Baroness Sayeeda Warsi
This week, Baroness Warsi, the Chairperson of the Conservative Party, led a delegation to the Vatican. She made a public call for the reinstatement of Christianity in the heart of public life. Lady Warsi says she has a grave fear that “militant secularisation is taking hold of our societies...at its core and in its instincts it is deeply intolerant”. In one sweeping statement she has undermined the vast culture of tolerance that secularisation has achieved in Europe over the past century. Warsi’s call for the refurbishment of Christianity in public life must be heeded with serious scepticism and care. Lady Warsi, a practicing Muslim, has significant clout in British politics. Her comments and indeed the presence of the Conservative Party at the head of coalition government should be treated with apprehension in the way in which the state deals with issues of religion and morality.
One of the biggest problems with the discourse on religion in the public sphere is actually the erosion of what a particular religion traditionally stands for. We live in a society in which religion has become a veritable pick and mix. Because of the freedoms that secular society affords its citizens, many people now choose the bits of their religion that they like and discard the rest. They do not seem to realise that they are members of a club in which there are certain rules, rules which were instated in an ancient time. In Catholicism’s case these rules were created two thousand years ago. In Islam’s case, not long after that. However, in order to deal with the modernity of their congregation’s dispositions, the church now attempts to dumb down many of its sacraments and rituals. It will marry people in its buildings, even if those undergoing the ritual never attend the regular services. It will make token and vague gestures of openness and goodwill towards homosexuality in a bid to appear ‘with the times’ and inclusive. It will attempt to appear respectful towards other belief systems while always harbouring its own superiority.
Lady Warsi inexplicably claims that secularisation is actually ‘deeply intolerant’. For a member of government to say this in 2012 is astonishing considering secularisation is directly responsible for the freedom of European society. Indeed, her position as the first female Muslim government minister would not have been possible without the diminishment of the churches role in Britain. As a result, her comments are a hypocrisy. Of course there are many Christian values which can benefit society but we must not forget the elements which hinder it aswell. Let’s take Lady Warsi’s words and imagine them as a reality. We must be careful when we do this because to fully imagine a Christian society we must commit to the full manifestation of its ideals. It is very easy for politicians to highlight the good bits of Christianity. This is not acceptable and it is indeed misleading. If they want to promote Christianity then they must be held accountable for all of its teachings. If Christianity once again took a central role in the arbitration of public morality there would be the resurrection of very serious positions on homosexuality, abortion and divorce, to name but a few issues. The Church of England passed a resolution in 1998, stating that homosexual acts are “incompatible with scripture”. Yes, Christianity can teach us to ‘love thy neighbour’ but it also teaches us that "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives” (Leviticus 20:13 NAB). If the British government really wants the reinstatement of Christian ideals, will its representatives be happy to stand up and say these words in the House of Commons? What about abortion, a practice that is currently legal in the United Kingdom? The Church of England, while allowing its execution in certain prohibited circumstances, ultimately says “we see abortion, the termination of that life by the act of man, as a great moral evil” (Church of England Board of Social Responsibility). The relationship between unique religions would be more difficult than it is now. Relations between Islam and the Anglican and Catholic traditions have been rocky to say the least. An editorial in the Church of England newspaper, Church of England News, says : “This progress (of the Muslim faith in the UK) has been enthusiastically assisted by this government (Labour) in particular with its hard-line multi-cultural dogma and willingness to concede to virtually every demand made by Muslims”. While Pope John Paul II did much to create a shared understanding between Muslims and Christians, his head of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees, Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao, issued a direct warning in 2004 to Catholic women against marrying Muslim men.
Baroness Warsi sees secularisation taking hold of society “when signs of religion cannot be displayed in public buildings”. She fails to elaborate on the enormous contributions that secularisation has made to ameliorating the quality of lives of millions of people: the liberation of gay people, the right of a woman to make her own decision on abortion, the right of a couple to dissolve their marriage, the right for people to think for themselves. The Catholic Church believes that the decision of a married couple not to have children is a selfish one. Catholicism teaches that the very function of marriage is to reproduce. Would governments stand up and say this? Where does it stop? If Christianity was once again to take a central role in public life, would the church’s teachings on creationism be advertised? Christianity firmly believes that God created the world and rejects the now widely accepted thesis on evolution. It is issues and values just like these that Christianity harbours but will rarely engage in a debate on. The reason for this is because society has advanced beyond them. A true member of the Christian church believes these things.
We are finally reaching a point in time where secularisation has become the norm in Europe, and government policies, for the large part, are impartial and liberated from the chains of religious dogma. Of course people should have the freedom to practice their faith privately and indeed a secular government allows the space for a wide variety of faiths to coexist. For a minister of a country like Britain, which prides itself on its openness, freedom and tolerance of all people, to suggest a return to the basics of Christian morality alone in public life is deeply worrying. What about the people of different faiths that live in Britain? A secular government is the only way a country can have true tolerance and equality as religious influence will inevitably lead to the exclusion of certain people and the retraction of certain rights. It has been a long struggle to get to where we are now. Let’s not go backwards.
© Simon Tierney 2012
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