Today's UK Telegraph posted a story about Colin Atkinson, 64, from Wakefield, England, who has been called to a disciplinary hearing at the publicly funded Wakefield and District Housing (WDH), where he has worked for the past fifteen years. His offense--displaying a palm cross in the window of his company van.
The article reports:
"The organisation claims the cross may cause offence but says it strongly promotes "inclusive" policies and allows employees to wear religious symbols at work."
The managers of the organization will hold a full disciplinary hearing in May. The complaint is based on the fact that the equality and diversity manager of the company (yes, you read that right) believes that the cross "gives the impression that WDH is a Christian organisation".
There is an argument that can be made here that because the cross is in the window of his van and not on his person, there might be a problem. However, that argument looks a little silly when you hear that the company "has provided stalls at gay pride events, held "diversity days" for travellers, and has allowed other staff to display photographs of Che Guevera, the revolutionary leader, in their office."
It does seem as if there is a double standard here.
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