Commission: de-Christianise UK – Give More influence To Non-Christians
Britain is no longer a Christian country and should stop acting as if it is, a major inquiry into the place of religion in modern society has concluded, provoking a furious backlash from ministers and the Church of England.
A two-year commission, chaired by the former senior judge Baroness Butler-Sloss and involving leading religious leaders from all faiths, calls for public life in Britain to be systematically de-Christianised. 
It says that the decline of churchgoing and the rise of Islam and other faiths mean a “new settlement” is needed for religion in the UK, giving more official influence to non-religious voices and those of non-Christian faiths. Click here to read the entire article
Comments invited
Comments (19)
It seems the Baroness is years behind the times. Britain ceased to be a Christian country many years ago. It merely tolerates Christianity these days, and even that basic toleration is subject to strict limits. She should watch the BBC more often to get a feel for just how hostile to Christianity Britain has become.
Paganism and/or Islam are the only two State-protected alternatives available to the British masses these days, hence the reason why Protestantism has gone down the priestess/homosexual clergy route with many so-called Catholics keen to follow.
Talk about signing a cultural death warrant! Our poor country has been on a downward spiral to spiritual and moral bankruptcy since real Christianity was usurped by the hippies some fifty years ago. Give it another decade and we will all either be forced to worship Mother Earth under a Druid government or subject to Sharia Law.
Christianity is handy for them when it comes to using their (mainly stolen) buildings for royal weddings, coronations, state funerals and the glorifying of wars. Services where there are virtually no semblance of Christianity on show.
The Catholic Church isn’t far behind now with their middle and upper class Masses.
“Perfidious Albion” de-Christianized itself once before, during the so-called English Reformation, aka, a bloodbath of barbaric persecution of Catholics, so this is not without precedent. In view of that precedent, however, it seems safe to say that the English don’t learn the lessons of history very well. And it would also seem that the present English episcopacy is full of Archbishop Cranmers who are aiding and abetting this apostasy, in which case said clerical apostates would do well to reflect on how Cranmer met his fate in 1556. That is to say, the “Revolution” always turns on its own.
Another nice victory for Islam.
Christina,
Exactly. There is such respect for Islam despite all the terrorism. It is baffling.
One of our readers emailed me this very interesting link, where a Muslim lady speaks out (on video) about what she sees to be the true nature of Islam.
You reap what you sow. Britain has made her bed and now sadly must lie on it, a bed of thorns, thistles, and scorpions.
Dear Baroness Butler-Sloss,
I am sending you this email to express by views regarding the two year report by the Commission on Religion and Belief in Public Life. I am shocked and appalled by the recommendations of the report to say the least. Whilst I accept that Christianity has declined exponentially since the 1960s in terms of Church attendance and religious practice, Britain is still Christian as the numbers of those who identify as Christian still remains a clear majority at 59% according to the 2011 Census. Also, did the report take into account other Christian denominations? An overwhelming majority of Evangelicals, Methodists, Baptists and Pentecostals attend Church services on Sundays, along with around 25% of Catholics who attend Mass, which rises to 60% at Christmas and Easter. According to the report, the Eastern Orthodox Church has increased exponentially in recent decades to around half a million members. It is fair to say that Britain is no longer an Anglican country. Christianity itself is more diverse. Likewise, Britain is still a Christian country as the Monarch is still the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, England has an Established Church, 26 of whose Bishops sit in the Lords and British law has its basis in the Bible and the Ten Commandments.
Regarding the reports recommendations on faith schools, which stated that they should accept only 50% of students of that particular faith and the other 50% of students from other faiths or no faith. I do not accept this stance taken by the report. I believe that schools that are under the authority of a particular Church, but a majority of whose students belong to another faith should be secularised, and the Christian assemblies replaced with multi-faith ceremonies or a period of reflection. Would secular schools be less biased? No, they would enforce the politically correct and socially liberal ‘values’ of the governing elite, and present all religions as equal and skewed left leaning version of morality regarding the traditional family and relationships, which would have dire social consequences, which would not value marriage and the stable, traditional family unit. I opted in to the RE classes at High School, but the staff were not qualified in the subject or had any expertise. In my last year at high school, my RE teacher was my German teacher. She was only asked to take my class because she was a churchgoer. Education in RE classes should be vastly improved with specialist teachers.
Secondly, the reports statements concerning the House of Lords contained in section 3.24 are historically inaccurate. Firstly, the former politicians, business and social leaders elevated to the peerage are from a diverse array of religions, and indeed, no religion. Secondly, there have been a variety of religious leaders in the upper house, apart from the 26 Anglican Bishops, including two Chief Rabbis, Immanuel Jakobovitz and Jonathan Sacks, and Julia Neuberger, of the Movement for Reform Judaism. Cardinals Basil Hume and Cormac Murphy O’Connor were offered a seat by Prime Ministers Callaghan, Thatcher and Blair, but refused under papal direction. Methodist clerics such as Donald Soper and Timothy Beaumont were peers. Lord Eames, the former Anglican Archbishop of Armagh was elevated to the peerage in 1995. Lord Singh of Wimbledon is of the Sikh faith and director of the Network of Sikh Organisations. Likewise, there is even a peer of the largely unknown Zoroastrian faith, Lord Bilimoria. Reducing the number of Anglican Bishops in the Lords is not the answer, but increasing the number of minority faiths is a sensible idea. Regarding increased pluralism at national events, there are a variety of religious leaders present, from Greek Orthodox and Reform Jew to Buddhist and Muslim at the annual Remembrance Service at the Cenotaph, as well as other national occasions, such as royal weddings/ burials, and anniversaries.
I do not believe the Coronation ceremony should be changed, and the sentiment expressed is section 3.32 is highly obnoxious. The Monarch is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and the Coronation ceremony has been Christian for over a millennium. It has its roots and basis in the Old Testament (1 Kings 1:38–40) when Solomon was anointed the King of Israel by Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet. The Coronation has its basis in the ceremony devised by St. Dunstan for the Coronation of King Edgar in 973 A.D., which in turn was based on the coronation of the Frankish Kings and Episcopal ordinations. I have not met a member of a minority faith who is offended by this. It is not the concern of the ordinary man in the street. This is evidence of the elitist chattering classes who have an insatiable obsession with political correctness. Does the King of Saudi Arabia or the President of Pakistan have Bible or Torah readings at their inaugurations? To change the Coronation ceremony would be a gratuitous insult to a millennium of history and an act of cultural vandalism and iconoclasm, all in the name of political correctness. To quote Shakespeare What about fairness and support for Christian traditions and beliefs, which have shaped Britain over the centuries, unlike Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism and so on, which are only recent additions to our country, and all of a sudden we have to forget, or drastically alter our own culture. This is shameful, and I hope that this recommendation has no bearing on government policy.
I hope that you will take my views into account and I look forward to receiving a reply.
Best regards
Catholic Convert 1,
Great letter. Did you receive a reply from her ladyship?
May the Lord forgive us all.
What the Baroness and her accomplices on the Commission are seeking to impose with this report is the fatal error of “Religious Syncretism” promoted by the Masonic Sect, which in effect is a programme of suppression of divine truth in favour of a return to the multi-deity abomination of the ancient pagan empires. This is not progress, it’s regression to the darkness of the pre-Christian cultures.
Despite all of its alluring statements about inclusiveness, respect, toleration and the common good, the underlying message in this report is that there is not one single divinely revealed religion to be held and defended by the State to the exclusion of all others. In other words, Jesus Christ is no longer accepted to be the only Son of God and people therefore have the right to worship whatever god(s) they choose provided the public peace be kept. I don’t think it an exaggeration to state that such a lie as this is demonic in origin.
I am here reminded of the words of St. Paul, who said: “the gods of the gentiles are devils”. Was St. Paul being intolerant, disrespectful and fundamentalist when he stated this truth? No, he was preaching “in season and out of season” whether the pagan world of his time liked it or not. That’s what we Catholics have to do in this age of apostasy. We tell the truth and shame the devil, as the innocent child would say.
There is only one true God whose Son Jesus became incarnate, took flesh and sacrificed Himself on the Cross for the salvation of men. He founded one Church on earth, the Catholic Church with Peter at its head, to which He entrusted the truths of salvation and the means of grace to achieve it. Neither Baroness Butler-Sloss nor her many fellow syncretists today can alter that truth, no matter how intellectually and passionately they convey the lie.
Madame Editor,
There is no denying that the Butler-Sloss Report makes very depressing reading. it could be a source of distress to many of the faint-hearted amongst caring Catholics.
However, let us reignite our zeal with this warming extract from the Imitation of Christ :
Zeal in amending our lives (St. Thomas à Kempis Book 1 Chapter 25):
God is not mocked. He knows everything, including the fears in our weak hearts.
Keep offering the daily Rosary, keep wearing the Brown Scapular, and keep trying to sanctify your soul.
Leprechaun,
That is the key, your final sentence. Great post! Thank you!
The term “de-Christianise” is one of the most appalling that I have ever encountered. “Secularise”, “de-establish”, or even “de-religionise” would make sense, but not “de-Christianise”.
I don’t doubt that the Commission was diligent and thorough in compiling its report – presumably based on religious observance, census returns, etc.- but it is beyond the competency of any commission, religious or otherwise, to pronounce on the Christianity of Britain, or the UK. Observance, and church attendance may be low, to non-existent, but Christianity is alive and well throughout Britain, and Western Democracy.
Christianity is the bedrock of equality, justice, freedom, enfranchisement, conscience, sharing, caring, and everything that defines Western society. The people of the UK continue to set up, and run, national and international charities, soup kitchens, support groups, voluntary groups, helplines….. They act as unpaid carers, contribute to charity after charity, and carry the heavy burden of taxation that supports health and social welfare. They have not forgotten their Christianity, they live it.
Secularisation may not be a popular word, but it is the best way to go. It means that all religions will be on an equal footing, offering the best protection against any religion, or belief system, that becomes overly assertive, or coarsely aggressive.
A matter such as this should be decided by referendum, it is far more important than the politics of the EU.
Eilis…
“Secularisation may not be a popular word, but it is the best way to go. It means that all religions will be on an equal footing, offering the best protection against any religion, or belief system, that becomes overly assertive, or coarsely aggressive.”
Christianity – aka the Catholic Church – is not just one religion among many. You write as if religion were an assortment of political parties.
In the very nature of things, all religions cannot be “on an equal footing” – unless, that, is, there is no God.
God does not contradict Himself. Christ, Who is God, didn’t establish His Church as the sole means of salvation in the first century when, all along, any and all religions are pleasing to Him. That makes absolutely NO theological sense, at all. To clarify – only ONE religion can possibly be true, and the rest are, by definition, false.
Even if members of false religions are saved (and we pray that this is the case, as nobody should wish to see any souls damned) they are saved by the merits of Christ’s death, through the one ark of salvation, The Catholic Church. In other words, they are saved not through, but DESPITE their false religion.
That’s not to denigrate any well-meaning followers of other denominations and non-Christian religions, but it’s what has always been taught in the Christian dispensation (the Catholic Church) – and always will be taught, notwithstanding the grave scandal of ecumenical and inter-faith activities, which give the impression that all religions are – in your words – “on an equal footing”.
Not the case. Else I’d be a Hindu. I think I’d suit the flowing dresses, the flamboyant jewellery and the bright colours. Whether they’d have me, of course, is another matter! 😀
Eilis Nic Ionmhain,
You perfectly describe a form of Christian humanitarianism, not to be confused with Christianity proper. Christianity devoid of its central mission, which is to convert and save sinners for eternity, is like a body without a soul.
The UN is capable of carrying out all the duties you associate with modern Christianity. So, what does that make of modern Christianity?
Now, you may call it secularism, de-establishment, de-religionising, or whatever else suits your fancy, but the real name for it is paganism. Today’s de-Christianisation of the UK, Europe and elsewhere cannot be sanitised. It is, to use Our Lord’s own terminology, “the dog returning to its own vomit”. There’s nothing novel in a government without Christ as numerous brutal and debauched ancient empires amply demonstrate. We haven’t progressed, therefore, as the liberals of today like to claim. Rather, we have gone back to the worst kind of society, a society in rebellion against its Creator and Saviour.
I think that should be ‘disestablish’.
Editor: And I think you should read this article
Constantine,
It should actually have read ‘disestablishment.” But thank you for the attempted correction, even if there was a hint of gnats and camels about it.
Eilis Nic Ionmhain
I’m afraid you have a very peculiar concept of Christianity if you consider that it is alive and well throughout Britain! Are you unaware of the fact that we slaughter the most defenceless by the hundreds of thousands every year?
Comments are closed.