BBC News – UK non-Christian claims ‘absurd’, senior Tories say.
I came across this article today and had to comment.
What I find hard to comprehend is that we have more education, more knowledge and more science readily available to our populations today than at any other time in history. Yet, our societies cannot shake free from thousand year old beliefs full of magic, fairy tales, and made up stories (many of which have since been discredited) that make up religion.
Here we have two seemingly intelligent men who have risen quite high in politics. Yet they demand that the UK is a “Christian” nation. They are correct that Christianity took root in the UK and have influenced the country for 1,500 years. In this case the UK is a Christian nation.
But the UK was pagan before the Christians came so wouldn’t it also be fair to say the UK is a pagan nation or is 1,500 years the cut off.
I had to laugh when I read this:
“We are also a very tolerant nation. In fact one of the great Christian values is tolerance and respect for other people, people of other faiths, other views. So I think our Christian heritage sits very comfortably alongside our plurality and our tolerance as a people.”
Yes, if we read the history books we see how tolerant the English are/were of all the countries they colonized. The list is rather long and can be found here. I’m sure all the natives really appreciated the Christian tolerance of the British when they were being invaded and subjugated.
As a consequence of colonization there has been mass immigration to the UK from the colonized countries which certainly hasn’t sat well with the white natives!
It’s not that the conservatives didn’t try to stop it. Just a quick look on Google and I came across one of the most famous speeches against immigration called the “Rivers of Blood speech” . In this speech a conservative member of Parliament tried to warn his countrymen about the dangers of letting in all these colored colonial subjects into the UK!
Well, Enoch Powell was right; this is why London is now called Londinistan.
It seems to me that the demand the UK be known as a “Christian” nation is just a cry to try and hang on to the past, a past when there weren’t very many immigrants, which is what old conservative white men do best. Their ancestors went out conquering other nations and when the mess comes back to haunt them (albeit with a 300 or so year lag) they get all upset about it.
But to throw them a bone, I would say that Europe is vastly more tolerant of immigrants than most countries in the world. Change comes slowly and the immigrants should do their part and try to fit in to the host culture. After all, if their culture is the most important thing to them, then wouldn’t it serve them well to just go back?
If the old white men want to call the UK a Christian country let them do so. With so many immigrants holding other beliefs the UK is actually a multi-religious country no matter what a couple of old Tories say.
It’s just a shame that no matter how the argument turns out, Christianity, while it does have its good parts, is just one more way for mankind is trying to explain his own existence, which like the other religions, is not based in facts.
In the end, these two Tories are simply saying that since the traditional bed time story of the UK has been read for the past 1,500 years it should really be considered the official bed time story and that’s that.
