News

Thursday August 19, 2010


Anglican Catholic Primate: ‘Christianity is now the most persecuted of all the world’s religions’

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

AUSTRALIA, August 19, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Archbishop John Hepworth, Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia, celebrated the opening Mass of the Holy Spirit at the Synod of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia at the end of July.

In his homily, the archbishop said that “Christianity is now the most persecuted of all the world’s religions. In almost one third of the world’s nations it is in some way illegal to be Christian.”

Archbishop Hepworth noted that secular humanism has coalesced the enemies of the Christian morality on which Western nations were founded. These have come out in opposition to principles such as the dignity of human life from conception to natural death, and the value of the natural family as the fundamental unit of civilized society.

“The power of secular humanism, in denial that anything exists beyond this life, and in its thirst for material possessions, has made a strange alliance with the enemies of Christianity,” the archbishop explained.

“The Islamic fundamentalist and the militant feminist share a conviction that the principled order that once ruled societies such as ours should be overthrown. One of the most plausible ways of understanding our world is to view it as a world of fading ideals ridiculed by all those who would see them gone, and a world in which allies against Jesus Christ have not yet seriously begun the battle between themselves for supremacy.”

Pointing out that nations that have legalized abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality and same-sex “marriage” are now legislating that opposition to these practices is criminal, Archbishop Hepworth said, “The battle for ideas is seen most stridently in the battle for life itself. There are still struggles to be had over legislation on abortion, but already lawmakers have turned their attention to rendering illegal public opposition to abortion.”

Furthermore, “Countries that have legalized abortion very quickly move to legalize the creation of laboratory embryos for experiments that will lead to pharmaceutical manufacturing. This is a rush back to the days of a eugenicism that the world has only just left.”

“Euthanasia, especially of the elderly, where it has been introduced on the understanding that it will be rare and voluntary, quickly shows its dark side as the vulnerable are killed without their knowledge and consent,” the archbishop warned.

“In places such as the Netherlands, documentation showing the regular culling of nursing homes fails to raise political interest.”

Moreover, “Where same-sex marriage has been legalized lawmakers quickly move to punish those who proclaim Christian truth about marriage and family.”

“One Scandinavian country goes so far as to entrench the ban on preaching against homosexual acts in its constitutional law. In the US, a professor teaching ‘Catholic Studies’ at the University of Illinois, was recently sacked for outlining Catholic teaching on homosexuality. The mere description of Catholic moral teaching was enough to see this professor deemed guilty of ‘hate speech’.”

“And so the persecution of the ideas that have shaped our society continues largely unnoticed and unremarked,” Archbishop Hepworth concluded, adding that “the global adoption of free trade and of economic rationalism has transformed human relationships into a brutal competitiveness. We no longer live in a friendly world.”


See related LSN articles:

U. of Illinois Fires Catholic Prof for Explaining Church Teaching on Homosexuality

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jul/10071205.html

Exclusive Interview: Primate of Traditional Anglican Communion on Life and Family – Part One

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/mar/10030811.html

Head of Traditional Anglican Group: No Communion to Pro-Abort Politicians

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/mar/10030902.html

Anglican Catholic Primate: “To defend the unborn is part of the backbone of the Traditional Anglican Communion”

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jul/09071303.html

| Send Letter to Editor

0 Comments

    Loading...