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In a bizarre decision, a school in Britain has banned students from wearing the crucifix and sent back home a teenager who refused to oblige even as it allowed Sikh boys to carry kirpan to the institution.
Sixteen-year-old Sam Morris was told by Howard Jones, deputy head of Sinfin Community School in Derby, that the tiny gold cross she has worn around her neck for three years was not a symbol of her faith, but nothing more than a trinket.
Sam who is studying for her GCSE, equivalent to the SSC in India, missed two days' classes after being sent home when she refused to remove the crucifix and chain she was wearing.
The decision was condemned as "crazy" as Sikh students at the school were allowed to carry kirpan and wear traditional metal bracelets and karas because they were classified as religious symbols after relaxing the Offensive Weapons Act.
"Most of our students understand allowing Sikhs to wear a bracelet is a compulsory part of their religion. Christianity does not require followers to wear a specific symbol," Jones said.
The only non-Sikh items allowed were inexpensive watches and small pairs of stud-style earrings.
Meanwhile the Derby City Council said that it was lawful to ban crucifixes. "But whether it is desirable is another matter. For some people, a crucifix could be a deeply religious gesture, which is why personal needs should be taken into account."
Sam's mother Debra Saunders accused officials of risking creating racial tensions by failing to apply the same ban to all groups. She said her daughter believed in God and should therefore be allowed to wear a symbol of Christianity.
"It's very unfair. It just ends up creating a divide," Saunders said. She had reluctantly allowed her daughter to return to classes without the necklace after two days although she still plans to complain to the governors.
Harmander Singh, a Sikh who helped the Education Department to write guidelines, said that the Sikh community would support the right of a child to wear something that reminds him or her of religious values.
Terming the order as a "misguided" one, leading faith organisations said this could lead to create new racial tension, which the school has avioided so far. Only recently, the 1,000-pupil school which has 25% Asian students was praised in an Ofsted report for racial understanding.
A prominent Christian and leading Tory member of Parliament Ann Widdecombe described the decision "crazy" and said Jones was "utterly ignorant" if he thinks the cross is just costume jewellery.
"To persecute a young girl like this for her religious beliefs, whatever they are, is unacceptable. It is a crazy decision," she told the Daily Express newspaper.
Noting that teachers have a right to impose their own rules over uniform, John Midgely of 'Campaign Against Political Correctness' said they have to be "extremely careful not to give the impression that they are undermining one faith while showing favour to another".
Earlier in 2005, hospitals in Leicester announced plans to ban Bibles from bedside cabinets for fear of offending non-Christians and staff removed a crucifix from a hospital chapel in Newham, east London.
Last year, a communion table was taken out of the chapel at Perth Royal Infirmary and university authorities in Edinburgh and Stirling refused to accept free Bibles for their halls of residence.