Would not the “the institution of marriage, understood to be the conjugal union of a man and a woman based on their mutual consent” making it “the basis for survival of the nation” be central to our identity as Maltese? And what about “the life of the foetus shall be protected from the moment of conception”. Yet, these worthy declarations are not in the Maltese Constitution but Hungary’s, which, ironically, was approved only a few days after our divorce referendum.

Please, could rabid secularists hijacking the referendum result for their own political agenda note what the brand new Hungarian Constitution states: “The provisions of the fundamental law shall be interpreted in accordance with the fundamental law’s national avowal of faith”, which recognises the “role Christianity has played in preserving our nation.”

What a lesson in civilisation and culture from an EU country imbued in both! It must be noted that it also contains many articles protecting fundamental human rights, which shows, of course, that rational moral values inbuilt in a nation’s identity do go hand-in-hand with fundamental rights.

To my mind, all these and many more national values of the Hungarian Constitution should make our MPs stop to reflect on what the exercise entrusted to them by the electorate is all about.

A majority in Parliament called the referendum even before the Bill was debated in the fear divorce be not debated at all by the House. Now direction was given by the electorate to discuss seriously a law on divorce. The central issue remains in identifying a law that is best adaptable to our national values on marriage.

Even the most superficial analysis of the vote shows how split personal consciences were. The great majority of voters did make a difficult examination of conscience before voting and, for so many of us, the inward debate is still on, particularly on the issue of divorce without reasons.

As with the Hungarian Constitution, we cannot take the moral foundations of our national identity and culture for granted.

The more secular and diverse our society becomes the more we need to reaffirm what we are, why we are so and where we intend to go. The vast majority of us are in favour of marriage and of the rights of the foetus as from conception. These must be stated explicitly in our Constitution as the document that expresses our national unity.

Nor must we shy away from our Christian heritage and culture. Suffice it to refer to the bankruptcy of the British identity caused by their rubbing off any vestige of Christian culture through exasperated “political correctness”. Even Prime Minister David Cameron advocates the British to ask themselves what still makes them British in the face of the loss of national identity caused also by extreme policies of multiculturalism and secularism.

If the Nationalist and the Labour parties stood for anything in their long history, by definition, they stood for those acquired moral values that make of us a nation.

The Prime Minister is the politician primarily responsible for the national interest. He must ensure Parliament debates objectively the many concerns raised during the referendum, especially on the so-called “divorce without reasons” issue. Undoubtedly, so many voters have given credence to the Yes campaign believing a “conservative” divorce that excludes a divorce “without reasons” would now be on Parliament’s agenda. Why should we be one of the few free countries that went directly to a divorce without reason?

If so, then the mandate to the Prime Minister is to see we all follow to the letter the words of that great campaigner for human rights, Martin Luther King, who said: When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong you cannot be too conservative!

Divorce at best remains a necessary evil, so parliamentarians cannot be too radical in the constitutional protection of our marriages, of the unborn and of our national identity and cannot be too “conservative” on the future divorce law.

In the words of the Hungarian Constitution, the national identity of our future generations depends on all of this.