British Airways Risks Boycott Over Cross

"As far as I'm concerned, this is religious discrimination and I don't think Christians have to take it," said MP Widdecombe.

"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.

"And in future - until the decision is reversed, I shall not use BA."

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.

Cross March

"Our position is that we do not find the wearing of the crucifix in any way offensive," said Bunglawala.

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

Singhammer said the German Bundestag should refuse to book flights with British Airways for members of the legislature and its administration.

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.