A SERIES of vexatious (and failed) legal cases on behalf of Christians whose faith proved an obstacle to their employment duties, has apparently left the Christian Legal Centre strapped for cash.
According to the National Secular Society, last week the odious Andrea Minichiello Williams, who heads the CLC – one of the primary groups bringing these actions – sent out an appeal to supporters asking for more money. She said that the group couldn’t continue beyond the end of March unless considerable new funding was forthcoming.
Said the NSS:
Let us hope that this signals the end of this Christian campaign against equality and fair play, and that these evangelicals will accept that they are not entitled to special privileges at work – privileges that inevitably come at someone else’s expense.
Andrea Minichiello Williams
News of the CLC’s problems coincided with a decision to refuse Lillian Ladele, the Islington registrar who refused to conduct same-sex Civil Partnerships on religious grounds, leave to appeal against the decision of an Employment Tribunal.
Last year the tribunal found that she did not suffer religious discrimination at work. Ladele has also been ordered to pay costs.
The NSS has commended Islington Council for standing firm in its defence of equality against considerable pressure from the media and religious activists.
Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the NSS, said:
Religious campaigners are trying relentlessly to reverse hard-won equality rights or give religious employees carte blanche to exempt themselves from the laws and regulations that apply to everyone else. It was notable that while Miss Ladele drew the line at officiating at same-sex partnerships, her biblical conscience seemed untroubled about conducting marriages for people who had been divorced.
Islington was also battling against considerable odds. These cases are being fought with huge determination and massive funds from evangelical Christian groups.
However, none of the cases have so far been successful, and the repeated failure begins to make this campaign to obtain special privileges for Christians at work look like bravado.
The case of the family court judge in Sheffield who didn’t want to deal with gay couples was thrown out, as was the case of the Relate counsellor who did not want to offer sexual counselling to gay couples.
Nadia Eweida, the woman who sued BA because she claimed they had discriminated against her after she wore a cross over her uniform, also lost her case. Far from being a victim, Ms Eweida was described by the Employment Tribunal as a nightmare employee who made unreasonable demands, unfounded accusations and was insulting to her colleagues when they didn’t share her religious beliefs.
The NSS said that Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service should have taken a leaf out of Islington’s book and fought a case brought against them by a Catholic firefighter who refused to provide fire safety literature to gay people. Instead of seeing the case through, the Council settled out of court.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
March 8th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Die you bastards!
March 8th, 2009 at 11:20 am
She looks like Ratzinger in drag…
March 8th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Would it be too much to hope that what we are witnessing here are the death throes of the pernicious Christian superstition in Britain? It seems very clear to me that the overwhelming majority of those who put Christian on the 2001 census form were in fact Chinos (Christian in name only). The other genuine Christians are a dwindling minority who when seeing their religion gradually slipping down the plughole, misuse the law, the government, the schools or any other institution they can to try to bully the majority to see things their way.
March 8th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
As Williams is on direct speaking terms with an all-powerful, omnipresent provider, she surely isn’t too worried about this.
March 8th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Stuart W you make a good point, surely if they were to run out of money, it’d only be because it was Gods will!
March 8th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Alun, I hope you were refering to the organization, rather than the folk that are in it, LOL
March 8th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Stuart W,
Good point! Why didn’t they think of that? They should just pray for some money and I’m sure it will appear in abundance like manna from heaven.
Well let’s hope that’s the route they decide to go down anyway!
BTW, is she wearing a mask in that picture? That’s particularly nasty looking!
March 8th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Godless not gormless: She’s rehearsing for 31 Oct, and doing it rather well, I thought.
March 8th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
newspaniard,
Was wondering about that myself. Let’s hope for her sake that’s what it is because if she’s actually hiding her face with that thing, what must she really look like!
Phrases like “The ugly face of christianity” and “christianity rears it’s ugly head” spring to mind.
March 8th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Scroll down about halfway here to see why MediaWatchWatch nicknamed her Andrea ‘Totally Without Merit’ Minichiello Williams last December.
http://www.mediawatchwatch.org.uk/2008/12/
March 8th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Serai. You say that she/he/it looks like Ratzinger in drag. I have only ever seen Ratzinger in a frock and silly hat, and yes he looks a twat.
Why do we seek to judge people by their appearance, race or sexuality when they offer us so many more obvious reasons why we should despise them?
Humans eh…I dunno!
March 8th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Serai
“She looks like Ratzinger in drag…”
You’re right you know.
I remember when Ratzi was first elected pope and laughed when Paul Merton said he had the eyes of a killer (before we knew he was in the Hitler Youth). This lady looks the same as if she’s sizing you up before the assault.
March 8th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
For a discussion of the question, “Are all godworshippers insane?” go to http://www.freethoughtperspective.net
March 9th, 2009 at 3:07 am
My heart bleeds for them. Not.
March 9th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Proof that if the sensible majority stand up to these people, they crack. It’s that desperate British desire for compromise and ‘not making a fuss’ that lets bigoted tossers (with or without freakish makeup) impose their will on others.
September 22nd, 2009 at 3:08 pm
We are assaulted by Pay pal on her web site. She has called the anti discrimination laws in Europe "social genocide" and she seems to have lost the plot on all reality. She fuels hatred towards people from minorities and shows total ignorance in her understanding of the facts. What a shame someone of such intelligence can be so ignorant.