So, our Home Office celebrates World Hajib Day ??

Callistemon21

Casdon

Urmstongran

Casdon

It’s not an organisation though, it’s a network for people of a particular faith who work in the civil service, and those networks exist for all major faiths, so they will all do their own specific celebration within their own network.

Hopefully not on taxpayers money though Casdon! I’d be very surprised if this was all done in their own free time. Let civil servants concentrate on the main job in hand. Not silly distractions.

This explains why there are networks and how they work.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/faith-and-belief-toolkit/the-civil-service-faith-and-belief-toolkit

How did I manage to work for the Civil Service for all those years and yet be unaware of these networks? 🤔
Perhaps it's a London-centric thing.
Or perhaps we were just so very busy all the time.

It’s probably a last few years thing I would guess, so maybe not around in your day (or mine). We did have prayer rooms in the NHS, but that was as far as it went.

Some Muslim women have such restricted lives that there is little evidence of things changing in time.
When women are not allowed to leave their homes without a male relative escort.
And not allowed to learn English so thay cannot be corrupted by us Decadent Brits.

Casdon

Callistemon21

Casdon

Urmstongran

Casdon

It’s not an organisation though, it’s a network for people of a particular faith who work in the civil service, and those networks exist for all major faiths, so they will all do their own specific celebration within their own network.

Hopefully not on taxpayers money though Casdon! I’d be very surprised if this was all done in their own free time. Let civil servants concentrate on the main job in hand. Not silly distractions.

This explains why there are networks and how they work.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/faith-and-belief-toolkit/the-civil-service-faith-and-belief-toolkit

How did I manage to work for the Civil Service for all those years and yet be unaware of these networks? 🤔
Perhaps it's a London-centric thing.
Or perhaps we were just so very busy all the time.

It’s probably a last few years thing I would guess, so maybe not around in your day (or mine). We did have prayer rooms in the NHS, but that was as far as it went.

Oh yes, I am quite ancient 😂

Callistemon21

Casdon

Callistemon21

Casdon

Urmstongran

Casdon

It’s not an organisation though, it’s a network for people of a particular faith who work in the civil service, and those networks exist for all major faiths, so they will all do their own specific celebration within their own network.

Hopefully not on taxpayers money though Casdon! I’d be very surprised if this was all done in their own free time. Let civil servants concentrate on the main job in hand. Not silly distractions.

This explains why there are networks and how they work.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/faith-and-belief-toolkit/the-civil-service-faith-and-belief-toolkit

How did I manage to work for the Civil Service for all those years and yet be unaware of these networks? 🤔
Perhaps it's a London-centric thing.
Or perhaps we were just so very busy all the time.

It’s probably a last few years thing I would guess, so maybe not around in your day (or mine). We did have prayer rooms in the NHS, but that was as far as it went.

Oh yes, I am quite ancient 😂

I did read that the World Hajib Day was the brainchild of an American Muslim woman, and that Teresa May attended the launch in 2017 when she was PM. So it is quite new - I don’t know when the networks were launched though.

Some cultures are at an early stage of development. They will take time to catch up. Even in western cultures women used to wear hats in church though omission did not result in a public flogging. Thankfully that nonsense is mostly in the bin nowadays.

Aveline

Glorianny Jewish women shaving their heads then wearing wigs is just plain daft.

So is dressing like you live in the desert, don't you think. Let's not be hypocritical here. How about lambasting women who like their heads shorn, fashion statement, let's have a go at them too, shall we.

The difference is that some women choose to shave their heads; there is no compulsion, religious or familial, on them to do so.

Callistemon21

TerriBull

"seem" is the operative word in VS post we can never know whether a woman wearing a hijab is doing so of free choice. I completely accept that Muslims are not a homogeneous mass there are versions of that religion as indeed there are of the other Abrahamic faiths and like those there will be those who are born into who have the freedom to merely pay lip service or just became non believers However, lets not forget at the extreme end there are all manner of atrocities committed against women. I find the idea of taking a day to celebrate an aspect of any religious attire bordering on the preposterous. Imagine France endorsing such an idea?

It is a protected right to wear an item which is a symbol of faith, as it should be, but an organisation which is part of a government department should not be celebrating a symbol of any particular faith.

Yet they ban Christians from wearing a cross, from singing, arrested, or praying in the street, carrying a Bible. London of course.

Freya5

Callistemon21

TerriBull

"seem" is the operative word in VS post we can never know whether a woman wearing a hijab is doing so of free choice. I completely accept that Muslims are not a homogeneous mass there are versions of that religion as indeed there are of the other Abrahamic faiths and like those there will be those who are born into who have the freedom to merely pay lip service or just became non believers However, lets not forget at the extreme end there are all manner of atrocities committed against women. I find the idea of taking a day to celebrate an aspect of any religious attire bordering on the preposterous. Imagine France endorsing such an idea?

It is a protected right to wear an item which is a symbol of faith, as it should be, but an organisation which is part of a government department should not be celebrating a symbol of any particular faith.

Yet they ban Christians from wearing a cross, from singing, arrested, or praying in the street, carrying a Bible. London of course.

Who do?

Whoever that is, they are behaving illegally.

Urmstongran

Should clarify.
It’s the Home Office Islamist Network. (HOIN).
Who even knew such a subset existed?
Me neither.

Neither did I.
What on earth is it for and what does it do?

When I consider female oppression, even in our “liberal” western culture it strikes me women are still oppressed. Young women seek cosmetic surgery at ever younger ages, or starve themselves in an effort to conform to the accepted beauty “norm”. How many women teeter around on tiptoes wearing uncomfortably high heels because it makes their legs look slimmer or more shapely? Perhaps we are oppressed not necessarily by men nowadays, but prevailing culture?

As to hijab although it is perhaps more of a choice for women in this country, they are still oppressed by running the risk of abuse in public by some racist individuals, so they have to be quite brave to exercise that choice.

Are women ever truly free of oppression I wonder?

The ban on the Christian cross was a few years ago. I think it may have been British Airways, or possibly it was a bank. I’m unsure, but the lady involved took it to court, and if I remember rightly, she lost her case.
There was something a week or so that I saw online, it could even have been on Gransnet, but I’m not sure, but some people were prevented from singing hymns in the street. I’m sorry the details are hazy of both events, but they definitely happened.

Do British Airways ban the hijab on their airways? If they ban the cross and allow the hijab it's extremely biased against Christians.

maddyone

The ban on the Christian cross was a few years ago. I think it may have been British Airways, or possibly it was a bank. I’m unsure, but the lady involved took it to court, and if I remember rightly, she lost her case.
There was something a week or so that I saw online, it could even have been on Gransnet, but I’m not sure, but some people were prevented from singing hymns in the street. I’m sorry the details are hazy of both events, but they definitely happened.

I found it.
The ban is outside abortion clinics where Christians have been quietly praying and holding placards with a message from the Bible.

One has been threatened with six months' imprisonment for holding a placard with Psalm 139 v.13 on it outside an abortion clinic.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “It is worrying that a man in his 70s holding a sign with a Bible verse on it is now being treated as an ‘emergency’ situation by the police.
On February 1 2024, at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court in London, a Christian preacher will learn if he will be criminalised for holding a sign with a verse from the Bible’s renowned Psalm 139 on it within a ‘buffer zone’ outside of an abortion clinic.
Stephen Green, 72, from South Wales, was prosecuted by Ealing Council under section 67 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 for holding the sign outside of an MSI Reproductive Choices clinic in Mattock Lane, West London, on 6 February 2023.
The verdict in Stephen’s case is expected on Thursday 1 March 2024.

christianconcern.com/comment/will-preacher-be-found-guilty-for-holding-bible-verse-in-buffer-zone/

We have the right to free speech -v- a woman's right to choose without fear of intimidation.
🤔

Here’s the BA case.

www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/feb/12/christian-british-airways-worker-cross#:~:text=A%20Christian%20woman%20lost%20her,a%20cross%20visibly%20at%20work.

AGAA4

Do British Airways ban the hijab on their airways? If they ban the cross and allow the hijab it's extremely biased against Christians.

It was a while ago, hit the headlines and the court ruled in her favour and ordered BA to pay her damages.

www.theguardian.com/law/2013/jan/15/ba-rights-cross-european-court
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2262628/Nadia-Eweida-Christian-British-Airways-employee-wins-landmark-case-ECHR-finds-suffered-discrimination-silver-cross.html#:~:text=Miss%20Eweida%2C%2061%2C%20had%20been,'m%20overwhelmed%2C%20but%20jubilant.

In the interests of balance, links to the Guardian and the Mail 😁

X post petra

This lady was lucky. 😀

www.itv.com/news/london/2022-01-06/nurse-told-to-stop-wearing-cross-necklace-was-discriminated-against#

Callistemon
Ive often wondered: why is a link believable from The Guardian but the same story from The Mail is a pack of lies 🤷‍♀️

Casdon

Callistemon21

Casdon

Callistemon21

Casdon

Urmstongran

Casdon

It’s not an organisation though, it’s a network for people of a particular faith who work in the civil service, and those networks exist for all major faiths, so they will all do their own specific celebration within their own network.

Hopefully not on taxpayers money though Casdon! I’d be very surprised if this was all done in their own free time. Let civil servants concentrate on the main job in hand. Not silly distractions.

This explains why there are networks and how they work.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/faith-and-belief-toolkit/the-civil-service-faith-and-belief-toolkit

How did I manage to work for the Civil Service for all those years and yet be unaware of these networks? 🤔
Perhaps it's a London-centric thing.
Or perhaps we were just so very busy all the time.

It’s probably a last few years thing I would guess, so maybe not around in your day (or mine). We did have prayer rooms in the NHS, but that was as far as it went.

Oh yes, I am quite ancient 😂

I did read that the World Hajib Day was the brainchild of an American Muslim woman, and that Teresa May attended the launch in 2017 when she was PM. So it is quite new - I don’t know when the networks were launched though.

I believe it was started in the US in 2013, but this year was the first year it became World Hijab day.

To be honest, I suspect it's a bigger issue in some countries than in the UK (France, for example). We're talking about a hijab (head covering), not a full burkha. I hardly even notice whether a woman covers her head and it doesn't bother me in the slightest if she does. That's not to say I'm indifferent to the pressures some Muslim women experience in their families, but that has more to it than head coverings.

petra

Callistemon
Ive often wondered: why is a link believable from The Guardian but the same story from The Mail is a pack of lies 🤷‍♀️

😂😂😂

I know! But before I was criticised for posting a sensational pack of lies from the DM I thought I'd have a look to see if the Guardian had reported it too.

I often look at both online and it's surprising how often the same sensational pack of lies is reported in both. 😃

maddyone

Urmstongran

Should clarify.
It’s the Home Office Islamist Network. (HOIN).
Who even knew such a subset existed?
Me neither.

Neither did I.
What on earth is it for and what does it do?

The civil service has a huge number of employees. There are networks for all sorts of groups. They're actually quite useful because grievances involving possible discrimination can be channeled through them and, hopefully, discussed calmly and rationally before they escalate into a crisis.

If the grievance can be addressed by a simple readjustment, it can happen without fuss. If it can't be, the network will be given a reason.

I thought public services were not supposed to have any form of political or religious bias? I suppose the reality is,they do.

The Civil Service has more than 20 staff networks. They are cross-government i.e. committing to and implementing shared policy ambitions.

There are networks for disabilty and health conditions, a neurodiversity network, a parent network, a carers network and many others including faith and belief groups. As well as Muslim, there are Christian, HIndu, Jewish, Sikh and Humanist networks.

www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/civil-service-networks/

TinSoldier

The Civil Service has more than 20 staff networks. They are cross-government i.e. committing to and implementing shared policy ambitions.

There are networks for disabilty and health conditions, a neurodiversity network, a parent network, a carers network and many others including faith and belief groups. As well as Muslim, there are Christian, HIndu, Jewish, Sikh and Humanist networks.

www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/civil-service-networks/

Well, as a civil servant, parent and carer I can honestly say I never heard of any of these.

They must be something new or London-centric.

But why? It's work, not a social club.

I thought public services were not supposed to have any form of political or religious bias? I suppose the reality is,they do.
First I've heard of it nanna8
We went to work to do a job.