From Middle Ages to 21st Century: We've Come Full Circle

Over the last two or three hundred years, science and religion have gradually gone their separate ways, until by the 20th century they were completely distinct.

But now, thanks to a judge in the UK (where else?), it's back to the Middle Ages for mankind!

Behold the wisdom of the UK's finest!

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Judge rules activist's beliefs on climate change akin to religion

Karen McVeigh

guardian.co.uk

Tuesday 3 November 2009 20.42 GMT

When Rupert Dickinson, the chief executive of one of Britain's biggest property firms, left his BlackBerry behind in London while on a business trip to Ireland, he simply ordered one of his staff to get on a plane and deliver the device to him.

For Dickinson's then head of sustainability, Tim Nicholson, the errand was much more than an executive indulgence: it embodied the contempt with which his boss treated his deep philosophical beliefs about climate change.

In a significant decision today, a judge found Nicholson's views on the environment were so deeply held that they were entitled to the same protection as religious convictions, and ruled that an employment tribunal should hear his claim that he was sacked because of his beliefs.

(omitted paragraphs)

In today's ruling, Mr Justice Michael Burton decided that: "A belief in man-made climate change, and the alleged resulting moral imperatives, is capable if genuinely held, of being a philosophical belief for the purpose of the 2003 Religion and Belief Regulations." Under those regulations it is unlawful to discriminate against a person on the grounds of their religious or philosophical beliefs.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/03/tim-nicholson-climate-change-belief