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UK Court Rules Against Christian Suspended for Sharing Her Faith

A U.K. employment court has ruled against an occupational therapist who was suspended for nine months after her Muslim co-worker claimed that she was trying to convert her to Christianity.

Victoria Wasteney had developed a friendship with her colleague Enya Nawaz as they worked at the St. John Howard Center in London. The two had discussed Islam and Christianity, and Wasteney had talked to Nawaz about her church's efforts to fight human trafficking.

"The whole basis of our conversations around faith started with her telling me that she'd had an encounter with God, that she felt she had been brought to London for a particular reason," Wasteney said.

Wasteney explains that they both become interested in what the other was involved in.

"It was part of the normal process of building a relationship with someone, to talk about primarily things we were interested in outside of work," she said.

In 2013, after Nawaz told Wasteney about her personal health concerns on a lunch break, Wasteney offered to pray for her. Nawaz gave her permission. Wasteney laid her hands on her and prayed that God would give her "peace and healing."

Wasteney also invited Nawaz to church and gave her a copy of the book I Dared to Call Him Father, which is about a Muslim woman who converted to Christianity. Wasteney said she never read the book, but it was recommended to her by a friend.

"Because we had had these conversations, it did not seem abnormal," she explained.

Nawaz filed a complaint with her employer shortly after that, alleging that Wasteney was trying to convert her.

Wasteney was suspended for nine months with pay while an investigation began.

In 2014, a disciplinary panel declared Wasteney guilty of "bullying and harassment," stating that she was wrong to pray with her co-worker, invite her to church, and give her a book about her faith.

She was presented with a written warning and allowed to return to work—but not in her specialist field.

Wasteney made an appeal to an employment court because of concern for others who might face discipline for speaking about their faith at work.

The court upheld the panel's ruling and Judge Eady QC agreed that Wasteney's employer was right to discipline her.

"What the court clearly failed to do was to say how, in today's politically correct world, any Christian can even enter into a conversation with a fellow employee on the subject of religion and not, potentially, later end up in an employment [court]," Wasteney said in a statement.

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