The BHA’s chief executive has responded to alarmist claims made by the leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland, calling them ‘divisive and sectarian’.
Cardinal O’Brien used his Easter sermon to ‘warn’ Christians that they faced a threat of persecution, citing cases which have been widely discredited including by Christian groups, and which have already been rejected by the courts for their failure to demonstrate any discrimination against Christians. Misrepresenting any call for a secular state as ‘aggressive’, the Cardinal urged Christians to be united in their ‘awareness of the enemies of the Christian faith’.
Andrew Copson, chief executive of the BHA, commented, ‘Ill informed attacks on “aggressive” or “militant” secularists are rapidly becoming an Easter and Christmas perennial from archbishops and cardinals. What these attacks ignore is that campaigners for secularism in our public life are overwhelmingly motivated, not by anti-religious prejudice, but by a positive desire for equality and an equitable public sphere. These alarmist speeches, designed to stir up the faithful and foster a false narrative of persecution, are divisive and sectarian. They obscure the reality of the situation, which is that the churches are seeking to defend a level of influence and privilege totally out of proportion to their significance.’
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For further comment or information, contact Andrew Copson at andrew@humanists.uk or 020 3675 0959.
Read the Guardian article on Cardinal O’Brien’s speech.
The British Humanist Association (BHA) is the national charity representing and supporting the non-religious and campaigning for an end to religious privilege and discrimination based on religion or belief. It exists to support and represent people who seek to live good and responsible lives without religious or superstitious beliefs.