In Britain,
Sayeeda Warsi, Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party and the first Muslim to serve as a full member of the British Cabinet is leading a ministerial delegation from the United Kingdom to the Vatican to mark the 30th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher's restoration of Britain's full diplomatic relations with the Holy See. Writing in today's
London Telegraph, Warsi argues for a stronger role for Christianity and religion more generally in Britain and elsewhere in Europe. She says in part:
[T]his trip is about more than a Valentine’s Day “love in” with our Catholic neighbours. This is about recognising the deep and intrinsic role of faith here in Britain and overseas. For a number of years I have been saying that we need to have a better understanding of faith in our country.....
I will be arguing that to create a more just society, people need to feel stronger in their religious identities and more confident in their creeds. In practice this means individuals not diluting their faiths and nations not denying their religious heritages....
I will be arguing for Europe to become more confident and more comfortable in its Christianity. The point is this: the societies we live in, the cultures we have created, the values we hold and the things we fight for all stem from centuries of discussion, dissent and belief in Christianity....
My fear today is that a militant secularisation is taking hold of our societies. We see it in any number of things: when signs of religion cannot be displayed or worn in government buildings; when states won’t fund faith schools; and where religion is sidelined, marginalised and downgraded in the public sphere.
It seems astonishing to me that those who wrote the European Constitution made no mention of God or Christianity.
