News
Trevor Phillips comments on religion are criticised
22 June 2011
Comments made by the Chairman of the EHRC in an interview in the Telegraph over the weekend have been criticised on all sides: by the British Humanist Association, which described his remarks as “sectarian and divisive”, and by the Evangelical Alliance, which told him to “wise up to Christianity”.What upset the BHA was that Phillips said the Commission would support believers who suffer discrimination because of their faith, and conceded there was a perception it had not done so in the past.
"That is slap bang in the middle of our anti-discriminatory work," he said.
"Being an Anglican, being a Muslim or being a Methodist or being a Jew is just as much part of your identity and you should not be penalised or treated in a discriminatory way because of that. That's part of the settlement of a liberal democracy.
"Our business is defending the believer. The law we're here to implement recognises that religious identity is an essential part of this society. It's an essential element of being a fulfilled human being”.
Whilst the Evangelical Alliance were upset by his remarks that:
"There are a lot of Christian activist voices who appear bent on stressing the kind of persecution that I don't think really exists in this country. There are some Christian organisations who basically want to have a fight and therefore they're constantly defining the ground in such a way that anyone who doesn't agree wholly agree with them about everything is essentially a messenger from Satan”.
For more on the story, read Nelson Jones’ blog in the New Statesman.