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Title: Militant Secularism
Source:
The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online
URL Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/351625/militant-secularism
Published: Mar 20, 2012
Author: JILL LAWLESS
Post Date: 2012-03-20 15:38:20 by redleghunter
Keywords: None
Views: 2423
Comments: 7
'Militant Secularism' LONDON, United Kingdom (AP) — When it comes to religion, British politicians tend to heed the famous advice of Tony Blair's spin doctor, Alastair Campbell – "We don't do God.'' In contrast to the United States, the deity is rarely invoked on the campaign trail or in political speeches. But a Muslim Cabinet minister has become the latest member of Prime Minister David Cameron's government to urge the country to embrace its Christian heritage. Sayeeda Warsi also said that "militant'' secularism poses a threat to Europe, a comment that has angered atheists and highlighted the divisive political potential of religion. Her views will strike a chord with some religious Britons who feel threatened by growing secularization and by recent anti-discrimination cases, including one that saw Christian hoteliers fined for refusing to allow a gay couple to stay in a double room. In an article published Tuesday in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Warsi urged Europe "to become more confident in its Christianity.'' "You cannot and should not extract (the) Christian foundations from the evolution of our nations any more than you can or should erase the spires from our landscapes,'' she wrote. "My fear today is that a militant secularization is taking hold of our societies,'' she added, accusing some atheists of having the same intolerant instincts as authoritarian regimes. Warsi, a prominent member of Cameron's Conservative Party, is leading a delegation of British government ministers to the Vatican, where they are due to meet Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday. In a speech in Rome, Warsi said that "too often there is a suspicion of faith in our continent.'' She said in Britain, religion has been "sidelined, marginalized, and downgraded'' and "faith is looked down on as the hobby of 'oddities, foreigners, and minorities.''' Warsi's words echo comments by the pope, who visited Britain in 2010 and warned of the spread of "aggressive forms'' of secularism. The Vatican appeared to approve of Warsi's speech. In a break with the usual protocol, it emailed the text to correspondents in Rome. But Evan Harris, a former Liberal Democrat lawmaker and vice president of the British Humanist Association, said Warsi's talk of militant secularism was "self-serving paranoia.'' "There is nothing militant about calling for an end to blasphemy and apostasy laws or wanting religious persecution of women and gay people to end,'' he said. "Secular liberal democracy, which involves the separation of church and state and an end to religious privilege, is the best guarantor of religious liberty and free expression.'' Secularists object to state funding for faith schools, whose numbers have increased under recent governments. There are state-funded Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh schools, as well as thousands of Church of England and Roman Catholic schools. All follow the same curriculum as non-faith schools, but can teach their own views in religious studies classes. While American political candidates often talk openly, even boastfully, about the role religion plays in their lives, British politicians usually avoid deep professions of faith. Tony Blair, prime minister between 1997 and 2007, is a committed Christian, but rarely spoke about his religion while in office, and waited until he left power to convert from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism. Prime Minister David Cameron has said his experience of Christian faith is like the signal on a faulty radio: "It sort of comes and goes.'' His deputy, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, is an atheist, as is Ed Miliband, leader of the main opposition Labour Party. In the US, the Republican presidential candidates currently battling for their party's nomination routinely emphasize their religious credentials while accusing President Barack Obama of taking anti-religious stances. Newt Gingrich recently accused Obama of ``waging war on religion'' while Rick Santorum said the president's policies were challenging America's traditional freedom of religion. In Britain, God is rarely considered a vote winner – though comments by Warsi and others suggest that might be changing. Cameron recently urged the Church of England to lead a revival of traditional Christian values to counter the ``slow-motion moral collapse'' that led to the August riots in England. This week Communities Secretary Eric Pickles condemned a High Court ruling that a town council in southwest England must stop holding prayers at the start of meetings. ``We are a Christian country,'' Pickles said. Traditionally, that is true. The Church of England is the country's established church, with Queen Elizabeth II as its temporal head. Bishops help make laws as members of the House of Lords.
Poster Comment: Leave it to a Muslim woman to have to set British men straight.
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#1. To: redleghunter (#0)
(Edited)
MILITANT PRO SATANISM ... ANTI CHRIST --- ANTI SECULARISM ! Atheism - communism is official ! Liberal hate speech outlaws free speech ! Now they want to use the Constitution - 1st amendment to use universal birth control - paid for on demand abortion - socialized universal healthscare to supercede - use as a justification - precedent of govt paid for birth care as a free speech alternative - ENTITLEMENT ! One choice fits all with no choice otherwise !
If you ... don't use exclamation points --- you should't be typeing ! Commas - semicolons - question marks are for girlie boys !
PING
Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are my praise. Jeremiah 17:14
Burning prince Charles at the stake might help too.
Obama's watch stopped on 24 May 2008, but he's been too busy smoking crack to notice.
So are the Brits any less "moral" than Americans?
What is your "definition" of moral?
Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are my praise. Jeremiah 17:14
That is a really good question. What does it mean to act morally? How can we say that the lack of religious faith in a society has led to moral depravity? I would assume according to you that the less Christian a nation becomes the more morally depraved the people become.
"What does it mean to act morally?" If you don't know the answer to that question, you probably have no moral absolutes and hail from the relativist crowd. "I would assume according to you that the less Christian a nation becomes the more morally depraved the people become." Correct, the proof is in the pudding.
Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are my praise. Jeremiah 17:14
When it comes to religion, British politicians tend to heed the famous advice of Tony Blair's spin doctor, Alastair Campbell – "We don't do God.''
#2. To: liberator, GarySpFc, TooConservative (#0)
#3. To: redleghunter (#0)
Cameron recently urged the Church of England to lead a revival of traditional Christian values to counter the ``slow-motion moral collapse'' that led to the August riots in England.
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul
#4. To: redleghunter (#0)
#5. To: NewsJunky (#4)
So are the Brits any less "moral" than Americans?
#6. To: redleghunter (#5)
"definition" of moral?
#7. To: NewsJunky (#6)
That is a really good question. What does it mean to act morally? How can we say that the lack of religious faith in a society has led to moral depravity? I would assume according to you that the less Christian a nation becomes the more morally depraved the people become.
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