13 bishops join the chorus against BA's ban on cross

Senior figures from the Church of England and the wider Anglican community backed the right of check-in worker Nadia Eweida to openly wear a cross.

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With the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, still silent on the issue, the new attacks on BA were led by the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, who warned that the airline's rule "smacks of religious intolerance."

He said: "This has turned into a very important and symbolic case and I think she is right to insist on the British tradition that we should be allowed to express ourselves visibly in public.

"The historic majority faith is being treated with a greater measure of disrespect than others."

Bishops also spoke out from Hertford, Leeds, Bolton, Birmingham, Swindon, Bristol, Blackburn, Norwich, Sheffield, Gloucester, Lichfield and Essex.

Graham James, Bishop of Norwich, said preventing people wearing the most sacred sign of their faith "seems petty and pointless," while his counterpart in Sheffield, Jack Nicholls, said: "Most people simply do not understand why this person is not able to wear something which is special to her and which others obviously do not find offensive."

The Bishop of Blackburn, Nicholas Reade, said: "This is another example of Christians being discriminated against in what was a Christian country.

"I hope BA will not ask me to remove my pectoral cross next time I fly with them. I know of other airlines who would welcome me and other Christians who wish to wear the sign of their faith."

Michael Perham, Bishop of Gloucester, said: "If a Sikh can wear his turban, as I believe he should, then a Christian should be able to wear her cross."

The Bishop of Lichfield, Jonathan Gledhill, warned that Britain's "ancient freedoms" were at mortal risk.

He said: "No one has the right to stop people wearing a cross - unless they want to destroy the spiritual foundation of our nation."

The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, had been the first senior church figure to condemn BA, calling its policy "flawed nonsense."

The issue has also sparked outrage in the worldwide Anglican community.

The Archbishop of the West Indies, Drexel Wellington Gomez, said: "The right to wear religious symbols is a basic human right," while the Bishop of Trinidad and Tobago, Calvin Bess, said BA had turned the world "topsy turvy."

In Scotland, Roman Catholic Cardinal Keith O'Brien said he supported a boycott and condemned the ban as "the latest stage in the attempted destruction of Christianity."

The Church of Scotland Moderator, the Right Reverend Alan McDonald, has written to the chairman of BA requesting a meeting and said he may also raise the issue when he meets Tony Blair next week.

In the U.S., where the case has featured on TV news, Britain was ridiculed as a "soft-touch nation."

Kieran McCaffey, of the powerful Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, which has 30million followers, said: "Britain is trapped in a multicultural mess of its own making.

What's provoking this situation is a hostility towards Christians and a fawning over Islam, which is rooted in fear."

In Africa, where BA flies to more than a dozen destinations, there have been widespread calls for a boycott of the airline.