The case of Lillian Ladele, a Christian registrar from Islington who was disciplined because of her stance against civil partnerships, is in the European Court of Human Rights today.
Listen to Simon Calvert of The Christian Institute debate the issue
The Court, which is in Strasbourg, will consider whether the UK Government has failed to protect Miss Ladele from religious discrimination.
It comes as the former Archbishop of Canterbury backed Miss Ladele and three other Christians whose cases are also in the European court today.
Support
A decision is not expected for several months. Miss Ladele’s legal case is being supported by The Christian Institute’s Legal Defence Fund.
Two of the other cases involve Christians who wanted to wear a cross at work.
Nadia Eweida wanted to wear a small cross on the outside of her uniform, but bosses at British Airways ordered her to hide it.
And Shirley Chaplin was told by Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust that she could not wear a cross around her neck while she worked on hospital wards.
Respect
The other case involves Gary McFarlane, a Christian counsellor who was sacked because he did not want to give sex advice to homosexual couples.
In an article for a national newspaper today Lord Carey, who was Archbishop of Canterbury in the 1990s, said in previous years the beliefs of the four Christians would “have earned widespread respect”.
But he added that now “it seems the secular equivalent of the Inquisition will brook no dissent from the reigning orthodoxy of diversity and equality”.