Articles Number Five
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians echo throughout this edition of ARTICLES - as Christians our worldview is shaped by the cross. We may feel that the opposition we face by holding on to this message is something new, but the Apostle Paul was preparing the first Christians for the same kind of hostility. In this edition we look at youth violence, medical ethics, sexuality, money and workplace witness. Each issue is explosive, and we are thankful to the writers for their prayerful approach to each topic. None of these articles are the final word, but they hold up the issue to the cross and look to the wisdom of God, no matter how far it is from the wisdom of the world. So please read, pray and talk about these ARTICLES - and as you do, remember our brothers and sisters in Corinth, and our brothers and sisters across the world today. As we contend for the Gospel, and contend for the truth, remember that it was God himself who chose the things the world thinks are foolish to shame the wise. And God himself chose the things that are weak to shame the strong. God chose the things that people hate, the things they think are nothing, at all - and He used them to bring to nothing things that seem so much.
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians echo throughout this edition of ARTICLES - as Christians our worldview is shaped by the cross. We may feel that the opposition we face by holding on to this message is something new, but the Apostle Paul was preparing the first Christians for the same kind of hostility.
In this edition we look at youth violence, medical ethics, sexuality, money and workplace witness. Each issue is explosive, and we are thankful to the writers for their prayerful approach to each topic. None of these articles are the final word, but they hold up the issue to the cross and look to the wisdom of God, no matter how far it is from the wisdom of the world.
So please read, pray and talk about these ARTICLES - and as you do, remember our brothers and sisters in Corinth, and our brothers and sisters across the world today. As we contend for the Gospel, and contend for the truth, remember that it was God himself who chose the things the world thinks are foolish to shame the wise. And God himself chose the things that are weak to shame the strong. God chose the things that people hate, the things they think are nothing, at all - and He used them to bring to nothing things that seem so much.
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WORKPLACE WITNESS<br />
What does UK employment law say?<br />
Jesus commands us to go and make disciples<br />
of all nations. What an opportunity God has<br />
given us to do this in our secular workplaces in<br />
the diverse city of London. But what protections<br />
and constraints does the law place on us as we<br />
witness?<br />
THE LAW<br />
This is a complex area, and what follows is only<br />
a high-level summary.<br />
Article 9 of the European Convention on Human<br />
Rights provides that everyone has the right to<br />
freedom of thought, conscience and religion.<br />
This includes the freedom to manifest that<br />
religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice<br />
and observance in the workplace. Good news<br />
so far. However, this freedom is subject to<br />
limitations including the protection of the rights<br />
and freedoms of others. The upshot is that both<br />
European and domestic UK caselaw make a<br />
distinction between bearing Christian witness<br />
and “improper proselytism”.<br />
Things get more complicated because of the<br />
UK’s definition of harassment. In the workplace<br />
context harassment is: “unwanted conduct<br />
which has the purpose or effect of violating a<br />
person’s dignity or creating an intimidating,<br />
hostile, degrading or humiliating environment”.<br />
The unwanted conduct has to relate to a<br />
protected characteristic. Any religion or belief,<br />
including unbelief, is a protected characteristic.<br />
There are broadly seven further protected<br />
characteristics including sexual orientation.<br />
Given this, it is relatively easy to inadvertently<br />
trip into unwanted conduct territory with a<br />
non-believing colleague, or a colleague of a<br />
different religion or sexual orientation when<br />
discussing religious belief. If a conversation<br />
went badly wrong, this could result in being<br />
on the wrong side of an internal grievance by<br />
the colleague alleging they felt harassed by<br />
the Christian colleague. It does not matter that<br />
our intent was to lovingly hold out Jesus. What<br />
matters is how our intended loving actions are<br />
received.<br />
If an internal grievance found that an<br />
employee has harassed another, an employer<br />
is likely to invoke their disciplinary policy. A<br />
Christian employee could find themselves<br />
subject to a disciplinary process for being in<br />
breach of its employer’s equality and diversity<br />
policy for “harassment”. Generally speaking,<br />
if an employee has been employed for two<br />
years they have protection from being unfairly<br />
dismissed and it is likely to be unfair to dismiss<br />
an employee for a first offence without<br />
warning them first. Dismissing for a first<br />
“offence” may well be religious discrimination<br />
against a Christian employee if they have not<br />
previously been told to stop their actions.<br />
The test for justifying discrimination in these<br />
circumstances is whether the employer is<br />
following its legitimate aims proportionately<br />
and it’s arguably not proportionate to dismiss<br />
for a first offence.<br />
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