Friday, September 24, 2010

One More Example of the Relevance of Traditional Orthodoxy and the Irrelevance of Trendy Liberalism

Pope Benedict's visit to Britain has demonstrated yet again how relevant to ordinary people traditional and orthodox Christianity is and how the "progressive" strategy of pursuing trendy liberalism and radical politics simply bores most people to tears.

The Catholic Herald is the best source of news on the Catholic Church in the UK. It is orthodox and resistant to the trendy liberalism that hold much of the hierarchy of the English and Scottish Church in its icy grip. It supports Pope Benedict XVI in the same way that it steadfastly supported Pope John Paul II. As you read

The recent coverage of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Britain is excellent. You can find it here.

One article that I would especially commend is William Oddie's "Mr Cameron, if you really mean what you say, you must allow our adoption agencies to re-open." Oddie noted how Benedict's sweet reasonableness put politicians on the defensive:
His achievement was that he put the politicians on the defensive in such a way that they could only insist that his was not merely a reasonable point of view, but that they themselves already shared it, honest they did. In his farewell speech, David Cameron insisted that “people of faith – including our 30,000 faith-based charities – are great architects of [the new culture of social responsibility we want to build in Britain].”
After quoting Benedict's words about how secular societies need to be open to Christian organizations, Oddie then asks Cameron to live up to his nice words:
Well, we all know exactly what the Pope meant by that: why were we forced to close down our adoption agencies as a result of legislation which was supposed to be about toleration? And Dave, if your warm words to the Pope about “faith-based charities” are not so much hot air, what will you now do to restore the freedom of Catholic charities to act in accordance with Catholic principles?

It would be simple, Dave, to show that you actually mean what you say about faith-based charities. You don’t have to repeal the Sexual Orientation Regulations: simply allow us an opt-out. If you won’t, don’t claim ever again that you “look forward to ever closer co-operation between the UK and the Holy See”: just let those empty words fall quickly into oblivion.
In other words, can't liberals be tolerant?

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