Stripping Britain of its Christian foundations would leave the country vulnerable to “the most sinister of ideologies”, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Shrewsbury has warned.
The Rt Rev Mark Davies used his Easter Homily to express anxiety at the consequences of undermining Britain’s religious heritage.
He cited the recent history of Europe to voice fears extremism would fill the void if Christianity was weakened.
“It has, indeed, been the experience of this past century, as both Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have observed how the most poisonous ideologies have arisen within the Christian nations of Europe,” he said.
“Thus Nazism or Communism attempted to discard the Christian inheritance of faith and morality as if it had never existed. They sought either to return to the pagan past or to “re-create” and “redeem” humanity by political will and ideology with terrible consequences. If Christianity is no longer to form the basis and the bedrock of our society then we are, indeed, left at the mercy of passing political projects and perhaps even the most sinister of ideologies.”
Bishop Davies became the latest influential religious leader to warn of the consequences of increasing secularisation.
“Today we are becoming increasingly aware that there are those in leading positions within our society who wish to see history somehow reversed, who wish the very light which Christianity brought to these islands would recede. This is often done under the plausible intention of “modernising” yet it is in reality an attempt to turn the clock back: as if the Gospel had never arrived in this land, never shaped its laws and culture and never formed the basis of our civilisation.”
In reality modernising was turning the clock back to before Christianity took hold.
Rounding on the modernisers the Bishop added: “They see progress only in terms of moving this nation away from its Christian inheritance, from the very roots of its laws, its culture, its life. “
He added: “They wish to discard the corner stone on which so much good in our society has been built.”
Without a proper religious foundation, he argues Britain would be vulnerable to any passing ideology.
Meanwhile the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who retires at the end of the year to become Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, used his Easter sermon to remind Christians of the truth of the resurrection.
Speaking at Canterbury Cathedral. he told followers the ultimate test of the Christian religion is not whether it is useful, beneficial or helpful to the human race but whether or not its central claim – the resurrection of Jesus Christ – actually happened.
"Easter makes a claim not just about a potentially illuminating set of human activities but about an event in history and its relation to the action of God," he said.
"Very simply, in the words of this morning's reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we are told that 'God raised Jesus to life'."
Any understanding of the significance of the resurrection which fell short of this truth would be to misunderstand it.
“Today we are becoming increasingly aware that there are those in leading positions within our society who wish to see history somehow reversed, who wish the very light which Christianity brought to these islands would recede. This is often done under the plausible intention of “modernising” yet it is in reality an attempt to turn the clock back: as if the Gospel had never arrived in this land, never shaped its laws and culture and never formed the basis of our civilisation.”
In reality modernising was turning the clock back to before Christianity took hold.
Rounding on the modernisers the Bishop added: “They see progress only in terms of moving this nation away from its Christian inheritance, from the very roots of its laws, its culture, its life. “
He added: “They wish to discard the corner stone on which so much good in our society has been built.”
Without a proper religious foundation, he argues Britain would be vulnerable to any passing ideology.
Meanwhile the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who retires at the end of the year to become Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, used his Easter sermon to remind Christians of the truth of the resurrection.
Speaking at Canterbury Cathedral. he told followers the ultimate test of the Christian religion is not whether it is useful, beneficial or helpful to the human race but whether or not its central claim – the resurrection of Jesus Christ – actually happened.
"Easter makes a claim not just about a potentially illuminating set of human activities but about an event in history and its relation to the action of God," he said.
"Very simply, in the words of this morning's reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we are told that 'God raised Jesus to life'."
Any understanding of the significance of the resurrection which fell short of this truth would be to misunderstand it.