A leading government MP in Britain has said that people of faith should be protected from bullying and harassment in their workplace.
Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, made his comments at the launch of a new guide which aims to help employers better understand and accommodate the beliefs of Jews in their businesses, a guide which, in raising awareness of religious discrimination, Mr Smith said would benefit “the wider community in the UK”.
Quoted in a report by The Christian Institute, Mr Smith stressed that “nobody should feel they have to choose between their faith and their job, and, certainly, nobody should be harassed, bullied, or intimidated at work because of their religion.”
“Work should be a place of dignity and respect, an environment where the talents and skills of different groups are valued”, he added.
According to Britain’s Equality and Human Rights Commission, which conducted a workplace study on religious discrimination earlier this year, harassment and bullying of Christian employees is widespread in the country, with many respondents to the survey reporting a sense of pressure to keep silent about their faith while at work. At the same time, however, employers wishing to deal with the issue reported a sense of conflict, with many feeling that Britain’s equality laws themselves made anti-Christian discrimination easier.
As he unveiled the new guide for employers, Mr Smith stressed that working provided a means of maintaining a stable society, and described any attempt to deny a person the right to participate in that because of religious belief as “a travesty”.
