Church speaks up for public faith

The Church of England's parliamentary body last night passed a motion reaffirming the call on Christians to manifest their faith in public as well in private.

Presenting the motion to the General Synod, the Rev Stephen Trott said that although it was "nonsense" to suggest that Christians in England were being persecuted, there were "very determined attempts to drive the Church out of the public square".

Rev Trott described his motion as a "declaration which leaves no doubt that what we believe in the Bible and what we practise as Christians belong very much to the public domain and not private conscience".

The motion asked that "Synod express its conviction that it is the calling of Christians to order and govern our lives in accordance with the teaching of Holy Scripture, and to manifest our faith in public life as well as in private, giving expression to our beliefs in the written and spoken word, and in practical acts of service to the local community and to the nation".

Rev Trott pointed to recent examples of Christians being challenged for publically expressing their faith, including nurse Shirley Chaplin, who was taken off ward duties after she refused to remove her cross necklace.

Mrs Chaplin lost her appeal in the British courts and is taking her case to the European Court of Human Rights, along with Gary McFarlane, a relationship counsellor dismissed by Avon Relate because he said he could not in conscience conduct sex therapy with same-sex couples. The ECHR is to hear their cases on 4 September.

Rev Trott said: "Now we are not to be permitted to manifest our faith, or to live and work according to our conscience as Christians, because to do so is increasingly and mistakenly classed by government and the courts as 'discriminatory'."

He called for a "genuine plurality" of ideas instead of a "conformist ideology" imposed on all.

Although many Synod members supported the motion, there were some who challenged Rev Trott's contention that Christians are being marginalised.

The Archdeacon of Norwich, the Rev Jan McFarlane, suggested Christians need to be more discerning when reading press reports of discrimination cases involving Christians.

"The question I always ask is 'What really happened?'," she said.

"I'm not saying there isn't a problem, but what I am saying is that we shouldn't get too carried away with what we read in the press and we shouldn't be too quick to comment, not unless we are confident that we know the whole story.

"If there are rules spanning the wearing of jewellery, then why should Christians be exempt? I'm not wearing a cross today but it doesn't make me any less of a Christian."

Rev McFarlane also suggested that in some cases, the fault lies with Christians.


"Don't start me on Easter cards. Have you ever tried to buy a half decent one? They are embarrassingly twee.

"Where are our Christian artists, where are the Christian printers and publishers? Give us something decent to buy and demand will increase and the supermarkets will rise to meet that demand.

"Is it the case that supermarkets are actively banning cards with a religious theme? Or do they not want to stock them because they are so hideous no one will buy them?"

She added that there was a lot more Christians could do to witness their faith on a day-to-day business.