Secularism and Christianity: Divisions and Threats to European Values

1. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 77, one of the Vatican's most powerful figures, issued a rallying cry to the faithful, saying that the liberal consensus had now evolved into a "worrying and aggressive" ideology. (Filed: 20/11/2004)

2. A leading contender to become the next Pope launched a fierce attack on the forces of secularism yesterday, arguing that they were fostering intolerance in Europe and forcing Christianity underground.

3. The Pope’s parrot in the attack on theEnlightenment

4. “The aggressive secularism of Britain could end up marginalizing Christianity”, warns former UK Prime Minister and Catholic convert Tony Blair. 5th March 2009

6. …and where have we heard this before? Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 77, one of the Vatican's most powerful figures, issued a rallying cry to the faithful, saying that the liberal consensus had now evolved into a "worrying and aggressive" ideology. (Filed: 20/11/2004)

8. Recent events have thrown into sharp focus the divisions that exist between those who share the liberal, humanitarian values of the great majority

9. and those who seek to create a more authoritarian society or would use our culture of tolerance to promote intolerance and undermine democracy.

11. Angela Merkel, who as German Chancellor will preside over the celebrations is,

12. in cooperation with the Vatican, drafting a "Berlin Declaration" –

13. reportedly to be a Charter of traditional values that she sees as spearheading her avowed attempt to reintroduce Christian values into the European Constitution. 

15. During his official term as head of the country, Blair tried to avoid references to religion. He admitted that he merely avoided being considered crazy if he spoke publicly about his personal convictions.

17. As the 50th anniversary of the creation of the European Union approaches, the principles and values on which modern Europe was founded are once again under threat.

18. Angela Merkel, who as German Chancellor will preside over the celebrations, in cooperation with the Vatican, is also drafting a "Berlin Declaration" - reportedly to be a Charter of traditional values that she sees as spearheading her avowed attempt to reintroduce Christian values into the European Constitution. 

19. Recent events have thrown into sharp focus the divisions that exist between those who share the liberal, humanitarian values of the great majority and those who seek to create a more authoritarian society or would use our culture of tolerance to promote intolerance and undermine democracy.

20. A leading contender to become the next Pope launched a fierce attack on the forces of secularism yesterday, arguing that they were fostering intolerance in Europe and forcing Christianity underground.

21. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 77, one of the Vatican's most powerful figures, issued a rallying cry to the faithful, saying that the liberal consensus had now evolved into a "worrying and aggressive" ideology. (Filed: 20/11/2004)

24. Walking by on the other side Thursday, 5th March 2009 Tony Blair has said that Christianity is at risk of being sidelined in Britain's ‘aggressively secularist’ society (a warning echoed by the Tory justice spokesman Dominic Grieve last night).  A few days after his wife Cherie told a Channel Four documentary of her dismay at the apparent ‘terminal decline’ of Christianity, Blair told the Church of England Newspaper: I hope and believe that stories of people not being allowed to express their Christianity are exceptional or the result of individual ludicrous decisions. My view is that people should be proud of their Christianity and able to express it as they wish.’ But one of the things which has hammered Christianity in Britain in recent years is ‘human rights’ law, which has effectively handed every minority a judicial weapon to upend majority or Christian values. And it was Tony Blair who, as soon as he took office in 1997, made human rights law the key element of his radical and reforming agenda; and it was Cherie who, as a prominent human rights lawyer, put that Christianity-busting legal doctrine into practice. In his interview, Blair actually admitted that conflict was ‘inevitable’ between traditional religions and human rights doctrine. And in typical fashion, he took the anti-religion side in the conflict—but didn’t want to face the inevitable consequence that religion would be harmed: Mr Blair disclosed, however, that while prime minister he believed equality and diversity were more important than religion in the case of the Catholic adoption agencies, who failed in their bid to be exempted from laws requiring them to consider homosexual couples as potential parents. ‘I happen to take the gay rights position,’ he said. ‘But at the time of the Catholic adoption society dispute I was also concerned that these people who were doing a fantastic job were not put out of business. You have got to try to work your way through these issues.’  Well, when that issue was worked through the adoption society concerned stopped being a Catholic one. So human rights doctrine meant that, when it came to adoption, Catholics could not express their values as they wished – as a direct result of the doctrine Blair promoted to such effect. Blair went on: 'The real test of a religion is whether in an age of aggressive secularism it has the confidence to go out and make its case by persuasion.’ But ‘human rights’ doctrine intrinsically promotes ‘aggressive secularism’. It explicitly detaches itself from specifically Judeo-Christian values by claiming to promote ‘universal’ values which trump the particular; and by promoting rights in the absence of duties, establishes ‘human rights’ as a mechanism for delivering the demands of claimant groups, thus promoting the extreme individualism of the ‘me society’ and the religion of the self. The resulting moral, spiritual and social chaos and squalor which now characterise British society have given radical Islamism its opportunity to move into the vacuum. Blair’s view on this was thus no surprise: He also said he believed the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, had been misunderstood when he said it ‘seems inevitable’ that some parts of Islamic law would be enshrined in Britain’s legal code. ‘I thought at the time all this was a lot of fuss over nothing,’ Mr Blair said. A man who never understood what he was doing to his country while he was Prime Minister now looks upon the ruins – and walks by on the other side

25. Walking by on the other side Thursday, 5th March 2009 Tony Blair has said that Christianity is at risk of being sidelined in Britain's ‘aggressively secularist’ society (a warning echoed by the Tory justice spokesman Dominic Grieve last night).  A few days after his wife Cherie told a Channel Four documentary of her dismay at the apparent ‘terminal decline’ of Christianity, Blair told the Church of England Newspaper: I hope and believe that stories of people not being allowed to express their Christianity are exceptional or the result of individual ludicrous decisions. My view is that people should be proud of their Christianity and able to express it as they wish.’ But one of the things which has hammered Christianity in Britain in recent years is ‘human rights’ law, which has effectively handed every minority a judicial weapon to upend majority or Christian values. And it was Tony Blair who, as soon as he took office in 1997, made human rights law the key element of his radical and reforming agenda; and it was Cherie who, as a prominent human rights lawyer, put that Christianity-busting legal doctrine into practice. In his interview, Blair actually admitted that conflict was ‘inevitable’ between traditional religions and human rights doctrine. And in typical fashion, he took the anti-religion side in the conflict—but didn’t want to face the inevitable consequence that religion would be harmed: Mr Blair disclosed, however, that while prime minister he believed equality and diversity were more important than religion in the case of the Catholic adoption agencies, who failed in their bid to be exempted from laws requiring them to consider homosexual couples as potential parents. ‘I happen to take the gay rights position,’ he said. ‘But at the time of the Catholic adoption society dispute I was also concerned that these people who were doing a fantastic job were not put out of business. You have got to try to work your way through these issues.’  Well, when that issue was worked through the adoption society concerned stopped being a Catholic one. So human rights doctrine meant that, when it came to adoption, Catholics could not express their values as they wished – as a direct result of the doctrine Blair promoted to such effect. Blair went on: 'The real test of a religion is whether in an age of aggressive secularism it has the confidence to go out and make its case by persuasion.’ But ‘human rights’ doctrine intrinsically promotes ‘aggressive secularism’. It explicitly detaches itself from specifically Judeo-Christian values by claiming to promote ‘universal’ values which trump the particular; and by promoting rights in the absence of duties, establishes ‘human rights’ as a mechanism for delivering the demands of claimant groups, thus promoting the extreme individualism of the ‘me society’ and the religion of the self. The resulting moral, spiritual and social chaos and squalor which now characterise British society have given radical Islamism its opportunity to move into the vacuum. Blair’s view on this was thus no surprise: He also said he believed the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, had been misunderstood when he said it ‘seems inevitable’ that some parts of Islamic law would be enshrined in Britain’s legal code. ‘I thought at the time all this was a lot of fuss over nothing,’ Mr Blair said. A man who never understood what he was doing to his country while he was Prime Minister now looks upon the ruins – and walks by on the other side

28. Walking by on the other side Thursday, 5th March 2009 Tony Blair has said that Christianity is at risk of being sidelined in Britain's ‘aggressively secularist’ society (a warning echoed by the Tory justice spokesman Dominic Grieve last night).  A few days after his wife Cherie told a Channel Four documentary of her dismay at the apparent ‘terminal decline’ of Christianity, Blair told the Church of England Newspaper: I hope and believe that stories of people not being allowed to express their Christianity are exceptional or the result of individual ludicrous decisions. My view is that people should be proud of their Christianity and able to express it as they wish.’ But one of the things which has hammered Christianity in Britain in recent years is ‘human rights’ law, which has effectively handed every minority a judicial weapon to upend majority or Christian values. And it was Tony Blair who, as soon as he took office in 1997, made human rights law the key element of his radical and reforming agenda; and it was Cherie who, as a prominent human rights lawyer, put that Christianity-busting legal doctrine into practice. In his interview, Blair actually admitted that conflict was ‘inevitable’ between traditional religions and human rights doctrine. And in typical fashion, he took the anti-religion side in the conflict—but didn’t want to face the inevitable consequence that religion would be harmed: Mr Blair disclosed, however, that while prime minister he believed equality and diversity were more important than religion in the case of the Catholic adoption agencies, who failed in their bid to be exempted from laws requiring them to consider homosexual couples as potential parents. ‘I happen to take the gay rights position,’ he said. ‘But at the time of the Catholic adoption society dispute I was also concerned that these people who were doing a fantastic job were not put out of business. You have got to try to work your way through these issues.’  Well, when that issue was worked through the adoption society concerned stopped being a Catholic one. So human rights doctrine meant that, when it came to adoption, Catholics could not express their values as they wished – as a direct result of the doctrine Blair promoted to such effect. Blair went on: 'The real test of a religion is whether in an age of aggressive secularism it has the confidence to go out and make its case by persuasion.’ But ‘human rights’ doctrine intrinsically promotes ‘aggressive secularism’. It explicitly detaches itself from specifically Judeo-Christian values by claiming to promote ‘universal’ values which trump the particular; and by promoting rights in the absence of duties, establishes ‘human rights’ as a mechanism for delivering the demands of claimant groups, thus promoting the extreme individualism of the ‘me society’ and the religion of the self. The resulting moral, spiritual and social chaos and squalor which now characterise British society have given radical Islamism its opportunity to move into the vacuum. Blair’s view on this was thus no surprise: He also said he believed the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, had been misunderstood when he said it ‘seems inevitable’ that some parts of Islamic law would be enshrined in Britain’s legal code. ‘I thought at the time all this was a lot of fuss over nothing,’ Mr Blair said. A man who never understood what he was doing to his country while he was Prime Minister now looks upon the ruins – and walks by on the other side

29. The aggressive secularism of Britain could end up marginalizing Christianity, warns former UK Prime Minister and Catholic convert Tony Blair. Blair agrees with Church leaders when they complain that religion could end up being considered a “personal eccentricity” rather than a major influence on society. “I think people should be proud of their Christian faith and to express it as they wish,” said the former prime minister. During his official term as head of the country, Blair tried to avoid references to religion. He admitted that he merely avoided being considered crazy if he spoke publicly about his personal convictions. After his conversion to Catholicism, the former prime minister created the foundation that bears his name to promote “respect and understanding among the world’s major religions.” Blair’s wife Cherie, also a staunch Catholic, has publicly expressed her disappointment over the general weakening of propagation of the Catholic faith, calling it ‘terminal decline’ of Christianity. Part of the mission statement of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation is to “show how faith is a powerful force for good in the modern world.” The group wants to “use the full power of modern communications to support and step up efforts at every level to educate, inform and develop understanding about the different faiths and between them.”