Human Rights...and Wrongs

What terrible abuses of human rights are occurring daily in our country. No, I'm not talking about the detention of terror suspects without charge, the spread of surveillance or the attempt to force identity cards upon us. This is much worse - schoolchildren are being prevented from wearing jewellery to school. Jesus! What an appalling breach of their rights! Over the past week or so, the attempts of schoolgirl's father to prove that his daughter is having her human rights impinged by her school's refusal to allow her to wear a ring symbolising her commitment to some Christian chastity covenant - in line with its policy on school uniform - seems to have occupied more column inches than any of the former issues I mentioned. Apparently, by refusing to let her wear the ring, the school is infringing the girl's right to religious freedom. Actually, it isn't. Whilst the much-maligned Human Rights Act 1998 does indeed guarantee such things as freedom of expression and religious worship, the school isn't actually preventing her from following her commitment to chastity. If it was forcing her to have sex, it might be. However, all that it is doing is saying that she can't wear a ring.

It's cases like this which help bring the Human Rights Act into disrepute and provide its enemies with ammunition. It trivialises the whole issue of human rights. It is also one of those cases which is frequently seized upon by the right to 'prove' that Christians are somehow discriminated against, whilst those of other faiths are given preferential treatment. I recall that last year a similar case in which a British Airways worker tried to claim discrimination because company policy on jewellery meant she couldn't openly display the gold cross she wore around her neck on a chain, at work, got a lot of publicity. Again, nobody was preventing her from following her faith. The company wasn't refusing to employ her because of her religion. Of course, the lie to the idea of discrimination against Christians is given by another case, in which a court ruled that a school did have the right to enforce its dress policy against a Muslim girl pupil and say that she couldn't wear traditional Islamic dress in school. Frankly, I get sick of all these religious nuts shoving their faith down my throat with their public displays of devotion to their deities. Look, I don't care if you are a devout Christian/Muslim/Jew/Hindu or whatever. That's your personal business. Indeed, the last time I looked, faith was meant to be a matter of personal conviction. You don't have to boast about it to the world. You know, I've got myself so worked up over this, I think that I'm going to launch my own court case, to establish my right not to have my lack of faith infringed by all these whackos flashing their crucifixes, hijabs and whatever at me...