The Cross wins

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LONDON. -- Religious freedom 1, corporate intransigence 0. British public opinion and strong lobbying by Christian groups have just forced bosses at British Airways -- the UK's largest airline -- into a high profile and embarrassing U-turn.

The airline has announced a "rethink" on banning an employee from wearing a small crucifix at work. The airline had officiously declared the tiny necklace cross worn by Nadia Eweida, 55, a violation of company dress codes. Horror of horrors, the cross appeared visible to passengers across the check-in desk. Miss Eweida, a devout Christian and veteran of British Airways check-in desks for seven years, was having none of it.

British Airways's position had stretched credulity. At an employee tribunal, Miss Eweida stressed her equal entitlement to display a cross as a sign of her faith. Fine in principle said the airline, provided it were hidden under uniform. But Muslim and Sikh co-workers, she argued, faced no restrictions wearing either hijab headscarf or turban. What's more, they agreed with her position wholeheartedly. In Kafkaesque response, the airline then said it was not practical for Muslim and Hindu employees to wear religious symbols covered from view.

The legal back and fro is not over. This week British Airways says that Miss Eweida can wear a cross-shaped "lapel badge" but not a necklace crucifix.

Witness a predictable media and public outcry. The airline's refusal to back down initially -- in arguments couched in excruciating management speak -- leaves the airline without much credibility. Bemused Britons ask why the cross should be treated any differently from other religious symbols. Some also point to the airline's history of controversial decisions seemingly against British popular opinion. In the mid 1990s, British Airways replaced its hallmark Union Jack tail fins with confusing multicultural designs. No less a figure than Margaret Thatcher caught the public mood then by covering up the new symbols on an aircraft model on live TV. Last week, more than 100 British MPs condemned British Airways for "deplorable behaviour," three British archbishops and even the United Nations weighed in to protest. The Church of England threatened to divest a $17 million investment in the airline; an international Christian boycott on traveling British Airways -- just before Christmas -- seemed in prospect. Not good news for an airline that lost an estimated $193 million this summer when an alleged airlines terror plot disrupted services out of Heathrow.

British Airways's return to the gate comes at a moment when the debate over the wearing of religious symbols in the UK has turned acrimonious. Last month, senior British politician Jack Straw sparked controversy and predictable British Muslim outrage after suggesting that women wearing the full veil were a force for separation in society. A Muslim teacher who refused to remove her veil has just been fired from her school.

The febrile background: British security services have just described home-grown Islamic radicals as a severe threat to national security -- 30 alleged plots, 200 extremist networks and 1,600 individuals -- are deemed serious security risks. Issues of religious identity in the UK have clearly moved to center-stage; last week the cross no longer seemed immune.

The affair is counterpoised with traditional and noisy secular/religious tensions in the UK. But there are signs this may be about to change. This week, Ugandan-born Anglican Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, led a reinvigorated Christian fight-back when he denounced the British Airways decision as "nonsense based on flawed reasoning" and that illiberal secularists held disproportionate sway in British society.

One hopes that sanity may yet prevail at British Airways HQ. In any case, Miss Eweida is to be congratulated for refusing to hide her cross away. And British Christians, heartened by the decision, have an extra present next month. Some church leaders are now defending their faith in the media with a passion not seen for years and debate on the place accorded to Christianity in modern Britain has been startlingly rekindled.

Ronan Thomas is a correspondent based in London.