Abuse of faith

IT SEEMS that an employee of Marks & Spencer has embarrassed the company after she refused to serve alcohol to a customer on account of her Muslim beliefs (your report, 24 December).

To be indulged in refusing even to facilitate the buying of Champagne by someone else is gross religious privilege and a dangerous precedent. This was in a harmless retail context, but how might comparable claims to religious “conscience” play out for a doctor or an ambulance driver?

No-one forced this woman to take the job in M&S. Her religious freedom should not allow her to demand changes to the job description.

Neil Barber

Edinburgh Secular 
Society

Saughtonhall Drive