Time To Put The UK Out Of Its Misery


February 2 2009



Historian Arnold Toynbee once said "Civilizations die from suicide, not
murder". I don't think there is much debate about that. There might be some
debate however as to which nation today best exemplifies this. A number of
countries are clearly in the process of self-destruction. But a good case
can be made for nominating the UK as the most obvious example of collective
hari-kari.



Consider two recent episodes of national madness coming from the UK. They
both illustrate a nation which is in big trouble, and provide good examples
of when a nation abandons God and common sense, it quickly and inevitably
heads down the gurgler.



The first concerns a nurse who has just been suspended for engaging in a
horrific act. No, she did not murder 42 of her own patients. No, she did not
bilk millions from a hospital. No, what she did was obviously far, far
worse: she actually had the audacity to ask an elderly patient if she could
pray for her. Yes you heard me right - despicable isn't it?



One media account describes things this way: "Caroline Petrie, a committed
Christian, has been accused by her employers of failing to demonstrate a
'personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity'.  She faces
disciplinary action and could lose her job over the incident. Mrs Petrie, a
married mother of two, says she has been left shocked and upset by the
action taken against her. She insists she has never forced her own religious
beliefs on anyone but politely inquired if the elderly patient wanted her to
pray for her - either in the woman's presence or after the nurse had left
the patient's home. 'I simply couldn't believe that I have been suspended
over this. I knew I hadn't done anything wrong. All I am trying to do is
help my patients, many of whom want me to pray for them,' she said. Mrs
Petrie, 45, is a community nurse employed by North Somerset Primary Care
Trust to carry out home visits to sick and elderly patients."



Evidently the elderly woman did not wish to be prayed for, and the nurse let
it go at that. But later the patient complained about the invitation to
prayer. The nurse said, "My concern is for the person as a whole, not just
their health".



Actually, she might have phrased that a bit better. Prayer for health seems
to be part of the healing process. But even if prayer has no connection to
health and wellbeing, it is not exactly a horrific request. To ask someone
to pray for them usually means asking God's blessing and favour on them. She
wasn't asking the patient if she could lop off her head or violate her
grandchildren.



And when the patient declined, that was the end of the matter. Yet in
tolerant, progressive and God-free England, it seems offering to pray for
someone is now considered to be a hate crime, with stiff penalties being
handed out. I suppose soon enough all believers will be rounded up and
interred in re-education camps, until they learn the error of their ways,
and renounce their dangerous and harmful faith.



The UK has become adept at turning vices into virtues, and virtues into
vices. It is legalising all sorts of activities and behaviours that until
recently were considered taboo. And it is increasingly criminalising those
beliefs and practices that until recently were considered to be the hallmark
of civilised and caring societies.



But lest the reader remain unconvinced that the UK takes the cake in the
let's-commit-collective-suicide
stakes, let me offer one more example, just as recent and just as grotesque
as the other. A big cheese government green advisor has said that in order
to fight global warming, we have to abort more babies.



No, you did not misread me. The Sunday Times covered the story this way:
"Couples who have more than two children are being 'irresponsible' by
creating an unbearable burden on the environment, the government's green
adviser has warned. Jonathon Porritt, who chairs the government's
Sustainable Development Commission, says curbing population growth through
contraception and abortion must be at the heart of policies to fight global
warming. He says political leaders and green campaigners should stop dodging
the issue of environmental harm caused by an expanding population."



The story continues, "A report by the commission, to be published next
month, will say that governments must reduce population growth through
better family planning. 'I am unapologetic about asking people to connect up
their own responsibility for their total environmental footprint and how
they decide to procreate and how many children they think are appropriate,'
Porritt said. 'I think we will work our way towards a position that says
that having more than two children is irresponsible. It is the ghost at the
table. We have all these big issues that everybody is looking at and then
you don't really hear anyone say the "p" word'."



Porritt, who of interest has two children, says he will pressure
environmental pressure groups to make population issues their main focus:
"Many organisations think it is not part of their business. My mission with
the Friends of the Earth and the Greenpeaces of this world is to say: 'You
are betraying the interests of your members by refusing to address
population issues and you are doing it for the wrong reasons because you
think it is too controversial." The article continues, "Porritt, a former
chairman of the Green party, says the government must improve family
planning, even if it means shifting money from curing illness to increasing
contraception and abortion."



So there you have it: kill a baby and save the planet. If the UK is becoming
a third-world nation in its morality, it might as well become one in terms
of government policy. China of course already has in place its notorious
one-child policy. Today the coercive utopians in the UK are demanding two
children. But tomorrow it may well be one - or even less.



This is yet the umpteenth example of bureaucrats and social engineers
proposing the most inhumane of practices, all in the name of humanity.
Indeed, whenever you hear someone carping on about 'humanity' it is best to
stand up and take notice.



The Marxists of course were experts in championing 'humanity,' all the while
knocking off millions of mere humans. Those who most despise human beings
are often the ones who go on the most about the need to save 'humanity'.



These two cases are simply the latest examples of a nation which has lost
its way big time. The elites and bureaucrats running the UK are hell-bent on
dragging the nation down to the level of, say, North Korea. And they seem to
be doing a pretty good job of it.



The late Russian dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn once said that the reason
for our troubles is our abandonment of our creator: "It is because we have
forgotten God. That is why all this is happening to us." He seems to have
been on to something there. As the UK in particular and the West in general
continue their march to secularism, they also seem to be heading into
terminal decline and decay.



Sure, there are numerous factors which lead to the destruction of nations.
But the erosion of faith and the exclusion of belief in the public arena
certainly play leading roles. And Toynbee was not the only historian to
point out these connections. Will Durant said similar things: "There is no
significant example in history, before our time, of a society successfully
maintaining moral life without the aid of religion."



As the West continues along the path of losing its collective marbles, those
who seek to wave a red flag of warning will appear to be subversive and/or
deranged. As C.S. Lewis once said, "When the whole world is running towards
a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost
his mind." But such voices must continue.



The UK is at the cliff's edge. A few warning voices are trying to be heard.
But the warnings seem to be falling mainly on deaf ears. Yet the warnings
must be made. Whether they can keep the UK from going over the edge is a
moot point. But the moral responsibility of being a watchman remains.



http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/muehlenberg/2009/02/time-to-put-the-uk-out-of-its-misery







Warmest Regards



Bon z0



"It is a remarkable fact that despite the worldwide expenditure of perhaps
US$50 billion since 1990, and the efforts of tens of thousands of scientists
worldwide, no human climate signal has yet been detected that is distinct
from natural variation."

Bob Carter, Research Professor of Geology, James Cook University, Townsville
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Antworten

Nathan Bedford Forrest (09.11.2009 00:26)