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Bishops warn
that
UK is no longer Christian British Christian leaders, Catholic & Protestant, have been voicing their concerns about the decline of Christianity and obliquely referring to the growing influence of other religions. What they don't do is to honestly examine the causes of the Christian decline and their own failure. It might open a can of worms.
Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien in a BBC Radio interview broadcast on (Sunday, 15Jan06) called on Scotland to be ‘re-christianised’. He recalled the conversion of Scotland by St Ninian who landed at Whithorn in 397 AD but added that the country no longer lived up to Christian standards. “I feel I must take a stand when Christianity itself is questioned in this country. I would certainly respect the beliefs of people of other faiths and acknowledge their feats just as they do when we celebrate Christmas and such feasts. But I would also like them to realise that the are living in Scotland as a Christian country. Scotland was multi-cultural but the core faith in Scotland I would maintain is Christianity.”
The Head of the Scottish Episcopal Church, Rev Bruce Cameron, added: “As Christians, we are committed to the core task of Christian mission and sharing faith. Part of that is dialogue with other faiths.”
Asian reactions A Hindu temple spokesman reminded the Cardinal: “If you go to India, there are more Christians there than in Britain. They have total autonomy and freedom of worship. The suggestion that Scoland should be re-Christianised is quite offensive.” Osama Saeed, Scottish spokesman for the Muslim Association of GB thought the Cardinal’s remarks unsurprising: “When he talks about Christianising Scotland, he is going to the time when it was Christian and acknowledging that fact that that has been lost.” Inyat Bunglwala, member of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “O’Brien should be addressing his comments to Christians. Muslims are surprised that many Christians don’t take their faith seriously. O’Brien needs to look at his own flock and ask why they are not following Christianity, rather an get impatience with other faiths.” Mohamed Sarwar MP (Glasgow Central) told the Scotsman: “When he says that people should learn to live in a Christian way, I don’t know what that means. It’s very ambiguous. People should be allowed to practise religion the way they want to.”
5. The Western World must urgently be re-evangelized...it has reverted to paganism and hedonism. poeple outside Europe strain to move away from the Western moorings towards an inculturated local church but the Rome-based leadership is determined to retain its stranglehold. 6. The issues of growing world poverty need to be addressed. Jesus came to serve the poor. The marginalization of the poor nations from the new global economy (the giants are mostly the "Christian" countries) is the very opposite of Jesus' invitation to the poor. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's the Cardinal's reply sent on 28 January 03.
Dear Mr. D'Sa,
Thank you for your letter. It is true
that I have indicated on various occasions that Christianity has been
gravely diminished as a strong force in our society today.
However, this has never meant that
Christian people, i.e. the Churches, have not a task to do to evangelise
this country and, indeed the challenge is even greater in view of the
secularisation that has taken place.
A culture or society can alter for a
great number of reasons, which is not necessarily the fault of
individual Christians. Throughout history, the Church evangelises
within different cultures and within different societies and will
continue to do so, not least within our own country.
With kind wishes,
Yours sincerely,
+Cormac
Murphy-O'Connor
Archbishop of Westminster
Tel: (020) 7798 9033,
Fax: (020)
7798 9077 (END) |