‘Short-sighted’ government distorts what religion does in society: English, Welsh Bishops
By Simon Caldwell
Catholic News Service
LONDON – The Bishops of England and Wales have criticised the British government’s growth policies, saying that it was undermining the ability of people to live upstanding lives.
In a 10-page document published on 3 March called, “Choosing the Common Good,” the Bishops said local communities would prosper if the public recovered the cardinal virtues of prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude.
They also criticised legislation that limited the rights of Christians to contribute to the common good.
“Have we allowed ourselves to be seduced by the myth that social problems are for the government to deal with?” the Bishops asked in the document, which was published to offer advice to voters ahead of the 2010 general election, which must be held by June. “No government can solve every problem, nor make us more generous or responsive to need,” the document said. “The growth of regulations, targets and league tables, which are tools designed to make public services accountable, are no substitute for actions done as a free gift because the needs of a neighbor have to be met.”
At a 3 March press conference launching the document, Archbishop Peter Smith of Cardiff, Wales, said the government appeared “obsessed” with targets and new laws. Such a trend, he said, had led to a “tick-box mentality” and a “tendency in recent years to think that the government has to do everything.”
“That means that people think, ‘I don’t have to bother,’” he said.
The left-leaning Labor government, elected in 1997, has passed about 370 pieces of legislation and created 3,500 new crimes in just 13 years.
However, its diversity and equality agenda has drawn criticism from Catholic leaders – including Pope Benedict XVI – who contend it has encroached on the rights of Christians to act in accordance with their beliefs. An example often cited is the decision that forced the Church to either close or relinquish control of adoption agencies which could not accept same-sex couples as adopters or foster parents. The House of Lords has also just voted to allow Churches to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples. The proposal, introduced as an amendment to the Equality Bill, would not require religious institutions to perform weddings for homosexual couples, but would eliminate one of the last remaining distinctions between domestic partnership and marriage.
The amendment was approved by an overwhelming vote of 95-21. Although the measure was not formally endorsed by the government, observers expect that the House of Commons will not seek major changes in the Equality Bill.
In comments directed to lawmakers, the Bishops’ document said: “Care must be taken not to put obstacles in the way of religious belief and practice which reduce it to devotional acts.
“The right to religious faith means the right to live by faith, within the reasonableness of the common good, and act by faith in the public forum. Partnerships between government and faith communities should be mutually respectful and permit these communities to act with integrity in the provision of public services for the common good.”
The document said faith communities also have a role in forming public policy and “to make a proper contribution to the life of our democracy.”
Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, told reporters at the press conference that the Bishops wanted to address the “short-sightedness” among some members of the government who were “distorting what religious faith actually does.”
“Tolerance is Christian virtue and then this is turned on its head because we are being accused of intolerance,” he said.
The message Christians hear is that society “will tolerate everybody except you.”
The document is divided into sections on the cultivation of human virtues, the common good, and the restoration of trust in authorities. It offers advice on the issues of abortion and euthanasia, poverty and the care of the elderly, immigration and community relations, the global community, ecology and marriage and family life.