Bishop's letters: January 07 +Graham

THE WEARING OF RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS

Religious issues seem to be coming to the fore in our country: one of the most recently publicised being about what a person of faith may wear at work. British Airways allows Sikh turbans but disallows a small cross round the neck, on the grounds that no personal jewellery is permitted. A Muslim classroom assistant in Dewsbury is not permitted to wear the veil in a Church of England school.


God requires our worship. So we may say that freedom to worship God is a basic human right and is something that we should protect for all human beings. But worship has to be offered willingly and cannot be forced. So we give each other the freedom to worship according to different traditions and religions, including the way we express our beliefs in how we dress. As Christians we can be glad to be generous and hospitable to those of other faiths. Looking around you in the main streets of London soon shows that this is a freedom we rightly allow. As the Archbishop of Canterbury said, “the ideal of a society where no visible public signs of religion would be seen is a politically dangerous one”. It assumes that what comes first is a workable public morality created by the government’s authority.

But, of course, there will be qualifications. If any particular dress code raises issues of health or safety in the particular work that is being undertaken then it may rightly be forbidden. This would not seem to be the case in the recent high-profile examples. Small crosses have been worn by women for centuries without any significant cause of offence.

More difficult, perhaps is the case of the veil. It can be seriously argued that for children in school not to be able to see the face of a teacher or classroom assistant, who is seeking to help and instruct them personally, is to deny to the child some of the natural means of recognition, affirmation and encouragement. This argument, which I believe is important, then has to be weighed against the normal freedom to choose religious dress.

Facial expressions are important in all personal communications. The face, perhaps more than any other part of the body, is that part of us through which the image of God and its reflection in loving another person is expressed. To cover the face, then, is to hide the image of God in us.

The Archbishop of York rightly challenged British Airways to show loyalty to the strong Christian heritage of the country it represents. The cross is the symbol of Christian belief and faith; it is worn by many with joy and pride. To seek to remove it from public profile is to take steps towards declaring Britain to have cast aside its strong Christian foundation. There are strong and illiberal pressures in our society pushing in just such a direction at present. People of faith and of goodwill need to do all they can to resist such pressures. God is our heritage; but he is also our future, as a nation. Without him our society, as we value it, will collapse.

+Graham Dow