Scratch a Tory, and you'll find a theocrat

'Christianity under attack'. So says the Daily Mail in their main headline today, before going on, in their typically restrained fashion, to claim that, amongst other things, the Coronation Oath would soon be outlawed. And what satanic forces are at large, one might ask? A judge ruling in favour of an atheist former town councillor in Devon, and stating that it is unlawful under a forty year old Act of Parliament for prayers to be included as part of official council business. Not that prayers couldn't be said, or that anyone shouldn't have freedom of religion, just that there shouldn't be a right for one group to be able to ram their beliefs down everyone else's throats in an officially constituted forum and expect to have that right unconditionally upheld. The Daily Mail is a sick joke, anyway, as far as I'm concerned, but it's not difficult to imagine the sort of headlines the rag would carry if a council in an area of the UK with a strong Muslim presence, say East London, voted to include Islamic prayers as a part of official council business.
Needless to say, all sorts of right-wing talking heads have emerged from under their stones to scream about how the UK is a 'Christian nation', how tradition and national heritage are being undermined, how disgusting it all is, and how the country is going to the dogs, but what concerns me more is some of the anti-democratic sentiments that have been expressed. If the atheist councillor didn't like the prayers, he should have stayed away was one quote from a former Tory MP - so, if you don't believe in the Christian God, you deserve to be disenfranchised, then? - while others are urging the government to right roughshod over the legal judgment by simply changing the law (and the government seem, worryingly, to be considering doing just that). Many other comments have been very reminiscent of the Cranston case in the US (although I haven't heard of any death threats yet), about the 'minority' dictating to the 'majority', disingenuously missing the point, as ever - human rights, if they are to be respected at all, should be extended to all equally, and that includes the freedom from religion being a concept equally as valid as freedom of religion, in my opinion. As I've said more than once, I'm quite happy for anyone to believe, privately, whatever they like, as long as they extend the same courtesy and don't try to force their beliefs on me or anyone else.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B