When is a minority not a minority?

I read today about a man sacked from his post because he spoke up for his beliefs, and refused to give advice on a situation that ran counter to his faith. (Whilst saying he would be happy to refer the couple to other colleagues who did not have the same objections). The heart of this case, and many others is the apparent trend towards some minorities having rights that are considered more important than the rights of other minorities.

Equality...for some?

For some time it has been clear that the rights of the 2 million evangelical Christians in the UK to speak up for what they believe or to live their lives in accordance with their beliefs, take a back seat compared with the rights of other minorities. Surely this can't be right? Surely the law should afford them equal rights with other minority groups, or it is failing to operate equally?

Free speech...for some?

Now I don't want to get involved in a tit-for-tat comparison of which minority is hardest done to under the law. I do recognise that some people in minority groups do need support from the law to prevent them being treated badly by others. I think that it is wrong to be discriminate against a person solely because of his or her; race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation etc. But that does not mean that I have to agree with their views, we are both entitled to an opinion, and as long as those opinions are expressed without hatred or malice I think we should be allowed to express them.

When is a Christian not a Christian?

Part of the problem in the UK is the large majority of people who classify themselves as Christian, without actually practising Christianity in a recognisable way . (I mean if I said I was a tennis player, but I had rarely if ever held a tennis racket, or hit a tennis ball, could I honestly be considered a tennis player?) The result of this distorted classification is that the UK is considered a Christian country, and in today's politically correct world that means that the only way to be seen to be fair is to operate with an effective bias against the "majority" Christian population. The impact of this is to place increasing restrictions on the actual minority of practising Christians who try to live our their faith in day to day life. This is beginning to reach the levels where it feels like simply being a Christian is an offence.

The popular view of Christians as portrayed today is either; the right wing fundamentalists of the southern states of the USA; the woolly thinking liberal vicar; or the drab unfashionable God botherer. The Church is seen as irrelevant. and anachronistic, or hot beds of corruption. Few people would dare to stick up for the Church and talk about the massive benefits that the Church, and Christians have brought to society. (Schools, hospitals, social reform, the arts, protection of children, improvement of working conditions etc etc) If you did speak up, you'd quickly be inundated with accusations of bias, and pretty certainly attacked for being foolish for ignoring the facts of evolution etc, regardless of what you might actually believe in some instances.

Automatically wrong?

Others will lambaste you for hating gays (regardless of how you might actually treat them), or tell you that Christianity is; a figment of Dan Brown's imagination; the legacy of an alien visitation; the fictional amalgamation of various pagan Roman festivals. Rarely, if ever, will some one actually ask you what you believe, because the default setting is simply that you are wrong to be a Christian.

Has anyone ever wondered why that is?