The 'new meaning' of religious freedom

The term 'religious freedom' is not new to anyone.

It's as common as the term 'freedom of speech' which is an individual's right to express their opinions publicly without fear of reprisal, subject to laws against libel, incitement to violence or rebellion. There is also 'freedom of association' which is an individual's right to join and leave groups of one's choosing, and for the group to take collective action in the interest of its members. These are just a few of the common ones.

So back to freedom of religion, what does this mean? Freedom of religion or Freedom of  belief is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in private or public, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance; this also includes the freedom to change religion or leave a religion. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_freedom).

Okay this is nothing new, so why am I writing about freedom of religion? This is because Some happenings in recent times have caused me to go back to understand what it means to practice freedom of religion. I will cite some examples

- In the UK, four Britons alleged that they suffered discrimination as a result of their Christian faith. Just to summarize the cases and the verdicts: (1) Nadia Eweida, a staff of British Airways was told to cover up the cross she wore around her neck as it undermined the airline's professional look. This is despite hijabs, skull caps and turbans being acceptable. The European court for Human Right supported her discrimination claim and BA has since changed its policy. (2) Shirley Chaplin also had a case similar to Nadia's above and the same court ruled against her. She works for the NHS as a nurse. (3) Lilian Ladele worked as a marriage registrar at Islington Borough council and asked to be
allowed not to perform same-sex civil partnerships as a result of her religious belief. She offered to
undertake other tasks but was told by the council that it was against their equality and diversity
policy. She also lost her case. (4) Gary McFarlane worked as a relationship counsellor for Relate and  asked to be excused from participating in sex therapy for homosexual couples as a result of his Christian beliefs, he also lost his case.

Read up the full article following the catholic herald link below.

(http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2013/01/15/european-court-rules-on-religious-freedom-cases/)

Also more recently in the UK was a Supreme Court unanimous ruling against the Christian owners of a Bed and Breakfast whose policy does not allow married couples, whether heterosexual or homosexual, to book a single room together as this is against their Christian belief. They were sued by a gay couple for discrimination and the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the gay couple citing in
their 'lead decision' that "marriage serves no useful purpose". The Christian couple has since had to give up their business, which was also their home having buckled under the financial strain of the
lawsuit as well as the damages they had to pay. (http://www.persecution.org/2013/11/29/uk-supreme-court-rules-against-religious-liberty-in-bb-case/)

I have cited these examples from the UK but the same is happening all over the world. From entities both secular and religious being required to pay for abortion inducing drugs and other non pro-life
activities under the HHS mandate, to the ban on prayer in schools, to restriction on calling of God in public places, challenges with praying in public, displaying nativity scenes or the Ten Commandments and the use of crosses in public places. Infact senior citizens residing in senior care centers in the US are not allowed to pray before their meals or sing gospel songs as religion is banned in public places. If they insist on doing so, their meals will be taken away. The list goes on and on.
(http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF12H29.pdf). And to bring it closer to home, there are the incessant cases of church bombings by the members of the boko haram sect in Nigeria.

Looking at all the above, it appears freedom of religion is no longer a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community to manifest religious beliefs in teaching, practice, worship and observances, either privately or publicly. It only is any of the above, provided it is politically correct.

Increasingly Christian rights are giving way to other rights. Commenting on these rulings, John Duddington the editor of Christian Law review said "The courts have a poor record of upholding the rights of Christians when other rights are involved, for instance homosexual rights".

Now is not the time to keep silent, the rights of Christians is not top of mind for any government or
ruling body now and will be trampled over by every Tom, Dick and Harry in the name of political correctness. Anyone who has any religious inclination needs to stand up for their beliefs and their right to express that belief both privately and publicly without fear or discrimination.

And in case we are not sure the true meaning of religious freedom, this is what we means for us

1) Freedom of religion is not just to go to places of worship or pray at home. It includes bring free to express those beliefs publicly and to share same with others without infringing on any's rights.

2) Freedom of religion means bring free to provide services that are consistent with one's beliefs.

3) Freedom of religion means being free as an entity to hire employees who at the minimum support the ethos of the hiring organization.

4) Religious institutions should not be exempted from government funding due to disagreements on various moral stance; after all members of religious organizations are taxpayers.

(http://www.patheos.com/blogs/euangelion/2013/08/the-meaning-of-religious-freedom/)

My parents own a guest house in the south eastern countryside of a Nigeria with values similar to that of the Bulls (the Supreme Court case given above). Perhaps if our guest house was located anywhere else in the world, we would be facing a similar situation.

However that is not our story, but for how much longer? If things continue like this, it will only be a matter of time.

The time to speak up is now.