DAILY NEWS

'Aggressive secularism' is destroying Britain’s Christian heritage and culture

Belfast born, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, has urged members of the faith to unite against an assault on their values. In a vehement attack on secularism during his Easter sermon he said Christians are being ‘marginalised’ in society and banned from acting on their beliefs.

And he has accused members of the Christian faith, of all denominations, of pandering to its enemies.

His outspoken comments follow calls from the Bishop of Oxford, Rt Revd John Pritchard, to reduce the number of Christians in C of E schools to just 10 per cent.

Bishop Pritchard’s move sparked outrage among Christians and leaders of other faiths who have pledged to uphold their right to educate believers.

Cardinal O’Brien also referred to equality legislation which prevents Christians from acting in accordance with their beliefs.

Recently bed and breakfast owners Peter and Hazelmary Bull were sued for turning away two homosexuals who wished to share a bedroom.

In March foster parents Owen and Eunice Johns faced a parenting ban because of their strong views on homosexuality.

They were told by a court that gay rights should ‘take precedence’ over their religious beliefs.

And just last week Christian electrician Colin Atkinson won a long an 18-month battle with his employers, a housing authority, to display a cross in his van.

Taking mass at St Mary’s Cathedral, in Edinburgh, the Cardinal called on all Christians to resist the power of people who wanted to ‘take God from the public square’.

He said: ‘Perhaps more than ever before there is that aggressive secularism and there are those who would indeed try to destroy our Christian heritage and culture and take God from the public square.

‘Religion must not be taken from the public square.

‘Recently, various Christians in our society were marginalised and prevented from acting in accordance with their beliefs because they were not willing to publicly endorse a particular lifestyle

Yes – Christians must work toward that full unity for which Christ prayed – but even at this present time Christians must be united in their common awareness of the enemies of the Christian faith in our country, of the power that they are at present exerting, and the need for us to be aware of that right to equality which so many others cry out for.’

Yesterday secularists said the Cardinal was ‘invoking the spectre of secularism to distract from its failing and the massive decline in church attendance.

Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, said: ‘It is clear to see what is happening. “Aggressive Secularism” is the bogeyman.

‘It is being used to distract attention from their own failings. Mass attendance is dropping like a stone.

‘It is their fault that the Church is losing popularity. It is because of cruelty and intolerance that people are drifting away.