Petition, Campaign, special website and Candlelight Vigil 15 December 2009
In July of this year, Bible-believing Christian Duke Amachree, married and father of 3 children who had served Wandsworth Council as a Homelessness Prevention Officer diligently for 18 years, was dismissed in circumstances Christians and non-Christians alike across the country rightly view as completely outrageous. Please take a few minutes to read this almost unbelievable story and then to take action to help him and to stand up against an injustice that is as appalling as anything I have seen in my many years in this work.
This is Duke’s story:
In January of this year, Duke was helping a client with her housing situation. The client had seen various doctors who had told her that she had an incurable medical condition. Out of compassion for her, Duke commented that sometimes the doctors don’t know everything –and encouraged her to consider putting her faith in God.
The client did not complain to Duke, but did go to his managers to report him. Two days later the managers knocked on Duke’s door as he was conducting another interview, asked him to finish up and then report to the Director’s office.
When he arrived, Duke was told that there had been a complaint and that he was being suspended with immediate effect. His pass was taken away and he was told not to make contact with any of his friends and colleagues or to come near the offices. He was then marched off the premises.
Why we must take action in the days to come to help Duke Amachree
At CLC and CCFON we all believe, that this is one of the most appalling if not the most appalling case we have ever seen. The way Duke was treated anyone would think he had been caught viewing pornography on an office computer. Yet all Duke did was extend the hand of compassion to a fellow human being in distress. What’s more, there was nothing in his employment contract to indicate that he was in any way not to speak about God.
Don’t say ‘God bless’ or we'll sack you…
Incredibly, when our solicitor who represented Duke in the initial meeting with the employer asked what would have happened if Duke had simply said ‘God bless you’ to a client, the spokesperson for Wandsworth Council said it would have been advisable not to say that either.
Duke Amachree, a gentle, intelligent and kind-hearted family man living in Britain in 2009 has been found ‘guilty’ of an ‘offence’ which would amaze a visitor from any previous time in the history of Christianity in this country. Out of compassion he offered the hope of God to a woman in need. He breached no part of his contract. Yet he was marched off the premises and, after a period of suspension, was dismissed.
Please help by joining our ‘Justice for Duke’ Campaign in these following ways:
Keep Duke and his family in your prayers over the coming days. This is not an easy time for them and they will be greatly moved to know that there are hundreds or perhaps thousands of people praying for them every day.
Keep an eye on the special website for developments as we count down to 15 December 2009, www.justiceforduke.com
Take a few seconds to add your name to the ‘Justice for Duke’ petition. This will help raise awareness and make a statement that Christians and non-Christians alike will not stand by whilst a good man is treated this way. We hope any reasonable person would agree that a man who has served an employer honestly and diligently for 18 years should not be thrown out of his job just for mentioning God whatever their own beliefs may be, especially when he has no reason to believe his employer would view his words as being a problem. So please forward on to as many of your friends as you can.
If you live in Wandsworth, please write to your MP. A model letter can be found by clicking here for you to adapt, print off, sign and send if you would like to. Please see this link also to find out who your MP is and where to write to them.
Join the Candlelight Vigil outside Wandsworth Town Hall on 15 December (details on the www.justiceforduke.com site as well as on www.ccfon.org and www.christianlegalcentre.com). Please let us know if you are planning to come and if you are planning to bring friends by clicking here.This will give us an idea of numbers. There is a map available on the special site. http://www.justiceforduke.com/prayervigil.php
Please consider making a small donation to the Christian Legal Centre if you would like to help us with the cost of the campaign and similar work. You can make a secure Paypal donation on line in seconds by clicking here (other options are also available). All the work we do is free of charge to our clients who are suffering because of living and speaking their Christian values in their everyday lives. Please stand with them and with the work by making a small gift to cover the costs of that work today if you can.
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