Maybe it’s because the MLP is in the throes of proving that nothing much really changes, but religion has become the topic du jour in a couple of ways of late.
Most recently, the Archbishop made a robust statement about how Christians were duty-bound to oppose divorce. This provoked a maelstrom of comments, with the predictable lines being drawn in the sand. On one side, the sanctity of marriage, the need for strong families, mom and apple pie made the usual appearance, while on the other side, the trend was on the lines of “how dare the Church try to interfere in the way the country is run?”
Of course, I’m over-simplifying more than slightly, but that was pretty much the message.
On this one, I am firmly on the side of His Grace, which might, given my blog a couple of episodes ago in favour of divorce, have caused you to splutter and choke in whatever beverage you imbibe while reading this. Diet Dr Pepper (a.k.a. Dr Pepper Zero) is amongst us, incidentally, though I haven’t actually tried it out yet – at least there’s an alternative to Coke Zero for Dr KMB and Joe Muscat to slurp.
OK, now that you’ve recovered from your choking fit, let me explain why I am on the Archbishop’s side.
The role of a religious leader is to educate and to lead, not necessarily in that order, but the function is carried out by doing both together. We live in a tolerant and free society, in which religions are allowed to flourish, whether they are mainstream or peripheral, Christian or Jedi Knight, and if you allow religions to exist, you allow them to teach and preach. There are times when I think that the outward manifestation of religious fervour should be banned, but as long as mutual tolerance and understanding are given breathing space, allowing us all to live together, I don’t think we need to be so fundamentalist about banning religious noisiness.
The logical conclusion, therefore, is that the Archbishop, and forgive me for sounding patronising of a gentleman who has struck me as being eminently down to earth in his dealings with the secular world, has every right to put forward the position of his Church with as much strength as he can muster. This is not to say that he has the right to mount a Jihad as the country moves towards accepting divorce as one of the means of regulating the civil contract of marriage, as I believe it is high time that it should – today before tomorrow, to resort to barbarisms.
But I somehow don’t think that the Curia is stupid enough to buck the trend: it’s not as if divorce will become mandatory. Good Catholics will not be forced to divorce, they will just have the right to, if their conscience, which is theirs and theirs alone at the end of the day, for all that they are guided by their leaders, allows them.
Moving on, with another apparent inconsistency, I propose, in the full knowledge that this will raise howls of derision and that no political party will touch it with a barge-pole (except perhaps Emy Bezzina’s bonkers band) that references to religion in the Constitution be eradicated. It is time, in my opinion, for Malta to become a secular state once and for all.
I am not generally so strong on this sort of thing, recognising that the country’s traditions are such that Catholicism probably still deserves its privileged place, but a particularly inane letter on Friday 8th August said, amongst other things, that illegal immigration has to be controlled because in a couple of generations, we will experience a decline in the Catholic population and a rise in the Muslim one.
The philosopher concerned then put forward the thought that pressure will mount on Parliament to remove Catholicism as the sole official religion of this country, ban the celebration of Christmas and maybe even the consumption of beer and spirits.
Just where does anyone get off making such stupid remarks? Admittedly, this was part of a letter that condemned irresponsible columnists (I thank you) for agitating for the prosecution of the hero of the revoltingly rabid racists (I thank you again) but really – if using exclamation marks wasn’t so naff, I’d employ three.
If having an official religion gives rise to idiocy such as that, then we’d better not have an official religion at all, because its very existence is raising the consequential idiocy quotient to dangerously high levels. In an effort to stave off the howls and bellows of the xenophobes, let me point out that I am just as opposed to having Islam replace Christianity (like there was ever any chance of that) But if the references to Catholicism being the country’s official religion lead to people wrapping themselves in its standard in order to be able comfortably to demonstrate singularly un-Catholic feelings towards their fellow man, then please, let’s avoid having Catholicism polluted by association with these disgusting people.
If you have even a shred of tolerance, and are concerned at the way this country is going in its acceptance of its responsibilities as part of the civilised world, have a read of the letter to which I’m referring,
and also have a look at the sheer volume of overtly racist comments that follow any article which touches on illegal immigration and refugees. Known men of the Left, incongruously, were foremost in smugly trumpeting that the 120 souls at risk were not our problem and we shouldn’t even think about rescuing them, because they were in Libyan waters. True, this is the state of the law, as Maj. Consiglio quite properly pointed out when describing the AFM’s position, but the true tenor of many of the comments was not of respect for the law.
Quite the contrary, it was of gleeful exultation at the fact that a Philistinian interpretation of our international obligations would have allowed us to wash our hands of these human beings, if push had come to shove and the Italians not taken responsibility for their rescue. Many of the comments had echoes of Chev. Maurice Mizzi’s noble sentiment, expressed in Balzan’s bi-weekly rant sheet, that the AFM should make it known that henceforth it will tie up its boats and let the migrants drown.
Oh well, as long as we have an official religion, that’s all right then.