Saturday 30 March 2013

The persecuted masses?

I'm veering a little off-topic here, but another article appeared yesterday by someone who seems to have been put on this planet solely to piss off anyone with a grain of sanity within them. If there is a god, he is a vengeful one indeed, for no beneficent god would saddle us with Lord Carey...

Anyway, in yesterday's Daily Mail, Lord Carey had a go at David Cameron. This, I'm generally in support of. The issue however, lies in the fact that he accused the PM of hypocrisy for proclaiming his support for the Christian cause, all the while doing more than any prime minister before him to promote the persecution of Christians. The persecution! I've taken the liberty of lifting the following definition from that Bible of the modern age, Wikipedia:

"Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. The most common forms are religious, ethnic and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms. The inflicting of suffering, harassment, isolation, imprisonment, fear, or pain are all factors that may establish persecution. Even so, not all suffering will necessarily establish persecution. The suffering experienced by the victim must be sufficiently severe."

The examples of this alleged 'persecution' given by Carey are the usual suspects: the British Airways worker fired for wearing a crucifix and a campaign 'to turn the parliamentary chapel of St Mary Undercroft into a multi-faith prayer room so gay couples can get married there'. The former would seem a little obsolete considering the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that BA was in the wrong and the airline has long since changed its policy on the wearing of religious jewellery, and the latter... Well, first of all, why should Christian domination trump gay (or for that matter religious) equality? And second of all, London has churches in a greater density than anywhere else in England - if those parliamentary Christians who can't bear praying in the vicinity of people with beliefs other than their own, they wouldn't have to walk far to find a Christian church. I noticed a comment underneath the coverage of his outburst on the BBC website claiming attacks on Christianity in Britain always bring the discussion back to gay marriage - but it would appear the Christian side of the argument can't help bringing it up either!

I wonder how people who face actual persecution would feel about Carey's opinions. Maybe someone could ask the Christians in Pakistan or Iran, who really are prevented from taking on numerous roles in public life and can face threats of prison or even death if they show their faith in public.

Anyway, for those still unsure about whether they face persecution in the UK, the Daily Mash has compiled a handy quiz.

I, and most other non-religious people and secularists I know, are perfectly fine with you practising your faith in private. We don't think you should denied jobs, or any other rights, on the basis of your faith. All we ask is that you don't force us to share your beliefs and let us get on with our own lives, so long as they don't impact on other people's. And let's face it, if you think your heterosexual marriage is diminished by other people's right to marry someone of the same gender as themselves, there are probably some deeper issues to be addressed within your 'holy matrimony'. And if the addition of other faiths to a chapel, or the request to take off a crucifix, somehow diminish your ability to be a Christian, you might want to re-evaluate your relationship with god. I was under the impression faith is in the heart; in that case, surely a piece of jewellery or a piece of real estate aren't necessary to practice your beliefs.

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