficiently against such symbols as to ban them, or whether the demands of a bolshie customer are going to be accommodated. But where does respect for others come in?

Quite apart from the implications of being able to ban the wearing of religious signs, it also included political or philosophical signs. We would all understand what is meant by political signs: something as obviously visible as a party rosette, but also a less conspicuous “vote for” button – indeed anything that would be a declaration of our politics.

But then “philosophical signs” opens a whole Pandora’s Box. We recently had the example of Fifa fining nations for allowing players to display the Remembrance Day poppy on their shirts which it said was a political statement. No it wasn’t – it was honouring (and inclusively) all those who had lost their lives in warfare. How could anyone on Fifa’s legislative body object to that? Maybe now people on TV or in shops can be stopped from wearing a poppy if someone objects. And employers could ban the ribbons and other symbols that people wear to show their support for various charities.

The UN Declaration of Human Rights says that everyone has a right to manifest their religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. This latest EU legislation (some might say interference) doesn’t seem to support that right, but I’m not a lawyer and so maybe I’m missing something.

It also says that all are equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection. To me this says that you can’t simply legislate in favour of one section of society if it discriminates against another.

Do people of faith not have a right to bear witness to their faith by wearing a headscarf or the hijab, the Sikh turban, the Jewish kippah, or a Christian cross? It’s not ramming any belief or philosophy down anyone’s throat – it’s just there to be seen if anyone is looking, and if they aren’t then no one is forcing them to take notice. Live and let live.

Once we get ourselves out from under European legislation, we then need to do all we can to make sure our own courts don’t go down the same road.

Father Neil McNicholas is a parish priest in Yarm.