Christians within the UK are being increasingly punished for public expressions of their faith, the Commission of Inquiry into Discrimination Against Christians (CIDAC) has found.
The warning is available in its interim report into the character and scale of discrimination faced by Christians within the UK.
The report relies on 1,500 responses from Christians across the UK who report experiencing lack of employment, baseless criminal investigations, checking account closures, bullying, physical attacks and other types of discrimination.
The commission has held 17 hearings so far and heard evidence which it said appears to represent “the tip of a really large iceberg – of Christians self-reportedly feeling marginalised in what they regard as an increasingly hostile and discriminatory environment”.
Expressing traditional views on marriage, sexuality and abortion seem like particular triggers, the report said, with “some evidence of a ‘search and destroy’ organisational approach by interest groups in education, business, banking, the health service, and even inside government departments”.
Case studies include Aaron Edwards who described being “Twitter-mobbed” by LGBT activists after he was sacked as a theology lecturer by Cliff College, a Methodist institution, for tweeting a biblical view of sexuality.
In one other incident, housing manager Maureen Martin lost her job after running as a mayoral candidate for Lewisham in 2023 with an election manifesto that expressed her beliefs about marriage as a union between a person and a girl. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
Also highlighted within the report is Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, a Christian pro-life campaigner, who recently received £13,000 in compensation from West Midlands Police after being wrongfully arrested twice for praying silently inside an abortion clinic buffer zone, despite the ability being closed on the time.
The report sees a link between the discrimination and activism by LGBTQI groups, and says that “Christians are singled out for attack – perhaps because they’re easy ‘targets’, who often won’t fight back”, while other faiths seem like shown greater tolerance”.
“Despite the actual fact religion is included within the list of protected characteristics within the Equality Act 2010 – of equal standing with the 8 other protected characteristics of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, sex, and sexual orientation – within the cases the Inquiry has thus far heard there appears clear evidence that the liberty to practice and manifest Christian belief is being progressively reduced; and even, from time to time, deliberately ignored,” it states.
“This would appear to be a results of activist groups, dedicated to the promotion and imposition of their favoured goals, deliberately targeting those that express views that they interpret as ‘hostile’ to the achievement of their goals.”
The report goes on, “The evidence given by our witnesses thus far would also seem to point that, removed from lessening over time, as LGBTQ+ values grow to be progressively ‘normalised’ inside society, hostility is intensifying.”
CIDAC said that some Christians were so concerned about discrimination that they declined to take part in the inquiry or be named publicly within the report.
Commenting on the findings of the interim report, CIDAC said an image had emerged from the witness testimonies of “an ever-expanding realm of punishable activities”.
“Flippant remarks made within the privacy of a small circle of friends, silent prayer, questions asked in alleged secure spaces, and tweets are all activities which might render Christians vulnerable to attack,” it said.
“These concerning examples suggest an orchestrated opposition fuelled by intolerance towards Christians. The major weapon of complainants is spurious claims of victimhood buttressed by misuse of the Equality Act and various Diversity Equality and Inclusion initiatives. And while Christians too have protections, the truth is these aren’t taken seriously.”
CIDAC continued, “This early onset persecution against Christians exposes an attack on our fundamental freedoms and core human rights of freedom of speech and freedom of faith. While Christians could also be most conspicuously within the firing line, ultimately this lack of our freedoms affects us all.”
Patrons of CIDAC include retired major general Tim Cross, Oxford professor Nigel Biggar, Catholic Herald associate editor and former chaplain to the Queen, Dr Gavin Ashenden, and senior research fellow on the University of Oxford’s Ian Ramsey Centre, Professor Roger Trigg.
