Scottish Catholic Observer

The Scottish Secular Society’s condemnation of a foodbank’s attempt to hire a Christian to lead Church Services shows just how barmy the enemies of religion have become in this country. If you need to say public prayers and lead Church services, then having a Christian Faith would seem a necessary prerequisite. Yet for the atheistic army of the Scottish Secular Society it is instead an opportunity to howl their ludicrous grievances.

This may seem foolish because it is. However behind this silliness is a real and very hostile agenda. Advertising for a Christian to lead a Church service is unacceptable to the Secularists because any profession of Faith of any kind is unacceptable to them. So profound is their hostility to religion that they wish to prohibit it entirely.

As Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI so gracefully warned on his visit to Britain five years ago, this country should ‘always maintain its respect for those traditional values and cultural expressions that more aggressive forms of secularism no longer value or even tolerate.’

“As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the 20th century, let us never forget, how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society and thus to a reductive vision of the person and his destiny,” he said.

Thankfully the absolutists of the Scottish Secular Society and their fellow travellers are extremely few in number. Yet there are great many more who can be influenced by them.

The treatment of the new Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron last week is illustrative of this. The media were focused obsessively on the fact Mr Farron is a vocal and proud evangelical Anglican. This fact alone seemed to utterly perplex many leading British commentators. The very concept of a religious politician is anathema to many in the metropolitan elite.

This is the great challenge facing the Church. Yes there are those who are utterly hostile to all forms of religion but there are far, far more who lack any understanding of religion at all. This means they can easily be swayed against it by secularist demagogues but also that they can be reached by the right religious message. The United Kingdom is an alien land to Christians now. There are many dangers and little understanding of Faith and its power. But we must not cower in fear from this. Rather we need to rush forward with a message of Christ’s love.