Faith in the Workplace - Equality and Human Rights Commission Survey

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has an open consulation on religion and belief in the workplace:

Has your religion or belief, or that of other people, affected your experiences in the workplace or the services you receive as part of your daily life? Or perhaps they impact on you as an employer or manager?  If so, we want to hear from you, whether your experiences are good or bad.

We want to gather as much information as we can from employees, service users, employers, service providers, trade unions, legal advisors and religion or belief groups so that we can assess how a person’s religion or belief, or lack of it, is taken into account at work and when using services.

This major call for evidence is part of our three year programme to strengthen understanding of religion or belief in public life, to improve knowledge of what happens in practice and to make sure that the laws which are in place to protect everyone’s right to be treated with fairness, dignity and respect are effective.

It runs until 31st October, and the evidence given will shape how the EHRC addresses issue of faith and human rights in the future, and assessment of how the current human rights framework works. (Not sure if that includes recent Conservative policy announcements!) The consultation includes questions about whether more or less legal protection should be given to people who hold religious beliefs. That could be a bit of a blunt instrument: I'd be keener to see more power for Christians to opt out of Sunday working in non-essential services than for Muslim nurses to wear a burka at work.

The consultation relates both to employees, and people receiving services. This is an opportunity to inform the way faith is taken into account in the public sphere and policy making, so please consider taking part.

Faith, Fairness, and the Workplace - Government Survey

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is doing a survey on people's experience of faith in the workplace, and in using public services:

We want to gather as much information as we can from employees, service users, employers, service providers, trade unions, legal advisors and religion or belief groups so that we can assess how a person’s religion or belief, or lack of it, is taken into account at work and when using services.

This major call for evidence is part of our three year programme to strengthen understanding of religion or belief in public life, to improve knowledge of what happens in practice and to make sure that the laws which are in place to protect everyone’s right to be treated with fairness, dignity and respect are effective.

You can do the survey here. 

I'm aware of several people who have ended up working more Sundays then they bargained for when they first agreed to do the occasional Sunday. And there was this case earlier this week, a registrar whose council could have done more to accomodate her but instead got the sack. So it's all very relevant.

Press release from the Evangelical Alliance on the survey here, which references some other research done on faith in the workplace/public life, and where the 'rights' of Christian belief fit into the map of other perceived rights. 

Whatever

"All our tasks certainly matter to God. on that, the Bible is startlingly clear: 'whatever you do', Paul writes, 'work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.' (Col 3:23-24)

Whatever you do. Not some things you do, not 47% of the things you do, not the things you do in the church, but whatever you do. And God would hardly ask us to do whatever we do with all our hearts, if it were not of some significance to him, even if we ourselves may not think it significant."
(Mark Greene 'Fruitfulness on the Frontline')

"It is easy to quote Jesus famous saying 'My kingdom is not of this world', but what John actually wrote is 'my kingdom is not from this world.' (John 18:36), with the clear implication that, although derived from elsewhere, Jesus kingdom was definitely for this world." (Tom Wright, Acts for Everyone)

Came across both of these in the last 24 hours, they seemed to belong together.

Really enjoying the Mark Greene book, very good accompanying DVD, superb resource for everyday discipleship.

Question

If, as David Cameron says

"we are a Christian country"

why are Christians forced to choose between work and faith for not working on Sundays, despite having told their employer beforehand they couldn't do so, and then having their shifts changed? A decision then backed by our court system?

At what point does this sort of rhetoric simply become meaningless (left-leaning readers will probably respond 'as soon as Cameron says it')..?

The Unfamiliar Sound of the CofE Getting its Act Together

Update: good interview with Rowan Williams by the BBC.

The Diocese of London finally got on the front foot yesterday with this statement/action about the St. Pauls situation. Amongst other things, it notes the re-engagement of Giles Fraser in the process, and the appointment of Ken Costa to investigate reconnecting finance and ethics. Alongside came the Archbishop of Canterburys statement, which appears to endorse the 'Robin Hood tax' and speaks of the 'idolatry of high finance'.

Fraser first: good news, this enables the CofE to get one of its more media-savvy clerics back on the front line, to share duties with Pete Broadbent, Sally Hitchiner and others. It also, more importantly, may allow for the publication of the St. Pauls report into City of London ethics, which was due to be published last week until Frasers resignation. Since it was put together by an institute which he ran, it wouldn't have made sense to make it public at the time, but perhaps now it can be.

Ken Costa: most well known for his connections with Holy Trinity Brompton and the Alpha Course, Costa is also behind the excellent God at Work course/book, which seeks to help Christians reconnect faith and work in a number of practical ways. He's been quite busy of late, and his recent speech in the City of London about capitalism and morality is well worth reading, for a flavour of the kind of critique we might see more of from CofE sources:

Morality is both taught and caught. But that means it can also be forgotten and lost. Whatever the reality is, the perception is certainly that the financial world has forgotten or lost moral moorings, and there is deep public anger at this.

My feeling is that governments will not long be able to ignore or resist this anger, and will be compelled to respond to some of the more ambitious calls for intervention and regulation. And, well-intentioned as these may be, it is unlikely to be successful.

If you want a briefer version of his argument, try this piece in last weeks Financial Times. Costa is no anti-capitalist. He believes that a fundamentally capitalist economy can be redeemed, but only by recovering a sound ethical basis. I'm not sure I'm with him on that, but one step in the right direction is better than none. And, more importantly, he can make this argument in a way which makes sense to the financial and business sector, rather than in a way they can simply dismiss as a bunch of anarchists in tents.

The 'Restoring Trust in the City' initiative, which Costa was addressing, is looking at 'ethical behaviour' in the City, but to be honest it looks pretty weak. Any moral critique of mammon which doesn't mention the word 'justice', and have a pretty robust understanding of it, isn't going to float very far. We don't need codes of practice, we need justice and love in place of greed and individualism. That's where the Robin Hood tax perhaps comes in, depending on how the proceeds can be used.

By putting both Costa and Fraser into the mix, the Diocese of London looks like it's trying to have a foot in both camps (literally). Costa is a son of the City, Fraser is probably more at home on St Pauls steps than in its vestry. That could be a classic Anglican recipe for compromise, or it might actually be incredibly fruitful. Watch this space.

Shelf Stacker and Vicar

The BBC have just posted this short piece about a vicar near Nottingham who works at his local Sainsburys (as he has done for the last 16 years) and combines his shop floor duties with his calling. I like his image of himself being a 'suspension bridge' between formal church and people in the everyday world. It does feel like that sometimes! Good for him.

Dermot O'Leary "Do the work, then say the prayers afterwards"

An interview with X-Factor host Dermot O'Leary in the Radio Times this week alludes to his faith:

A former altar boy, O'Leary has kept his faith; his production company goes under the title Ora et Labora ("pray and work"), though he points out that his personal modus operandi is to "do the work, then say the prayers afterwards." And while religion is clearly important to him, it is, he says "an underlying thing, not something I like to shout about. I don't like evangelism and I've probably got more in common with a liberal Jew or a liberal Muslim than someone who'd consider themselves a conservative Catholic."

At time of blogging, the interview isn't fully up on the BBC site. There seem to have been a lot of thought-provoking interviews this week:

Tom Wright on discipleship and character

Rev Richard Coles, former Communard, who's approach to his faith is quite different to O'Leary's:
The dog collar is fascinating to people," he reflects, "when it doesn't repel. I've got used to being shouted at in the street." When I express surprise, he brushes it aside. "What is really boring is when people greet me with 'More tea, vicar?'" So why not go round in mufti and save himself the bother? "Because I'm a priest." But aren't you a priest regardless of what you wear? He looks genuinely puzzled at the suggestion. "What I wear identifies me as a priest. I don't agree with all this trying to appear 'normal'. If you want that to be normal, don't take off your dog collar and then put it on again, because what you're doing is playing along with the view that wearing one makes you odd."

Les Isaacs, founder of Street Pastors

Third Way subscribers got an interview with Marcus Brigstocke this month. They should line up Dermot O'Leary too, I'd love to hear him unpack that comment a bit more.

Stanley Hauerwas on leadership and servanthood
Communities have diversities of gifts. Part of your responsibility as an administrator and leader is to help members of the community own them as contributing to the overall good of the community. To be in a position of power means that you recognize how fragile the power is. You wouldn’t have it otherwise. And you have enough confidence that you don’t have to win all the time. That’s a real ascetic discipline, a discipline of the ego, that is absolutely crucial for being an administrator and to allow the institution to go on once you’re no longer there.

Faith, Football and Sweaty T-Shirts

Would God rather be on the pitch, or in the stands watching? Being omnipresent He can, of course, do both at the same time, but how far is it ok for players to express their faith on the pitch?

A new BBC World Service prog on the relationship between faith and football opens this up very well, worth a listen, some insights both on the work of team chaplains, and it invites comparisons with other recent issues over faith in the workplace.

From the FIFA website, on a visit by Sepp Blatter to Moldova.
Next stop was the Orthodox Church, where President Blatter was awarded Moldova's highest honour, that of 'Stephen the Pious, the Great and the Saint', by His Holiness Vladimir, the Metropolitan Bishop of Chisinau and all Moldova. "I am deeply touched by this award. For me, religion and football have at least one thing in common: they bring hope and emotion to the people," said the FIFA President.

that's 2 things Sepp, but we'll let that go. Also from FIFA, in the Equipment Regulations
15.1. All forms of advertising for sponsors or third parties, of political, reli­gious or personal statements or other announcements, are prohibited on all kit items (see Annex A) inside the stadium.

which is fair enough, though some of the most courageous sportsmen in recent times include the Zimbabwean cricketers who used their profile through the sport to protest about the government. It's also a good way to protect the turf for the FIFA designated sponsors and bankrollers.

A few months ago Fifa warned the Brazilian team against displaying religious slogans on the pitch. That doesn't stop people crossing themselves, or dedicating goals upwards, so it seems reasonable. At the same time, money talks, and Fifa is probably quite sensitive to certain parts of the 'market' taking offense: it's not easy to know whether this secular equality or capitalist pragmatism talking. Possibly both.

Deep Church notes that possibly 40m people will listen to the radio programme.

A Short Supply of Something. Possibly the Facts.

I was thinking about commenting on the 'sacked' Christian supply teacher story, but it's still not entirely clear what the facts are. Someone somewhere has overreacted, but it's hard to say who. But if you want to join a comments thread, then try:
Tom Harris
Iain Dale
Tabloid Watch
Cranmer
Bristol Evening Post (if you want to engage with a completely different set of people to the blogosphere regulars.)
depending on your prejudices. I mean, convictions.

For the record:
- pushing your faith on other people when they're not interested is socially inept/insensitive, but people do that all the time with their interest in everything from trains to the fortunes of Manchester United. They don't get sacked for it.

- however, offering to pray for a seriously ill child is more than just droning on about Berbatov. Even with my dog collar on I'm very careful what I say in situations which call for a bit more pastoral sensistivity than the average. It would, however, be interesting to know if there's been any complaints about people who've extolled the virtues of Reiki or acupuncture.

- it would be nice if we lived in a world where people could say things to each others faces, rather than staying quiet and then going to the authorities. It's surely much healthier to deal with issues adult to adult, rather than adding to a culture of complaint and litigation.

- having a faith doesn't give you a right to 'share' it. The Bible is clear: be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you to explain your faith, and do it with gentleness and respect (1 Peter, I think). Yes Christians are called to bear witness to their faith, but witnesses don't speak until they are called to the stand.

- there are a number of people who will assume that anyone who has engaged the services of the Christian Legal Centre is automatically wrong. There are others who assume that any story as reported by the Daily Mail is factually inaccurate. But nobody can be right 100% of the time.

John the Baptist, Work Consultant

Most workplaces have their own moral grey areas. Our biggest local employer is Westland Helicopters, or Agusta Westland as they're now known, having been bought up by an Italian company. They make transport helicopters, as well as the Apache gunship- well known both to Palestinians (on the receiving end of those owned by the Israeli army) and the UK forces in Afghanistan (which is where the Yeovil-made ones are deployed). Judging by the latest news, there could be plenty of work for Westlands in the next few years.

Some of the folk I know who work there sometimes wrestle with this. Some are working on non-military helicopters, which means they're not directly involved with the Apache, though they still work for a company which prospers by selling machines which are designed to kill people. Some of the end uses are perhaps more difficult to justify than others.

How big a problem is that? WWJD? Here's John the Baptist in Luke 3
12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?"
13 "Don't collect any more than you are required to," John told them.
14 Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?"
John replied, "Don't force people to give you money. Don't bring false charges against people. Be happy with your pay."

Being a tax collector wasn't an occupation for the morally pure. Working for the occupying Roman power collecting money for them from your fellow Jews, and creaming a bit off the top for your own enrichment. A profiteering collaborator, they might have got on well with the French Vichy administration during WW2. The soldiers were possibly the enforcers for the tax collectors.

This caught me by surprise. Because I'd have expected someone as rigorous and demanding as John the Baptist to tell them to quit their jobs and do something more pleasing to God. But he doesn't. A baptised, penitent, honest tax collector/soldier can serve God where they are by living an upright life within the parameters set by the job. Does that apply to Apache gunships too? What about other weapons systems?

This of course raises a host of issues - there must be a point where you have to bail out, but then people like Schindler would have never achieved what they did without remaining in the system. There's also the question of when and how you try to reform the system itself, and a focus purely on individual morality can be quite weak at this point.

But yes, I would rather have a tax collector who doesn't overcharge me, and a criminal system which doesn't exploit its power over the weak. So maybe its better to have good people in bad jobs than to have bad people in bad jobs, which is what you'd get if all the good people quit.

Still processing this one, what do you think?

Meat and Potato in the Auditory Canal

Couple of great pioneer* stories from earlier this week:

1. The Guardian reports on a Christian family who've been inspired to set up a woodland commune in Somerset. Lots of really challenging stuff in Tobias Jones' account, for example:

it feels to me as if old-fashioned charity is at the far periphery of our
life. We have a few standing orders to worthy causes and put a small cheque in
the post, or do a soup run, once in a while. But that sort of charity seems
increasingly to me like carbon offsetting: a way to cleanse our conscience, to
make us feel better about the fact that actually we could keep living just the
way we want. It's a sop, nothing more. I want charity, in the old cliche, to
begin at home, to be an integral part of our lives – not just something we do
with loose change once in a while.

....The hope is that our children, too, will learn about vulnerability when they're still living in a warm, loving home; that they will, over the years, begin to learn about addiction, displacement, bereavement, poverty, prison and so on. That, to us, seems much more important than A-level results or a good degree.

...most of all we're taking our leap in the dark because we've belatedly realised that the sermon on the mount might actually be a manifesto for life, rather than a few nice ideals to take out for a spin on a Sunday morning. We've come to believe in the survival of the weakest, not just the fittest. William Vanstone once came out with the great line that the Church is like a swimming pool: all the noise is at the shallow end. We felt called to the deep end, to the place where it's more quiet, more dangerous maybe, more radical.

Wow. I'm full of admiration for the guy and his family. They want the shelter to be a place where people can come for sanctuary and community, and have already started thinking about what kind of community rule of life they'll need. Suprisingly for a Guardian piece written by a Christian, the comments are almost 100% positive. Perhaps that's because this is faith lived, rather than faith preached, and faith lived is much more convincing. Jonny Baker has more reflections.

2. The first 'Pioneer Minister to the Business Community' was commissioned earlier this week in Yorkshire. Here's a bit of the press release from Ripon & Leeds diocese:

As ‘chaplain’ to the business community, Revd Rob Hinton’s will be based at
‘Club LS1’ in Leeds, a central hub for business people meeting in Leeds and also
the home to such institutions as Common Purpose and the Institute of Directors.
He said he was looking forward to the challenge of the new role: “While so much
of the church is denouncing the banking community, it is an important time to
come and be the new Chaplain to the second largest financial district outside of
London and to become part of a Diocese that is wanting to love those who are
both taking the flack and at the same time trying to put things right for the
industry and the rest of us.” He added, “This is a ministry not just to the
financial sector but all areas of the city’s business world.”

It's a diocese which seems to have more of a grip on mission issues than most, good to see that the mission section of their website has been revamped since my survey of diocesan sites earlier in the year. Some interesting links: highersports is a Christian run sports coaching programme, doing ministry through sports (just like the old days), and they have some vid clips of local fresh expressions, though oddly these aren't actually linked to from the mission section!

*I'm truly very sorry, but couldn't resist**

**I hope this doesn't need explaining.....

After Sunday: what connection between church and work?

The very excellent After Sunday project has published the results of a survey they did at Greenbelt last month on how well churches equip their members for the world of work. Here's a couple of the charts

3. 'The church values me more for the work I do inside the church than for what I do in my daily work'

9. 'My church feels like another thing to fit in to a life, full of parts competing for my attention'

Lots of food for thought here, both for church members and church leaders/teachers. Lots of resources and helpful things on the After Sunday site, including this quote, which I like:

All of life is spiritual, for all is part of God's creation. There is no division between sacred and secular, work and worship, religion and politics. Spirituality is not apart from our daily lives, it is our daily lives. But it is a life with a cutting edge not avoiding the pain or fear. Alan Ecclestone

No Prayer on the NHS

A nurse in Somerset has been suspended after offering to pray for a patient. And there was me thinking that spiritual care was something the NHS recognised, given that they employ chaplains. I understand the point about not forcing your views on people, but an offer to pray and an 'ok' if the patient says no is hardly brainwashing the vulnerable.

It's not clear* whether this is being driven by the patient or by the Primary Care Trust. If the latter then it's another example of this sort of thing**, a hypersensitivity to 'causing offence' under the rubric of 'diversity and inclusion'. Smooth words, but they are a bit of a velvet glove sometimes.

*Correction: the patient didn't complain about what happened, the disciplinary action is at the instigation of the health trust hierarchy. Some of the TV coverage is here. The official line is that she shouldn't "promote causes that are not related to health". So they think that offering to pray for someone is a) promoting a cause and b) not related to health? Hmmm.

Update: Cranmer has a more extensive post on this.

**Handle with care. 'Chaplain abolishes Apostles Creed at Sandhurst' is a good headline, but the source is the Daily M*il, so it's probably untrue.