The British Government announced on March 10 that ministers would fight a landmark court case at the European Court of Human Rights – in which two British women sought to establish their rights to wear a cross, or crucifix, at their workplaces – on the grounds that their Christian religion does not require this. 

Former Archbishop of Canterbury responded by accusing ministers of dictating to Christians. According to Deuteronomy 21:23, anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse, and Paul quotes this in Galatians 3:13 NRSV, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us – for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’” 

The wearing of this symbol of Christian faith by the Duchess of Cambridge at her first public speaking engagement in Britain on March 20 at The Treehouse Children’s Hospice in East Anglia therefore raises some queries: was she working or wasn’t she? And if she was working, is the wearing of this symbol symbolic of her unspoken opinion of what she thinks of the court case?

– Heather Mackie
Upper Hutt