The news that Kristie Higgs has finally been exonerated in her six-year battle to clear her name is a welcome development for Christians in Britain and while we are able to hope that it marks the start of a turning of the tide, it’s value remembering just how bad things have gotten before we start celebrating an excessive amount of.
Higgs was dismissed from her role as a pastoral assistant at Farmor’s Secondary School for “gross misconduct” regarding two private Facebook posts she made. Neither post used rude or vulgar language, there was no diminishing of any group of individuals, and no call for violence or discrimination. Readers can judge for themselves here and here.
Despite this, Higgs was subjected to a six-hour interrogation during which she was told that her views were much like those of a “Neo-Nazi”.
Christian Concern, whose legal arm supported Higgs in her legal battle, said the ruling is “seminal” and “confirms that the Equality Act protects traditional Christian beliefs on social issues, corresponding to opposition to the ideas of transgenderism and ‘gender-fluidity’ and opposition to same-sex marriage”.
We can only hope that they’re correct.
Even whether it is the case though, it would take years for Christians to recuperate the arrogance they need to should share their beliefs publicly.
That is because for years Christians have felt the necessity to hide their true beliefs for fear that they could lose their jobs or even perhaps face legal consequences.
An ideal example of this was in 2010 when the then Pope, Benedict XVI, got here to Britain on a state visit. The supposedly impartial coverage of the BBC couldn’t go five minutes without reminding viewers of the Pope’s “controversial social views”.
This took an especially sinister turn when the BBC later interviewed strange Catholics and inevitably asked about those “controversial social views”. Feet began to shift, eyes began trying to find an escape route, and in the long run they’d avoid the query by saying they were just joyful the Pope was visiting.
The clear subtext was that no-one desired to say on national television that they agreed with the Pope for fear of losing their jobs.
This is comprehensible and maybe even on some level biblical. Romans 12:18 says, “If it is feasible, so far as it is dependent upon you, live at peace with everyone.” We don’t need to start out fights with a secular world that can never understand us.
At the identical time, we do have an obligation to the reality and to “let our yes be yes and our no be no” (Matthew 5:37). Moreover, we wish our youngsters to grow up with biblical values somewhat than the morally and scientifically questionable views of the present paradigm.
In this sense there’s something to learn from Calvin Robinson. Robinson is understandably to not everyone’s taste and little question a few of his past actions and statements have been of questionable wisdom. But there isn’t a doubt that Robinson is willing to say outright what he believes to be God’s truth regardless of what the implications could also be for himself.
In short, if we wish to live in a Christian society, we have to be willing and in a position to publicly speak Christian truth. It shouldn’t just be Calvin Robinson and the Pope. It should grow to be so common that not having Christian views is the embarrassing secret. Hopefully, this latest judgment from the Court of Appeal will give Christians a minimum of somewhat of the courage they need, but it would take a few years to swing the pendulum back to where it must be.
