I believe Christians are seeing the beginnings of persecution in the UK because, as a nation, we have forgotten our history, our heritage and our Christian foundations.

For hundreds of years most of the great advances in public life, in health care, education and social provision, came as a result of Christian conviction that cares for the good of all.

Social trends have come and gone, but the Christian foundations of our country are what have maintained true tolerance within our society, the dignity of every human being and great public service.

This notion prevailed through the latter half of the last century.

As a young barrister in the 1980s, I had the privilege of knowing Lord Denning and once every quarter would enjoy fish and chips with him at his local pub in Whitchurch.

What was it that informed Lord Denning?

It was his notion of Christian justice, which is well documented in his judgments and in his well-known booklet The Influence of Religion on Law.

Lord Denning believed that without Christianity, there can be no morality, and without morality, there can be no law.

Modern legal thought, however, particularly under the Blair/Brown regime and now under Cameron and Clegg, has been dominated by liberal secular humanism, exemplified in the equalities legislation of the past decade.

The ideals of the Equality Act may appear to have much to commend them, insofar as we agree that all civilised people should not accept overt discrimination against any person based on irrelevant considerations of their sexual orientation or faith.

However, the specific laws enacted have acted as a political lightening rod to eliminate Christian morality from the workplace.

The secular movement is a variant of the man-made philosophies that failed in the last Century – humanism, fascism, communism.

When Man puts himself up as the final arbiter of what is right and wrong, it always ends in oppression and failure.

That is why law cannot be divorced from Christianity.

When the state seeks to coerce behaviour and punishes dissenting voices, we know we are on the cusp of a totalitarian regime – first pressure, then alienation, coercion and finally direct persecution.

People are being silenced, arrested, sacked, and barred from jobs because of their faith.

Suppression of speech

Today, attempts by Christians to seek tolerance within the system are in vain. Here are some examples: Moreover, we now also see the suppression of ideas, expression and speech:

  • Forrester, a mental health worker, was suspended for handing out a booklet containing stories of post-abortive women to a colleague;
  • Nurses Petrie and Chaplin were suspended for offering prayer, for wearing a cross;
  • GP Raabe, was removed from the Home Office Drugs Panel because of his views on sexual ethics; and
  • Council van driver Atkinson was recently put under investigation for displaying a palm cross in his van.
The current situation means Christians who put faith first are barred from many positions in public life because they cannot subscribe to the new political orthodoxy.

  • Davies and Ladele, Christian registrars, were forced from office because they asked not to officiate at same-sex civil partnership ceremonies;
  • Eunice and Owen Johns were effectively barred from fostering because of their Christian beliefs on sexual ethics;
  • McFarlane, a relationships counsellor, lost his job because, though happy to counsel homosexuals on their relationships, felt unable to offer sex therapy to them;
  • Dr Matthews was taken off the adoption panel because she asked to abstain from voting on the panel (so as not to exercise prejudice) when considering placing children with same-sex couples; and
  • McClintock, a magistrate, was forced to resign because he believed the best place for a vulnerable child was with a mother and a father.

The time is ripe for a review of the equality laws.

Andrea Minichiello Williams is founder and director of The Christian Legal Centre