Warsi: The Confident Affirmation of Religion is Under Threat
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Britain's first female Muslim cabinet minister and chairman of the Conservative Party, leader of the ministerial delegation from United Kingdom to the Holy See, said on February 14th: "People need to feel stronger in their religious identities, more confident in their beliefs... Europe needs to become more confident in its Christianity. Let us be honest: Too often there is a suspicion of faith in our continent..."
"It all hinges on a basic misconception: That somehow to create equality and space for minority faiths and cultures we need to erase our majority religious heritage... It’s what the Holy Father called the “unrenounceable Christian roots of [our] culture and civilisation”... You cannot and should not erase these Christian foundations from the evolution of our nations any more than you can or should erase the spires from our landscapes... The confident affirmation of religion which I have spoken of is under threat. It is what the Holy Father called ‘the increasing marginalisation of religion’ during his speech in Westminster Hall. I see it in United Kingdom and I see it in Europe... Faith is overlooked in the public sphere with not even a word about Christianity in the preface of the “European Constitution”. Our response to militant secularisation today has to be simple. Holding firm in our faiths. Holding back intolerance. Reaffirming the religious foundations on which our societies are built and reasserting the fact that, for centuries, Christianity in Europe has been inspiring, motivating, strengthening and improving our societies... Politicians need to give faith a seat at the table in public life.” Sources: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/news/baroness-warsi-speech-holy-see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9080441/We-stand-side-by-side-with-the-Pope-in-fighting-for-faith.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17021831 http://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/archives/005370.html