The fool says in his heart “There is no God”. Thus sang the psalmist hundreds of years before Christ.

The last century will be remembered for something quite unique in history – the institutionalisation of atheism by the State in many communist countries. For decades, in schools and in universities, young people were taught that belief in God was something to be discarded altogether, belonging as it was to a reactionary and despised past.

However, it is ironical that, since in man’s heart there is an insuppressible desire for the Divine, the authorities in those countries had to find something or somebody with which or with whom to replace this yearning for the Transcendent. Therefore, dictators like Stalin or Mao became the visible gods to be worshipped, thus replacing the other almighty, invisible One.

Those who today declare their unbelief or those who simply ignore faith in God often succumb to the temptation of replacing the Divine with something more tangible and acceptable. Myriad subjects replace the desire for God embedded deep in man’s heart since the latter’s appearance on earth. In our society, the environment, physical fitness, one’s own image, animal rights (all highly commendable) are often given almost supernatural status.

Nothing, however, surpasses the divinisation of so-called “civil rights and liberties”, through which many governments push forward an agenda which no Christian can agree with – divorce, abortion, same-sex unions or marriage, euthanasia, etc.

This ‘sole thought’ which people are expected to adhere to leads to ridiculous situations where those who deem themselves to be supremely tolerant deny others the right to disagree and inflict heavy punishment upon those who dare do so. Saying that marriage can only be between a man and a woman can incur hefty penalties especially in the northern countries of Europe. In the US under the Obama administration many Catholic hospitals and clinics faced enormous difficulties, even risking having to close down, because they refused to hand out contraceptives and carry out abortions and sterilisations since this went against their conscience.

History teaches us that human endeavours which are overtly based on unbelief in God and His eternal laws have disastrous consequences on society in general and even on those who carry them out. The French and Bolshevik revolutions testify to this.

On a purely private level, not knowing where one comes from, why one is here on earth and where one is going, remain sadly the hallmark of the unbeliever.

The believer, on the other hand, who struggles and suffers as everybody else, remains steadfast in the belief that God is there, ever loving and ever caring, never letting down those who put their trust in Him.