Holding the belief that people should be valued ‘by the content of their character rather than the colour of their skin’ is protected under the Equality Act, an Employment Tribunal has ruled.
Sean Corby launched legal action after his employer Acas ordered him to remove his comments criticising Critical Race Theory from the social media platform Yammer. He argued that instead of encouraging division by branding white people racist, society should follow the example of Dr Martin Luther King.
The tribunal unanimously concluded that Corby’s beliefs are “worthy of respect in a democratic society”, even “if they are not universally shared and were objected to by some of the claimant’s colleagues”. A further hearing will take place in April.
‘Reprehensible’
Citing the case of Maya Forstater, who lost her job for defending the reality of biological sex, the judges said it is only beliefs such as “pursuing totalitarianism, or advocating Nazism, or espousing violence and hatred in the gravest of forms” that should be deemed “not worthy of respect in a democratic society”.
In contrast, beliefs deemed “offensive, shocking or even disturbing to others” are not excluded from protection.
Welcoming the ruling, Mr Corby said: “Colleagues who’d never met me and knew nothing about me or my life targeted me and called me a racist. This caused me a great deal of distress.”
He added: “It is reprehensible of anyone to seek to divide us along lines of colour or to try and bully anti-racists like me into silence. I’m delighted we have made a stand and taken a step to embedding in the workplace a more conciliatory and harmonious approach to dealing with issues around race.”
‘Colour blindness’
Earlier this year, The Christian Institute launched a suite of resources for church leaders to understand and confront the dangers of Critical Theory (CT) – the lethal blend of postmodernism and Marxist ideology behind ‘woke activism’ and ‘cancel culture’.
In a booklet titled Critical Theory: Challenging Truth and Reality, author and conference speaker Dr Sharon James explains how CT’s assumption that there is no transcendent God leads to an all-out assault on reality.
On Critical Race Theory, she emphasies that racism is a sin and all people should be treated with equal dignity and respect as fellow image bearers of God. In contrast, advocates for Critical Theory claim treating people equally, whatever the colour of their skin, is dangerous. They view ‘colour blindness’ as racist.
Listen to Premier Christian Radio’s recent interview with Dr Sharon James addressing Critical Theory.