'For Mary it was the cross, for others it's evangelism'

This week, the Employment Tribunal released a landmark judgment ruling that an NHS Trust had harassed and directly discriminated against a Christian nurse for wearing a cross at work.

Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Mary Onuoha was told by the tribunal that she had been victimised by Croydon Health Services NHS Trust and that the Trust had breached her human rights, creating a “humiliating, hostile and threatening environment” for her.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, spoke to Premier Christian Radio about why the win is so important: “It’s absolutely brilliant that she has won this case. We’ve got to put this into context as well: at the Christian Legal Centre we have been supporting people who have lost their jobs even, simply as a result of wearing their cross at work. You might remember Nadia Eweida, the BA air steward, as well as Shirley Chaplin – another nurse who had worked for 30 years and was told to take off her cross. And that case goes as far back as 2010. We’ve been doing these cases as far back as 2006.”

However, this case was different: “Finally, the court has admitted that the cross is a Christian symbol, accepted evidence around that, and also said that it was an expression of her faith, which it was for Mary Onuoha – wearing this cross was so important. … We have been in the courts for almost 20 years to protect and to proclaim that the manifestation of faith … is about saying that ‘I am a Christian’. … For Mary, this was through wearing the cross, for others, it will be speaking the gospel.” The good news is that this ruling protects a Christian’s right to express that faith in the workplace.