![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/christianity-eradicated.png\" "\\"christianity-eradicated\\"")
<\/a>Source: London Telegraph<\/a><\/p>\nIt\u2019s official: Britain is no longer a Christian nation. In banning Eunice and Owen Johns, a devout Christian couple, from fostering children, Lord Justice Munby and Mr Justice Beatson declared that we live in a secular state, and that the Johns\u2019 religious convictions disqualified them from raising citizens of that state. We\u2019ve outgrown Christianity, the judges professed. Instead, we have graduated to the status of a multicultural nation, blessed by a plurality of faiths.<\/p>\n
Ironically, the justices who have pronounced that Britain is no longer Christian did so in a court where witnesses swear on the Bible and invoke God\u2019s help in telling the truth. I do not imagine that these judges leave out the first word in \u201cGod Save the Queen\u201d \u2013 nor would they shun an invitation to the Royal wedding, which is happening not at a registry office but the centrepiece of official Christendom, Westminster Abbey.<\/p>\n
In taking part in these traditions, the judges \u2013 and the rest of us \u2013 are no different from past generations. For Christianity is not merely a part of life here, a provider of schools, hospitals and orphanages. It is the backbone of our laws, the impetus for the charity, justice and tolerance that have long been characteristic of this country. Its grand principles have inspired citizens to extraordinary actions, such as William Wilberforce\u2019s campaign against slavery, and to ordinary kindnesses, such as reading to hospital patients or delivering meals on wheels. When David Cameron speaks of our moral duty to our Arab brothers, or shares his vision for the Big Society, he taps not into narrow party allegiance, but into our common Christian heritage.<\/p>\n
The Christians of an earlier era may not have known about multiculturalism, or predicted that it would be the signature tune of our times. Yet their faith gave them a moral imperative that demanded respect for others: \u201cDo unto others as you would have them do unto you.\u201d Without this moral underpinning, multiculturalism sags into a factionalism of competing demands and conflicting interests. Instead, the Gospel\u2019s commandment inspires the Christian majority to accommodate Jewish, Muslim, atheist and Hindu minorities, without losing sight of the basic principle of mutual respect.<\/p>\n