Brothers+ An op-ed writer for the Telegraph, u.k. wrote the following lines: “Secular fundamentalism is as much of an internal threat to our civilisation today as the external one of religious fundamentalism. Our leaders are tempted to abandon the distinctively Christian claims on our historical imagination.” The article titled “The threat of secular fundamentalism” may be read at this website: http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2003/04/16/do1602.xml The commentator rambles through the first half of the article but gets to the main point in the last half and makes a case of interest not only to the British, but also to Americans and the inhabitants of the emerging European Union. The following are snippets from the longish article. Charles+ -------------------------------- The monolithic welfare state, he (Letwin) says, must make way for the civic "little platoons" of Edmund Burke's imagination, and that means restoring pride in the overarching idea that gives this diversity a common identity and purpose: the nation state. Our national symbols, which have evolved over many centuries, are inseparable from Christianity. "It used to be said `there ain't no black in the Union Jack'," Letwin observes. "Well, there ain't no Crescent neither. Nor, for that matter, no Star of David nor any other religious symbol, but the Cross." What I take to be Letwin's main point is to defend the established Church of England against the intolerance of "state secularism". It may seem paradoxical that a Jewish atheist should defend faith schools and the right of Anglican bishops to sit in the House of Lords, or that the strict separation of Church and State does not seem preferable to a man born and bred in America. Yet Letwin is a true British Conservative: he values our constitution, Christian through and through, because it has preserved our liberties for centuries. Not only the liberties of Christians, either: Jews, Muslims and others, too, prefer the status quo. The combination of state secularism and European notions of human rights could destroy the basis of religious pluralism. ____________________________________________________________ Get advanced SPAM filtering on Webmail or POP Mail ... Get Lycos Mail! http://login.mail.lycos.com/r/referral?aid=27005