The Government and legislators are chipping away at the very Christian values on which our society and its freedoms are based, a bishop said in his Remembrance Sunday sermon on 8 November 2009. He questioned the morality of sending soldiers to die when freedoms in this country are being eroded.
Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill, the Bishop of Lichfield, has used a Remembrance Sunday sermon to deliver a stinging critique about the direction of democracy in the United Kingdom. Speaking to the congregation at Stoke Minster, Staffordshire, he said:
‘We are throwing our soldiers at a nation where the structures are endemically corrupt. We are trying to train up police in a society which is divided and where terrorism reigns. That is a difficult task for our troops and we salute them.
‘... it’s not out of malice, it is out of ignorance, but our legislators are chipping away at the very Christian values on which our society and its freedoms are based. There was a mad headline in my paper this week claiming that the European Court of Human Rights has said that the display of crucifix in Italian schools violates religious and education freedoms and it ordered the government to pay a mother who complained about a crucifix in school €5,000.’
The Bishop said that Europe must acknowledge its Christian history and foundations and their vital role in Europe’s moral and economic richness.
‘Now Europe would not be Europe without its Christian history and foundations. The cross or the crucifix reminds us of the greatest act of sacrificial love in the history of the world. It can’t be done away with as if it were a private symbol. Because our national flags contain crosses, should they be abolished? The Red Cross society would not have been founded without the inspiration of the Cross. You can’t take the cross out of the Red Cross and expect it to stay the same.
‘Apparently some firms have forbidden its employees to wear poppies. To wear a poppy or a cross is not a health and safety issue. We allow Sikhs to wear their turbans in a free society. I don’t want to live in a society where poppies or crosses are banned,’ he added.
In his sermon, the bishop concentrated on the Beatitudes – Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount – and described them as ‘the foundation ethics for our British Society; and he said:
‘In Jesus’ time people were looking for peace, for healing, for justice for their nation. And in the face of all this material and spiritual need, what did Jesus do?
‘He taught and he preached the good news of God’s rule and he healed the sick and drove out corruption and evil. But there is a third thing Jesus did. He trained a group of people who would model the presence of God to the nation.’
Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill added:
‘We owe it to our soldiers not to give up on the attempt to build a society worthy of their sacrifice. We owe it to Jesus Christ not to nibble away at his precepts for our world: Love your enemies. Overcome evil with good. Give respect to all. Work for justice. Pray for peace. Make provision for the children. Let the urgency of the world situation enable us to hear Christ’s calling: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.’
Italian parents and teachers reacted with outrage on 3 November 2009 after a European court ruled that displaying crucifixes in the country's schools violated the principle of secular education. Italy's education minister condemned the judgment by the European Court of Human Rights, saying that the Christian cross was a symbol of the country's religion and cultural identity.
(Click here to read the press release of the European Court of Human Rights)
Mariastella Gelmini, a member of the Italian Government, said ‘no one, and certainly not an ideological European court, will succeed in erasing our identity’.
Other ministers said they were appalled by the ruling, calling it ‘absurd’, ‘shameful’ and ‘offensive’.
(See the ABC News report)
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