If Any Man Will Sue Thee at the Law

The Grand Chamber of the European court of human rights has rejected the appeals of three Christians whose employers had the temerity to insist that they do their jobs. One, a local authority registrar, was disciplined for refusing to conduct civil partnership ceremonies; another, a relationship counsellor, was sacked for discriminating against same-sex couples. The third, a geriatrics nurse, refused to remove a crucifix, presumably on the grounds that the outer appearance is more important than the inner soul; treacherously enough, her employers went on paying her but moved her to other duties in which the wearing of such trinkets did not conflict with hygiene and safety rules. The three martyrs' appeals were turned down in January, at the same time as a British Airways check-in attendant won her own case and "partly overshadowed" the others, thanks to an opportunistic bit of Euro-bashing from Daveybloke and the barrage of objective reporting which the judgement elicited at the time. Now that the Grand Chamber has booted them out, their cases are effectively over pending Britain's opt-out from the law on human rights. It is to be hoped that the three will now be given the opportunity to rejoice and be exceeding glad, in accordance with their Saviour's instructions.