Christian faith should not be privatised, says academic


Christopher Lamb


COUNTRIES SHOULD not be forced to remove Christianity from the public sphere under the guise of protecting the rights of those who want “freedom from religion”, according to a leading human-rights aca- demic.


Delivering the thirty-third Corbishley


Lecture in the House of Commons last week, Professor Joseph Weiler – who spoke at the European Court of Human Rights in favour of the Italian law requiring crucifixes in class- rooms during the case brought against the country’s Government by Soile Lautsi – said it does not violate human rights to retain pub- lic displays of Christianity. He said it is not clear why “freedom from religion” in public places is singled out as there is no “freedom from communism, fas- cism, vegetarianism … or any other world view” required. “We accept freedom of religion and freedom from religion, but why is freedom from religion singled out? This has not received a sufficient answer,” Professor Weiler, who is Jewish, said. Referring to the Lautsi case he said “the state cannot be neutral”, and that if a crucifix


is removed from a classroom wall it is as much a statement as keeping a crucifix on the wall. In France, where there is a strict separation


of Church and State, the state requires schools to have “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” embla- zoned on the building. “That is not neutral,” he said. He said it is wrong to assume that in European countries there is “the State on the one hand and the Church on the other”. As so many European countries’ identity is bound up with Christianity, it does not make sense to remove symbols of faith from the public sphere. He pointed to Ireland and Germany where God is mentioned in the countries’ con- stitutions and Sweden where the monarch is required by law to be an Evangelical Lutheran. While he stressed it would clearly be a breach of human rights if countries started requiring politicians to be of a certain faith, Christian public symbolism – such as singing the national anthem, “God Save the Queen” and the cross of St George – does not breach people’s rights. “We need some British com- mon sense,” he concluded. “We need to accommodate people of faith and those with a secular world view. Someone has to give ground to the other.”


Bishops attack Lib Dem gay-marriage plan


CATHOLIC BISHOPSsaid this week they will “strongly oppose” plans to permit gay mar- riages in England and Wales after the Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone said the Government was committed to introduc- ing legislation by 2015, writes Sam Adams. Speaking at the Liberal Democrats’ con- ference, Ms Featherstone said a consultation on the issue would be launched next spring. The Bishop of Arundel and Brighton,


Kieran Conry, said the move would “compro- mise marriage, and through that, the family”, and he believes his fellow English and Welsh bishops are “strongly opposed” to the plan, while the Bishop of Wrexham, Edwin Regan, said gay marriage was a “contradiction in terms”, and that allowing it would “undermine marriage in the public consciousness”. The Bishop of Leeds, Arthur Roche,


described the proposal as a “deliberate push to redefine a well established [institution],


which is in place for the well-being of soci- ety.”


A spokesman for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales said in a statement that the Church’s teaching on mar- riage is “clear and well known”. Bishops in Scotland have also joined in opposition


to plans by the


Government to introduce gay marriage north of the border, which is currently out for public consultation.


Religious same-sex marriage ceremonies would be allowed in Scotland though Churches would not be obliged to have them on their premises. In England and Wales it is proposed to allow recognition only of same- sex civil marriages.


Currently in Scotland, England and Wales, only men and women are legally permitted to marry while same-sex couples are limited to civil partnerships.


IN BRIEF


Rise in seminarians at Allen Hall The number of men training for the priest- hood at Allen Hall Seminary in the Archdiocese of Westminster has risen to 50, the sixth consecutive annual increase. Sixteen new seminarians began training there this month – five more than last year – although only six of these are for the Westminster Archdiocese. There are now 32 seminarians for Westminster training in England and Rome with 12 starting this year. The numbers are still thought to be short of what is required to replace clergy preparing to retire.


Call for Church of Scotland schools A leading


Scottish journalist and


Presbyterian has called for the introduc- tion of “faith schools”. In an exchange in the Church of Scotland magazine, Life and Work, Dr Harry Reid, a former editor of The Herald, said there was “far too much aggressive secularism” in Scotland today, and that members of the Kirk, “should be doing what they can to counter it”. “How better to do this than for the Church of Scotland to launch its own faith schools?” he said.


Bishop prays for miners’ families The Bishop of Menevia, Thomas Burns SM, has offered his condolences to the family and friends of the four miners who died in the mining tragedy at Gleision Colliery last week, near Swansea, and called on Catholics to pray for them. Prayers were offered at all Masses across the diocese last weekend, after the bodies of Charles Breslin, 62, David Powell, 50, Garry Jenkins, 39, and Phillip Hill, 45, were recovered.


Scottish


Legal action over £250,000 bill The body which manages the Church of England’s multi-billion-pound assets is being sued by a firm of estate agents and surveyors over what it claims are unpaid bills of nearly £250,000. Cluttons has filed a High Court writ stating that invoices sent to the Church Commissioners for management services it provided to var- ious residential properties have not yet been settled. A spokesman for the com- missioners said they were hoping to resolve the dispute before it gets to court. Cluttons no longer manages property investments for the Church of England.


Tablet Binders


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