The thought police

Housing association manager Adrian Smith has been demoted and had his pay drastically reduced after he posted comments on his private Facebook page in which he said that celebrating same sex weddings in churches would be an 'equality too far'.

Regardless of whether or not you agree with gay marriage or allowing gays to marry in a church or not, surely this issue goes to the very heart of freedom of speech.

Mr Smith wrote on his private Facebook account to just his friends, he wrote it on his own computer at home. He was having a discussion about a BBC story about the government's plans to lift the ban on homosexual couples holding civil partnerships in churches.

This is what was said:

Adrain Smith:

'An Equality too far'

Gay church marriages get the go ahead. Ministers are to set out plans to make changes to the law which could enable same sex couples to 'marry' in church, it has emerged.

.........: 'Does this mean you don't approve?'

Adrian Smith:

'No not really, I don't understand why people who have no faith and don't believe in Christ would want to get hitched in church.The Bible is quite specific that marriage is for men and women. If the state want to offer civil marriages to same sex couples that is up to the state; but they shouldn't impose its rules on places of faith and conscience.'

That doesn't sound that bad, there was no incitement to go out and beat up gays, or kill; he wasn't even saying he was against gay couples getting 'married'. He just said he was against it happening in a church.

One colleague who is his friend on Facebook sent a complaint to the housing association's thought police, eg 'equality and diversity manager' who then decided to destroy this man's career.

I believe this is very scary, and goes to show you how this country is changing. Every public sector organisation has its own thought police. Depending on the size of the organisation it will employ many people to police their employees thoughts and actions.

The people who run these organisation are so wrapped up in 'diversity and equality' they cannot see outside of this warped little world they live in. They believe that we should all think the same and say the same thing. Ironically it does seem to go against the word 'diversity' which means different; surely that is the point of the word diverse, we all are diverse and have many different points of view, not the same. So if we are different we should be able to state those points of view without fear.

Of course this would not be right in the eyes of these zealots, they believe they are right and everyone who holds a different view is wrong. They are obsessed, they do not care about people, only an ideology. When we go down this road we can only end up with one view which then leads to tyranny; were everyone who speaks out against the the prescribed opinion is seen as not only extreme but actually deranged and very dangerous.

You might think what I am saying a little over the top. But I don't believe it is; to stop people stating their beliefs is the first step to stopping freedom of expression and speech. This in turn can lead to a snowball effect in which many of the things that you say can be seen as 'wrong'. Things which are not unreasonable but just a point of view start to be seen as intolerance, then can be seen as destructive and actually very dangerous. Before you know it you are being labeled a trouble maker, an extremist and thus dangerous. This then has an impact on your job and your ability to find employment. This can then impact upon your children - schools now have to record any racist, homophobic or any other incidents that are deemed extreme. In some cases children have been asked by their teachers if their parents holds certain views. This is very dangerous indeed!

Imagine sitting in a pub and you are having a private conversation and someone from your work is there, you are discussing something which our 'thought police' believe is sacred to their agenda, and you disagree with the policy. That employee then contacts your employee and then you are in front of a panel justifying your beliefs and trying to save your job. You don't think this could happen, I wouldn't be too sure.

Thankfully it seems there are some people who are standing up to this extremism. Mr Smith is taking his employer to a tribunal seeking compensation and an admission that his 'rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion have been broken'. Mr judge, who is overseeing the enquiry said 'There seems to be a culture of fear among companies who feel impelled to launch an Inquisition if anyone doesn't buy into the equality and diversity manifesto in its entirety. This witchhunt has to stop.' So there is hope.

One last point, I wonder if Adrian Smith had been Muslim and made these comments would he have been treated the same?