If he had one then I think Jesus would be turning in his
grave over the thought that Britain could be described as a Christian country.
Surely a basic requirement of such a soubriquet would be a
continual intention to help the poor and outcast members of society, just as
Jesus was supposed to have done himself?
Conversely we live in a country where the vast majority of the land is
owned by the few and the vast majority of earnings are earned by the few, and
more importantly, all of this is kept by the few.
From my bible teachings I seem to remember Jesus was not the
most encouraging towards money lenders, and yet the British economy runs more
on money markets than anything else these days.
He also taught us to turn the other cheek, and yet in the last few years
we’ve started fighting wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, not to mention the
amount of weapons we sell to other countries.
Is this really a Christian attitude?
Being able to call yourself a Christian country has nothing
to do with church attendance, whether you want to say prayers before council
meetings or even whether you believe in God.
It is simply based on your actions, at whatever level of society you
live in, and judging by the actions of a large section of society you would be
hard pushed to call it Christian.
Since the introduction of the NHS, few governments have done
much to help the poor and the needy, and although we may have been a Christian
country back then, are we really a Christian country now? Not only does all this hyperbole smack of
hypocrisy, it also risks alienating an increasingly large majority of society
made up of different religions, as well as those who have none at all.
Britain is far far better off calling itself a secular
society, but with freedom of religion and would do well to look across to its
Scandinavian neighbours for inspiration.
