IS THIS THE WAY TO DEAL WITH SIN?
Ordinary people hold individual views about all sorts of aspects of life. Those views will not coincide with the views of all the people with whom they work. In the past those views could be expressed in normal conversation without any fears of repercussions, even when they were eccentric or extreme. Peer group censure was felt to be enough to limit or silence them. That is no longer the case for people within the workplace. Under the new Equality Act which has just come into force everyone has to be much more careful about what they say to their work colleagues. If what they say is offensive to a third party who hears or overhears their comments, and is then repeated despite a complaint to the employer, that third party can now take the employer to a tribunal on the grounds of “unwanted conduct which has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment”.
The new Equality Act covers age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex (meaning gender) and sexual orientation. It is a consolidation of previous legislation and extends provisions to some new areas. There is no doubt that some of the provisions are very necessary to prevent and inhibit discrimination, harassment and victimisation of people on the basis of their race, gender, age or disability. Misuse of others and disrespect for people who are different from us is never acceptable to Christian people.
This Act, however, also imposes an ‘equality duty’ on public bodies, such as schools and police, to promote homosexual and transsexual issues. The implication of this is seen in the guidance issued to police in Scotland to give preferential treatment to so called ‘hate crimes’.
The strange aspect of it is the extension of equality issues to conversations and to those who hear those conversations. This marks a new departure for legislation. There is an expectation for employers now to intervene if unacceptable conversations take place more than once between employees. But how far will this go? Verbally abusing a disabled person, or mocking someone with a different skin colour, or ridiculing older people because of their age is surely unacceptable and employers should deal with staff who do such things. But even there the issue can be very uncertain and unclear. Both in humour and in exasperation people will say things about others that may not quite suit a more sensitive or pernickety person, and which might play into the hands of a malicious person. Such things can easily happen quite frequently. In a sinful world sinners will say sinful things. And in a politically correct world people who are not quite sufficiently politically correct will say some unpolitically correct things. That is the reality of the world. But the equalities industry cannot accept that sad fact. Indeed it has been suggested that under these provisions employers have to be very careful of showing sympathy for certain members of staff in case it be perceived to be favouritism. The campaigners for this new form of equality want everyone to conform to their set of shibboleths and woe betide any who fail to do so. We might note that Christians wishing to talk about their faith might find themselves threatened by this extension of the law. What will we do? Take the road of expediency and stay silent, or be faithful and risk being part of an action at a tribunal.
The problem is that you don’t reform people by legislating against what they think or say. Of course, public statements that devalue others or incite wicked acts, and direct verbal attacks on disadvantaged people have to be forbidden. But conversations in the workplace are another matter altogether. There is only one way to change people who hate, or devalue others, or show no respect for those who are disadvantaged, or who generally engage in conversations that might cause distress to others. They need a new way of thinking. They need their minds and hearts to undergo a radical transformation. Legislation has never been the way to deal with sin. But that is not the aim.
There is an attitude abroad that increasingly demands uniformity of thought. Those who advocate these things are sincere people seeking to eliminate evils from within our society, but their approach is very dangerous and lacks true wisdom. This increasing demand is that everyone conform to a specific set of values and if you do not you are not just out of step you are in danger of legal action. So now there is a list of things you cannot say without incurring the threat of legal action. You cannot say that homosexual behaviour is wrong. Apparently the new leader of the Labour Party, Ed Milliband, opposes the free speech law that allows people to express their opposition to homosexual conduct. You are very illiberal and seriously out of order if you comment on the fact that Mr Milliband is not married although he has a partner and family. Adultery is now acceptable and sex before marriage is seen as a norm, even though the damage done to society in general and young people in particular is immense. Indeed you are frowned upon if you argue that sex should only take place between a man and a woman within a married relationship. Furthermore you are going well beyond the pale if you suggest that another religion from your own is wrong and dangerous. You cannot say that there is only one way to God. You must not say that people are sinners under God’s wrath who need the only Saviour, Jesus Christ. In other words you cannot express in a conversation even things that you hold dearly and with deep conviction, because someone overhearing may be offended or consider what you say in some way threatening to them. And, if you repeat your ‘crime’, your employer may be in trouble.
Some will say that the above is an overreaction and taking things to an extreme. But we have seen how recent equality legislation has adversely affected Christians. The think-tank Civitas in their report “A New Inquisition: Religious Persecution in Britain Today” published earlier this year highlighted the way Christians were being unfairly targeted. And will there not be gay activists and some over-zealous Muslims who will not miss the opportunity to have a go at evangelical Christians who witness for Christ? Who can say what advantage the new breed of aggressive atheists might not take of these provisions? The idea of legislation is this area is ill-conceived and very foolish.
Yet again we see the growing illiberalism of our society. It is sad. Again it shows how when the values the Bible teaches are lost and the framework they provide is dismantled, people drift inexorably into repressive ways. How much our nation needs the Gospel!
Roger Hitchings
1st October 2010