In the UK we’re prone to ramble on about “freedom” but I suspect that this only applies to some of us.  What you actually have is freedom to agree with the politically correct establishment.  In recent years the church catholic in this country has been the recipient of this establishments latest onslaught.  Our biblical orthodoxy stretching back over 2000 years to the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ is considered dated, without context, even oppressive and in extreme cases evil.  As our own church reserves judgement and maintains silence over the issue of homosexuality within the clergy until the report of the special commission to the General assembly in 2011 the world continues to debate these issues without our input.  I suppose this somewhat removes the issues from the fore of your daily living but I do have to commend Pope Benedict XVI for his criticism of this nations stance.  At a time when people are afraid to be vocal about topics they believe to be true perhaps the church should be taking a lead.  There are those who state that the church should have no involvement in politics but if politicians believe that then perhaps the state should extend the same courtesy to the church.  Expressing his recognition of this nations commitment to equality the Pontiff said “the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs. In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed.”  I say to this “well said”.  Our religious freedom is much more critical than our civil liberties and temporal freedom.  St Paul tells us “we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  The beliefs that dictate our morality, our lifestyle, our attitudes and where our hopes lie in this world and the next far outweigh the deliberations of any politician or humanist.  So I take on board entirely what Pope Benedict has said and demand “where is our freedom?”

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