THE LEADER of the Catholic church in Scotland has used his Easter address to attack “aggressive secularism”, suggesting there were “those who would indeed try to destroy our Christian heritage and culture and take God from the public square”.
He made the address as British prime minister David Cameron publicly endorsed the “enormous contribution” of Christian values to Britain, days before he welcomes senior churchmen to Downing Street for an Easter celebration.
Cardinal Keith O’Brien, archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, who is known for his outspoken views, eschewed traditional Easter themes and set his sights firmly on the “marginalisation” of Christianity in the UK.
He told the congregation at St Mary’s Cathedral: “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.”
His homily included instances where Christians had fallen foul of equality legislation, preventing discrimination against gay people, and swiftly drew fire from groups campaigning against religious privilege in public life.
Keith Porteous-Wood, from the National Secular Society, said religious leaders were being made “increasingly paranoid by the mass exodus from their churches” and were blaming the “bogeyman of secularism” rather than their own “narrow-mindedness and bigotry”.
In his Easter message Mr Cameron said: “Jesus taught us to love God and love our neighbour. He led by example and for millions of us his teachings are as relevant now as they were in his lifetime. As we share in this festival with our friends and family, we can all be reminded of the enormous contribution Christianity has made to our country.”
It is the most explicit outreach to Christian groups in Britain by a government in recent times. Prior state-led engagement with religion has focused largely on Muslims and the Islamic faith.
Baroness Warsi is one of several cabinet figures wooing church leaders. Earlier this month she was the keynote speaker at a Catholic conference addressing the issue of social responsibility, while last year she unequivocally told Anglican bishops that, unlike the previous administration, the coalition did “do God”.
Andrew Copson, from the British Humanist Association, described Cardinal O’Brien’s remarks as “ill-informed” and “alarmist” and accused him of sectarianism. He said: “What these attacks ignore is that campaigners for secularism in our public life are overwhelmingly motivated, not by anti-religious prejudice, but by a positive desire for equality and an equitable public sphere.
"These alarmist speeches, designed to stir up the faithful and foster a false narrative of persecution, are divisive and sectarian." Such attacks "obscured" the reality of the situation, he said. "The churches are seeking to defend a level of influence and privilege totally out of proportion to their significance," Mr Copson added. – ( GuardianNews Service)