In the Gospel account, Nicodemus is the person who comes to Jesus in the night because of his fear of the Jews. I recall a few years ago, when Rocco Buttiglione was dropped as a European Commissioner because of this expression of a Catholic position on homosexuality, that he described himself as having been very Nicodemian. By this he meant that he had been as discreet as he could have been, but was placed in the position of being forced to answer a question that revealed his Catholic point of view. Rocco Buttiglione had not gone out of his way to be provocative in presenting his Catholic point of view.
My immediate reaction to the case of PC Cogman (reported here and here) was to wonder whether or not he has been sufficiently Nicodemian. As this post suggests, he would appear to have directly disobeyed an earlier direction from his employer. With my trade union experience, me thinks "not a good idea" and wonders if PC Cogman could have made his point in another way. Could he, for example, have asked for an equal treatment for a Christian point of view, say during Holy Week, with officers being encouraged to wear crosses for the week? And if permission was refused, could he have then pursued it through a grievance procedure for discrimination on grounds of religious belief?
But, in such a situation - and many of us are in professions that could give rise to our finding ourselves in a similar position to that in which PC Cogman found himself - what are the principles of proper and effective action?
1. The question of conscience: We might have to decline to take part in an activity which implies our support for actions we consider to be morally wrong. In PC Cogman's case, this would rule out the wearing of the pink ribbon, resisting any pressure applied to wear it. The not wearing the ribbon would probably communicate a message to colleagues without anything further needing to be said. The media coverage suggests to me that officers were not directed to wear the ribbon, only put under pressure to do so. A discreet non-compliance with the pressure appears to have been possible and, in my view, would have left a Christian conscience intact.
2. Taking up cudgels: I do not think this is always necessary in order to preserve the integrity of conscience. And I think there are ways of taking up cudgels that are discreet. And sometimes a tangential approach is useful. One could, for example, try to arrange for a Christian chaplain to be appointed to the police force - and cry foul on equalities grounds if it was refused. Or a way might be found for pursuing the matter as a complaint or grievance. Or it might be a case of a meeting with your line manager to explain that you find it very difficult being asked to do this, and would appreciate it if you were missed out from this request in some way.
3. Taking care: the bottom line might be that you have to risk disciplinary action - but I do think that there will in many situations be alternative courses of action. And it is certainly worth taking care about expressing your point of view un-invited to colleagues, or expressing it in the formal forms of letters or e-mails. That is something that can easily be seen as discourteous. I have in my own career had two situations where I have strongly disagreed with colleagues over questions relating to policy with regard to homosexuality - but did it in such a way that those on the other side of the argument were able to recognise a question of principle and not of prejudice on my part.
4. Showing Christian faith in the workplace: Yes, I do think one should be allowed to manifest Christian faith in the work place. But Nicodemus is a good example. If you push it into other people's faces, then (rightly) you could be considered discourteous, and cause problems quite unnecessarily. A certain discretion is required. I, for example, wear a wrist band with the Christian "fish" symbol. My thinking is that this is sufficiently discreet that, even when pupils notice it (eg in summer when I am wearing short sleeves), they will not feel that it is being pushed at them. And when pupils have asked about it, they have done so in a very pleasant and enquiring way. And then it is just accepted as being something I wear. The response of teaching colleagues is the same. In the Catholic Church, we do have a teaching on different stages in evangelisation, including an idea of "presence in charity", that may not be so well articulated by evangelical Christians.
Clearly, I do not know the full details of PC Cogman's actions, and can only comment on them as reported in the media. But I do wonder whether or not he has been sufficiently Nicodemian.
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