The
European Court of Human Rights issued another very important ruling last week.
The decision upholds the right of the Spanish hierarchy to sack teachers of the
Catholic religion who flout the teachings of that religion.

If the
ruling had gone the other way, the implications would have been far-reaching
for obvious reasons. It would have compromised the right of faith-based schools
across Europe to employ only those teachers who will not undermine the ethos of the
schools that employ them.

While
rulings of the ECHR are not binding in Ireland, we do take its decisions
seriously when it suits us. For example, the Government has promised to
implement the ruling in the ABC vs Ireland case which has very worrying implications for the
provision of abortion in Ireland.

If last week’s ruling had gone against the Spanish bishops it is very likely that groups in
Ireland would now be using it to buttress their argument that Section 37 of the
Employment Equality Act be repealed.

This
section is the one that allows religious employers not to employ those who they
believe will undermine their ethos.

Section 37 is
absolutely necessary from a religious freedom point of view for the obvious
reason that if your employees are in one way or another undermining your ethos,
then there will be very little left of your ethos in short order.

Therefore
we have another reason to be thankful to the ECHR. Not all of its rulings are
good, but this is another one that was.

The ECHR
had become very activist in recent years, but common sense has reigned in the main since it
overturned the Lautsi decision against the display of crucifixes in Italian
state schools.

May this
outbreak of common sense last a long, long time.