Christian lawyers in the UK are promising to step up their campaign against the marginalisation 
of religion in society as they prepare to fight more than 50 different cases.
The Christian Legal Centre (CLC) pledged to stand up against what it feels is the growing problem of traditional Christian views being “silenced or sidelined” in modern Britain.
It said it had more than 50 similar cases on its books as a growing number of Christians seek to fight employers who they feel do not respect their faith.
Andrea Williams, CLC chief executive, said she had been “inspired” by groups like the US-based Alliance Defence Fund (ADF), which seek to raise a “new generation of lawyers to defend Christianity in the public sphere”.
She said the CLC – which does not ask clients for money – was receiving as many as five enquiries a day after representing electrician Colin Atkinson in his row with Wakefield District Housing, his employer.
The housing company bore the brunt of public outrage after it was disclosed that it attempted to ban Mr Atkinson from displaying a palm cross in his van, where it had been on show for 15 years.
Company staff received death threats and more than 1,000 abusive emails before eventually agreeing a settlement with Mr Atkinson that allowed him to keep the cross in his van.
Mrs Williams said: “The Christian Legal Centre will not allow Christianity to be eliminated from the public sphere or to be silenced or sidelined.
“People with traditional biblical views, particularly when it comes to sexual ethics, are being excluded from the public sphere … if you censor Christians, you end up with the first signs of tyranny”.