Former Attorney General: British Christians should have protections for religious beliefs
The former Attorney General has claimed that an “aggressive form of secularism” is preventing Christians from publicly expressing their beliefs.
Dominic Grieve, the Conservative MP for Beaconsfield, was sacked from his post of Attorney General for England and Wales in the government reshuffle last month.
In an interview with the Telegraph, he claims that Britain is being “sanitised” of faith, and that it was “quite extraordinary” that people could be punished for expressing religious beliefs.
He says: “I worry that there are attempts to push faith out of the public space. Clearly it happens at a level of local power.
“You can watch institutions or organisations do it or watch it happen at a local government level. In my view it’s very undesirable.
“Some of the cases which have come to light of employees being disciplined or sacked for simply trying to talk about their faith in the workplace I find quite extraordinary.
“The sanitisation will lead to people of faith excluding themselves from the public space and being excluded.”
Though he did not reference any particular case, his comments echo those of Baroness Hale, who claimed earlier this year that “the pendulum has swung too far one way” against religious freedom, after a long-running legal battle found against Christian B&B owners who turned away a gay couple.
Civil partners Martin Hall and Steven Preddy were turned away from the Chymorvah Hotel near Penzance in 2008 under the Bulls’ policy of not allowing unmarried couples to share rooms.
Mr Grieve said in 2012: “I think being a practising homosexual is a bit like being a practising member of the Church of England.
“It’s one of those things which you have to explain. It’s thought to be a little bit weird by large numbers of people.”
