UK Nurse Penalized for Wearing Cross

From Zenit: http://www.zenit.org/article-26985?l=english

EXETER, England, SEPT. 24, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Shirley Chaplin, a Christian nurse from Exeter, has been forced to accept a transfer from her current position after disciplinary action for wearing a cross necklace to work.


The Christian Legal Centre reported that Chaplin, 54, accepted the offer of redeployment Monday "under duress," and is consequently seeking legal counsel to claim discrimination.


The nurse has served in her position for almost 30 years, and has worn the cross on a chain on a constant basis since before her training.


Recently, her boss at The Royal Devon and Exeter Trust Hospital told her to take the cross off, and she refused, stating that it is an expression of her Christian faith.


Chaplin was threatened with disciplinary action for allegedly violating the uniform policy, and wearing something that is a potential "health risk" to her and her patients.


The nurse asserted that this request from her boss is an infringement on her rights, and that the issue is irrelevant to the health and safety standards of the workplace.

A spokesman from the Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said that wearing the cross is not seen as a "requirement" of faith, and thus the issue is about health and safety.


In the statement from the Christian Legal Centre however, Chaplin said, "This blatant piece of political correctness amounts to the marginalizing of employees' personal human rights, a blanket 'secularizing and neutralizing' […] intended to stop Christians from expressing their faith."