I don't often go off on a rant, but could not restrain myself with this one...
A court has now given its verdict that is illegal for
local Councils to say prayers at their meetings. The action was brought by the
National Secular Society after a councillor in Bideford proclaimed that prayer
offended him. It wasn't good enough for him to stare out the window or politely
excuse himself. Oh no, it discriminates
against his sensitive soul. In agreeing with the National Secular Society the
judge has taken the view that religion has no public place in British life.
Readers please note that this sets a legal precedent
which can now be used to ban prayer anywhere – schools, hospitals, opening
ceremonies, carol singing and Parliament as well as all Councils. I am
personally outraged because I led prayers at Walsall Council when I was Mayor's
Chaplain to Cllr Gary Clarke in 2010-11, as has been done for hundreds of
years. But I also have three very good reasons for saying that this is wrong,
wrong, wrong!
1. It is totally
unBritish. Live and let live is
the national motto, never mind Dieu et mon droit (which as well as being French
has God in it, so there's another one that will have to go). There are nasty,
intolerant people at work in this case and they are the secularists. To these
bigots tolerance has come to mean the suppression of every distinctive opinion
in case someone gets offended – but that's actually intolerance! In my book tolerance
means respect for those with whom we disagree.
2. It cuts us off
from our roots. We are not a secular society. The roots of our way of life
all come from our Christian heritage. You don't have to look very far into the
history of education, health care and social welfare in this country to find
that it's the Church that started it all as an expression of Gospel values. We
in Walsall should know that, because of the brilliant example of Sister Dora.
She brought health care to the masses in our town because of her passionate
Christian faith. Secularism seeks to destroy this heritage.
3. It is out of
keeping with the times. Our society is in freefall because its foundation
of shared Christian values has been eroded. When we look at marriage, the
banks, the greed of rip-off Britain, teen pregnancy, rising rates of self-harm,
stress-related disease, drug and alcohol abuse and anti-social behaviour it is clear
that we are in deep trouble! We desperately need to hang on to our values!
Let's not chuck them away to please these intellectual fascists.
Secularism banishes all ideas of absolute right or wrong.
There can be no ultimate meaning or purpose to our lives and no accountability
to or succour from a higher being. These chilling beliefs corrode the soul and
undermine society. They have come in because we have let them. We have done
nothing to stand up and be counted. Let's do it now before it is too late. We
are already careering down the slippery slope.
I think I'll sit down now and have a nice calming cup of
tea…
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