England and Ireland are among some of the oldest lands in the ancient Christian world, and both have undergone considerable persecution at various points in history, be it from without or from within. Now according to a recent article, the few Christians left in the British Isles are finding themselves the subject of a growing persecution at the hands of their own governments, who see Christians and Christians as something ‘no longer acceptable’ in society:
For a long time, Irish and British Catholics who might be described as orthodox or “conservative,” have been running into difficulties for their beliefs, both inside and outside the Church.
What may be hinted at, here, but is not immediately apparent from the text, is that the latest wave of persecution is, by no means, confined to the orthodox and outspoken.
For some time now, Catholics who publicly voiced concerns about any localized ambiguity in Church teaching— over, for example, the Divinity of Jesus or the sinfulness of contraception and homosexual acts—have been derided both by the media and within certain quarters of the Church.
The carefully crafted media image of the “ideal Catholic” — from an aggressive secularist point of view — therefore, was exemplified by the former Catholic Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in 2009, when fielding a challenge about plans to legalize same-sex civil unions, from then Drogheda-based priest Father John Hogan.
Minister Dermot Ahern said, that he didn’t “bring whatever religion he has to the table,” when he legislated, particularly as a Government minister.
This sort of position used to be applauded by what Bishop William Crean of Cloyne, has referred to as Ireland’s “political and media establishments.”
Fast forward eight years, and the very philosophy of “tolerance” once lauded by the establishment in 2009 and earlier, is no longer tolerated in 2017.
It would be very unfair to Tim Farron, to suggest that, in common with the Irish former minister, he didn’t “bring whatever religion he has to the table” (in fact, Farron has a record of either abstaining or voting with anti-abortion groups in Parliament).
But, by making it clear in his resignation speech that he was “a liberal to (his) fingertips” who did not consider himself to be one of those “Christians in politics who take the view that they should impose the tenets of their faith on society,” the Evangelical Christian was certainly promoting a position which, just a short time ago, would have been far more acceptable to the media establishment than it clearly is today.
Indeed, in April of this year, an apparently exasperated Farron, defending himself in Parliament, claimed that he was “very proud” to have voted in favor of the U.K.’s Gay Marriage Bill in 2013, adding that the then government “did not go as far as it should have done in terms of recognizing transgender rights.”
But it is not only British politicians who appear bewildered by the new turn of events. In Ireland, priests and religious not known for their conservative views have expressed shock, not only at the extent but also at the focus of much of the recent anti-Catholic sentiment.
Sister Stanislaus Kennedy a well-known popular figure with the Irish media had, for example, very publicly expressed her support for a ‘Yes’ vote in the gay marriage or so-called “equality” referendum in 2015. She is also in favor of contraception. But Sister Stanislaus is also a member of the Religious Sisters of Charity, an order which until recently owned and controlled three major hospitals in Ireland.
Following a relentless media campaign against plans to allow the sisters to own the planned new National Maternity Hospital, which was to be built on their grounds, the order, in spite of having the effective support of some abortion advocates, decided to end their involvement in the management of all three of their Dublin hospitals and announced their intention to hand over control and ownership to a new group that would formally comply with Irish laws rather than Catholic medical ethics.
Later, a surprised and hurt sounding Sister Stanislaus, told the national broadcaster RTÉ that “it was unfair to the Sisters of Charity, a lot of things that were said” and “it’s not nice to hear your order criticized wrongly, really, accused wrongly. It’s not nice.”
Significantly, she added, “it was very much media lead all that stuff … absolutely.”
The recognition of the media agenda against the Church by someone who would be seen as a “liberal/progressive” voice in the Church is marking an unusual point of unity between “liberals” and “conservatives”, in Ireland.
A similar trend can be seen in religious education in Ireland.
While conservative Catholics have long had much to complain about in terms of the poor standards of religious formation in Catholic schools, there is now a strong media campaign against laws decried as ‘discriminatory’ which, in reality, help protect the ethos of such schools, even where much of the damage to this ethos has already been done and has been self-inflicted — a Catholic school for girls in Dublin, for example, recently, decided to remove the cross from its insignia lest it would cause offence.
This campaign is in parallel with moves to divest Catholic schools and transfer ownership to groups with a secular ideology.
The message is clear, in Ireland and in Britain, alike, the persecution of the Christian faith has just been ratcheted up a notch. Christianity, no matter what form it takes, has now become unacceptable to the political and media establishments.
Does this represent a scorched earth policy by the forces of secularism to pre-empt even the possibility of the return of an overwhelmingly faith-filled “Catholic Ireland” or “Dowry of Mary,” for example? It would certainly seem so.
In any case, after several years of seeing people of faith not bringing their religious beliefs to the table of public policy, and being put to the top of the class for their tolerance, it now appears that not just the publicly expressed beliefs of Christians but Christians themselves, “domesticated” or otherwise, are no longer welcome at that table either. (source)
Back in 2010, accusations of sexual abuse and misconduct in Ireland exploded into a full scale crisis detailing what began in the USA scarcely a decade earlier. Certainly many of these crimes were real and needed to be reported on. That said, know that the reason why such a deal was made about the sexual abuse crisis in Ireland was not because they actually care about the Church. Just like the National Socialists, these people are using real facts as a means to leverage support for anti-Christian persecution, beginning with the Church and spreading to the entire society.
This situation in England and Ireland has been building for a long time, and those who are actively pursuing a renewed persecution of the Church will use any means possible to achieve their own ends, which is ultimately the destruction of Christianity.
Likewise, if you have good information about a priest, bishop, or member of the clergy who is involved in homosexual activity, who is abusing children, or is using his power to advance the agenda of Sodom and Gomorrah, please contact us so that we can expose the evil agents who have infiltrated the Church and draw them out as a doctor draws poison from a wound.
CHRISTIANS ARE BEING TORTURED AND MURDERED AS WE SPEAK. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO GIVE A DONATION THAT WILL HELP OUR RESCUE TEAM
OUR TIME ONLINE RUNS SHORT. SHOEBAT.COM FACES DAILY HARASSMENT BY FACEBOOK AND EACH TIME IT IS A DIFFERENT EXCUSE. IT IS BEST TO REACH US BY EITHER GOING DIRECTLY TO SHOEBAT.COM OR THROUGH OUR NEWSLETTER. CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER, AND CONTINUE EDUCATING YOURSELF ON WHAT THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA WON’T REPORT
<