Cardinal Keith
O’Brien, head of the Catholic church in Scotland, thinks I am his “enemy” and
accuses me, and like-minded people, of trying to “destroy” Christian heritage
and “take God from the public square”.
Christian denominations
need no help from atheists, secularists or believers in other theistic models
to reduce the reach of their faith. Church attendance in the UK – surely a good
barometer of people’s active adherence to the Christian faith – is declining,
has been so for many years, and is predicted as continuing to decline. In particular, younger generations are
rejecting the belief system the Cardinal and his ilk peddle, with 75% of 15-29
year olds and 80% of under-15s not being “in the church” (http://www.christiantoday.com/article/researcher.anticipates.further.church.decline.in.2010s/25949.htm).
As with the many other
theistic systems that have fallen by the way over the millennia, more and more
people are seeing the myths of Christianity for the, at best, “nice parables
and stories” that they are, and are no longer accepting the hypocrisies of
organisations that claim to have the only moral framework for humanity whilst
perpetrating systematic abuse (e.g. the papal directive that condoms should not
be used in response to HIV – an example of an occasion when a church leader
could have single-handedly enabled generations to avoid infection, but chose
not to), and shielding multiple numbers of paedophiles who used their positions
of “moral authority” to demolish the very innocence they preached whilst often
leaving the abused feeling somehow responsible for their abuser’s actions. And
Pope John Paul II who was instrumental in both these examples is now up for
beatification!
Yet, at the very same
time that Cardinal O’Brien is claiming religion is being marginalised, we have
a Prime Minister endorsing the “enormous contribution” of Christian values to
Britain (as the ink is barely dry on his oh-so-Christian attack on immigration)
and inviting senior church officials to Downing Street whilst his Minister of
Hate, Baroness Warsi, takes a break from her belief-excused homophobia to
remind us that the coalition do indeed “do God”. And we have a Deputy Prime
Minister who, before the election, told us rather sheepishly that he is “not a
believer”, but has now conceded that it is somehow okay for 26 senior Bishops
to continue to legislate in a reformed House of Lords. (These Lords Spiritual
have been especially disgraceful in their attacks on proposed legislation
towards assisted death and their opposition to equality legislation, particularly
that which hammers at some of their entrenched doctrines of discrimination on
the grounds of gender and sexual orientation.) Is such political influence
really evidence of marginalisation in society?
The Easter messages of
Christian tolerance have also included the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster,
Vincent Nichols, suggesting that atheists such as myself are more likely to see
“killing oneself or a loved one” as a “beguiling temptation”. He then claimed
“We [people of faith] know better because we live these truths of faith”! The
arrogance and vitriol in this speech are all the worse for them coming from
someone who is claimed as a moral leader. And when over two thirds of religious
people support a change in the law (British Attitudes Survey, 2010), for him to
claim otherwise is a lie, pure and simple. Some moral leadership.
O’Brien, Nichols and
other faith peddlers need to recognise the society they live in. The UK can no
longer be described as “Christian”, no matter how much they inveigle themselves
into our political decision-making and gain unchallenged public platforms to
spout their nastiness and have it regurgitated by the conservative media that
smells a good opportunity to knock equalities (the hysteria of ex-Archbishop
Carey screeching “it’s political correctness gone mad” and Lord Patten, new
Chairman (sic) of the BBC, pompously claiming
that "some of the arguments put forward by
secularists against the Pope's visit were lacking in intellectualism and were
extraordinarily mean-spirited" this
week are beyond satire).
If recognising and
protecting the equal rights of all people in this country, and pushing to
separate our legislature from those who believe in unprovable mystical beings,
and seeking legislation to enable individuals who so choose, to be able to end
terminal suffering with a caring medical intervention is regarded as “taking
God out of the square” and the stance of an “enemy”, then O’Brien can now be
content he has one in me.
