Scottish Catholic Observer

A European victory for religious freedom has brought one British aviation company, and the UK Government, down to earth with a bump this week. When the European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday found that British Airways employee Nadia Eweida faced religious discrimination for not being allowed to wear a cross at work it set a legal precedent.

The court ruled that check-in assistant Ms Eweida’s right to wear a cross superseded BA’s corporate image defence. Ms Eweida was awarded £1660 and £24,910 in costs from the UK Government.

The question remains why this case was not settled far earlier in the British courts? The answer? Secularism in our society.

When a quarter of English and Welsh priests sign an open letter expressing fears over the impact legalising same-sex ‘marriage’ will have on religious freedom, someone should surely sit up and take notice. And when the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children writes to all state secondary schools south of the border advising them of the impact of legislation to redefine what a marriage is, surely someone will see reason. The Coalition Government and the Scottish Government now teeter on very dangerous ground as they push onwards regardless with two separate bills to legalise same-sex ‘marriage’ on the horizon

Did the hundreds of thousands of protestors at the weekend in France against similar legislative proposals there teach them nothing? The arguments that the Church has already made in Scotland against altering the traditional definition of marriage as from a union between a man and a woman are just as valid in England, Wales and the rest of the world. It is not simply Catholic teaching that must prevail, it is common sense.

What joy to see the ecumenical efforts of Glasgow’s churches come to fruition in this year’s St Mungo Festival. From the Molendinar lecture to the school awards with the same name, to the Mitchell Library event and the St Mungo’s Bairns, to the St Mungo Singers at the Townhead Mass and ecumenical service, the feast day of Glasgow’s patron saint was significantly, appropriately and joyfully marked.

This festival could not fall at a better time. It lifted spirits after the Christmas celebration and, with debates raging once again about sectarianism, anti-Catholic bigotry and religious freedom, it was a timely reminder of progress made to see religious groups working together with council support ahead of the Week of Christian Unity, which begins today and runs until January 25.

In the blaze of celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, let us not forget two of its shorter documents—the landmarks Decree on Ecumenism and the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions. Indeed, their impact as steps forward for the Church exceeds their length.

Unity, especially among Christians, was a theme of the papacy of John XXIII. Ecumenism as ‘something universal’ found its way into eight of the 16 documents of Vatican II as well as the opening speeches of both council Popes. Can it find its true home in our hearts in this, the Year of Faith or are we doomed to see only the problems facing the Church and not the progress it has made?