LONDON/BERLIN — British Airways, the flag
carrier, is facing boycott threats from devout Christians in and
outside Britain for not allowing an employee to show her cross
necklace.
"If this decision isn't reversed by tomorrow
evening - I'm going to cut up my frequent flyer card - and send it to
BA so they know why I've done it," former Home Office Minister
Ann Widdecombe told the BBC's Heaven and Earth program.
Nadia Eweida, a check-in worker at Heathrow
Airport, said she was effectively "forced" to take unpaid
leave after refusing to conceal her cross under a cravat.
The airline said refusing to cover up the cross
necklace under a scarf contravened its policy that jewellery and
religious symbols on chains should not be on display.
Tory MP Widdecombe, a devout Roman Catholic,
dismissed the BA's decision as discriminatory.
"As far as I'm concerned, this is religious
discrimination and I don't think Christians have to take it."
Joining a growing chorus of condemnation, Northern
Ireland Secretary Peter Hain on Sunday, October 15, rubbished the BA's
decision as "loopy".
Eweida is now considering legal action on the
grounds of religious discrimination and is being backed by her union,
the Transport and General Workers Union.
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"Our position is that we do
not find the wearing of the crucifix in any way offensive,"
said Bunglawala.
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Widdecombe urged other devout Christians to join
her in a mass boycott that would inflict huge commercial damage on the
business.
She said one option would be for Christians to
write to the company's chief executive.
"But the real power will be their economic
power - don't fly BA," she told the BBC.
The MP also backed calls for a day of solidarity
this Friday where Christians across Britain should "wear the
biggest crosses they have".
Eweida said that 200 of her work colleagues have
signed a petition backing her, praising as "wonderful" calls
for a day of Christian solidarity.
She said Christianity has been "taken for
granted" and Christians were "not called to be hidden,
shamed or subdued".
A BA spokeswoman asserted that Eweida has not been
suspended from work, adding that the matter remains under
investigation and an appeal was due to be heard.
She said BA recognized that uniformed employees may
wish to wear jewellery including religious symbols.
"Our uniform policy states that these items
can be worn, underneath the uniform. There is no ban.
"This rule applies for all jewellery and
religious symbols on chains and is not specific to the Christian
cross."
BA's uniform policy allows staff to wear religious
symbols only if they are concealed underneath the uniform.
It allows items such as Hindu turbans and bangles
as well as hijab "as it is not practical for staff to conceal
them beneath their uniform."
Not Offensive
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Singhammer said the German
Bundestag should refuse to book flights with British Airways for
members of the legislature and its administration.
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British Muslims, already in the eye of a storm
triggered by former foreign secretary and incumbent leader of the
House of Commons Jack Straw about face veil, weighed in, reported
Yorkshire Post.
"Our position is that we do not find the
wearing of the crucifix in any way offensive," said Inayat
Bunglawala, a spokesman for the umbrella Muslim Council of Britain.
"It is an expression of private religious
belief and we do respect that in the same way that we respect the
right of a Muslim woman to wear the Niqab."
Last week, Straw revealed that he asks Muslim women
visiting his constituency office to show their faces.
He argued that the veil was a barrier to good
communication and a "visible statement of separation and
difference."
On the cross ban, Respect Party leader George
Galloway said it is high time "this hysteria was dampened
down."
"Let people wear what they want to wear, let
religions dress according to how they think their religion requires
them to dress, let a thousand flowers bloom."
German Boycott
The cross row seems to be spilling over to other
European countries.
Germany's Christian Social Union on Monday urged
the parliamentary speaker to stop lawmakers flying with British
Airways.
A member of the lower house of parliament for the
conservative CSU, Johannes Singhammer, wrote to speaker Norbert
Lammert calling for a boycott of the British carrier.
In his letter, a copy of which obtained by AFP,
Singhammer called the BA ruling "absolutely unacceptable"
and said it "discriminates against the Christian faith".
"The German Bundestag should send a clear
signal that it rejects such steps," he wrote.
"It should lodge a formal complaint and for
the time being refuse to book flights with British Airways for members
of the legislature and its administration."
The CSU is the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor
Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats.
