On Wednesday, an employment tribunal in the United Kingdom sided with a longtime Christian nurse who contended that she was bullied and ultimately pushed out of her job over the cross she wore around her neck as a symbol of her faith.
The tribunal agreed that Mary Onuoha was subject to a “humiliating, hostile and threatening environment” and that the NHS Trust had breached her human rights, CBN News reports.
Six years ago, Onuoha was told that she could not visibly wear the cross as it posed a potential safety risk.
However, there were other employees who were able to wear other religious garb such as jewelry, saris, turbans, and hijabs unmolested.
She ultimately resigned in 2020.
“This has always been an attack on my faith,” she said previously. “My cross has been with me for 40 years. It is part of me, and my faith, and it has never caused anyone any harm. All I have ever wanted is to be a nurse and to be true to my faith.”
“I am a strong woman, but I have been treated like a criminal,” she continued. “I love my job, but I am not prepared to compromise my faith for it, and neither should other Christian NHS staff in this country.”
The tribunal noted that Onuoha was treated unfairly as compared to other religious employees.
“Applying common sense, it is clear to us that the infection risk posed by a necklace of the sorts the Claimant used to wear when worn by a responsible clinician such as the Claimant, who complied with handwashing protocol, was very low,” the tribunal judge and two members stated.
They determined that the NHS Trust treated Onuoha in an “offensive and intimidating” manner.
“It failed to properly grapple with the complexity of the issues,” the panel ruled. “No real thought seems to have been given to whether it was really appropriate to discipline the Claimant for doing something that in fact, many others in the workforce (including more senior colleagues who worked just as closely with patients) were doing unchallenged. Equally, no real thought was given to the Claimant’s point that others were wearing religious apparel in clinical areas and that she should be treated equally to them.”
HD Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?
The Cross: A ‘Rock Of Offense’ to the National Health Service?
Roger Kiska from the Christian Legal Centre, who supported Mary Onuha, stated that her case was obvious discrimination as the hospital clearly “singled out the cross.”
When asked if he believed hostility towards Christians in Britain is growing, Kiska stated that “over the last two or three years” the legal center he works for, which focuses on the religious freedom of Christians being violated, has “seen an exponential increase in the number of inquiries.”
“It is troubling that Christians simply for manifesting their faith are getting punished. Whether it be through employment, street preachers being arrested, university clubs with Christian ethos like pro-life clubs being told they cannot be on campus anymore. So it is very troubling indeed.”
He went on to explain that although the UK Government is trying to intervene in some of the Christian persecution abroad, “they’ve largely ignored the fact that intolerance towards Christians is greatly on the rise in the United Kingdom.” He further added that the law protects the rights of Christians, and it is vitally important that Christians “know [their] rights.”
Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of Christian Concern, described what it was like in court last October in a “Round the Table” discussion. Williams explained that the “courtroom had many witnesses from the NHS Trust” and “almost 2,000 pieces of paper” all to “justify why they had removed a high ranking nurse such as Mary from her role, all for wearing that little cross.”
Interestingly enough, after arguing that the necklace poses a risk to public health, they stated that a compromise could be made in which Mary would use a longer chain. As Williams pointed out this “bizarre” suggestion not only contradicts their argument but shows that their main goal is to hide the cross.
They even suggested she “hide the cross in her bra” or wear the chain backward and put the cross over her back, according to Williams.
“I think that it really can only be understood as something that is spiritual. The offense is actually the cross itself,” she concluded.
In 1 Corinthians 1:18, we read that “the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”
This is also reiterated through 1 Peter 2:7-8, which states that Jesus Christ to the Believer “is precious,” but to those who are “disobedient” He is a “stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.”
1 Peter 4:14 KJV – “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified.”
Williams instance that the problem is “spiritual” in nature, is backed up by God’s Word, which explained that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).
Furthermore, we are told in Scripture that the increasing hostility toward believers would be a key characteristic of the time prior to Jesus Return. 2 Timothy 3 describes a time in which “men of corrupt minds” will “resist the truth” and be “reprobate concerning the faith” (2 Timothy 3:8-9). This point is also underscored later in the chapter when it states that in last days “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12).
