Yesterday, the Holy Father, speaking to the British Parliment, said:
"There are those who would advocate that the voice of religion be silenced, or at least relegated to the purely private sphere."
who would advocate such a thing? Well, on Thursday, addressing the Holy Father, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II said:
"Your Holiness, in recent times you have said that "religions can never become vehicles of hatred, that never by invoking the name of God can evil and violence be justified". Today, in this country, we stand united in that conviction. We hold that freedom to worship is at the core of our tolerant and democratic society."
Did the Queen know that she was saying that the United Kingdom holds the same attitude towards faith as that of the Soviet era Communist constitution? Freedom of worship is not freedom of religion, it relegates faith to the private sphere, removing it from public life. Only evil can be tolerated, not good. To her credit, I will assume she read a prepared speach without realizing the import of the words. I have no doubt that His Holiness Benedict XVI understood them for what they are.
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England has held this "freedom of worship" stance ever since the days of the first Queen Elizabeth, who (according to at least one favorable biographer) did not care how you worshiped in private, provided your public worship conformed to the Church of England. It may not be a capital offense any longer to be a priest in the U.K., or criminal for Catholics to worship publicly as Catholics, but this "freedom of worship" business still amounts to asking Catholics to betray their Faith.
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