{"id":6588,"date":"2013-11-13T00:38:13","date_gmt":"2013-11-13T00:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?p=6588"},"modified":"2014-01-14T06:37:59","modified_gmt":"2014-01-14T06:37:59","slug":"nss-seeks-block-christian-coronation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/nss-seeks-block-christian-coronation\/","title":{"rendered":"NSS Seeks to Block Christian Coronation"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Robin Phillips<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Prince_Charles_2012\"<\/a>
If the NSS get their way, Prince Charles will be blocked from having a Christian Coronation service<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The National Secular Society<\/strong><\/a> (NSS) has announced a campaign to try to block Prince Charles from having a Christian coronation.<\/p>\n

The group of radical secularists will be working with the Leigh Day<\/strong><\/a> law firm to mount a challenge to the coronation oath, which declares that “the whole world is subject to the Power and Empire of Christ our Redeemer…”<\/p>\n

They will also be seeking to remove the monarch\u2019s historic position as head of the Church of England<\/p>\n

The coronation service, which goes back at least to the time of King Egbert<\/strong><\/a> in the ninth-century, allegedly violates human rights, the NSS claims.<\/p>\n

Their case rests on article 9<\/strong><\/a> of the European Convention on Human Rights, which grants citizens the freedom of religion, and article 14<\/strong><\/a> which prohibits religious discrimination.<\/p>\n

Up until now, the Secular Society has shown extreme ambivalence towards protecting religious freedom, having opposed<\/strong><\/a> British claimants at the European Court of Human Rights who believed their religious freedoms were undermined by equality laws. But now, in a bizarre twist, the NSS has decided to come to the ostensible defense of religious freedom, arguing that the coronation oath violates the monarch\u2019s religious freedom as well as the freedom of the populace who have the \u2018right\u2019 to live in a society governed on stringently secularist grounds.<\/p>\n

Keith Porteous Wood, the NSS executive director, commented, \u201cThe country has changed out of all recognition since the last coronation and we should now be devising an investiture ceremony for the next head of state everyone can feel part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cA non-religious ceremony allows everybody to feel equally valued\u2026 It is no longer appropriate to install the head of state in a religious service of one Christian denomination which \u2013 on a normal Sunday \u2013 less than 2% of the population attend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026modern-day Britain\u201d the group dramatically added<\/strong><\/a>, \u201cis no longer one nation under God. It is one nation under many gods\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Referring to the monarch\u2019s position as head of the church of England, the NSS announced<\/strong><\/a>, \u201cBut if we are to retain a monarchy in this country (and many think we should not, although that is not part of the NSS’s agenda) and the monarch is to be head of state, then he or she should not also be ex officio head of the Church of England, or any other particular religion or denomination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Keith<\/a>
Keith Porteous Wood is Executive Director of the NSS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The fact that the Prince of Wales has expressed<\/strong><\/a> a desire to have a multi-faith coronation, in which he would dispense with the historic title of \u201cDefender of the Faith\u201d for the more watered-down \u201cDefender of Faith\u201d, has not even been sufficient to pacify the angry activists at the NSS. \u201cWe object almost as much to Prince Charles’s intention to be ‘defender of faith\u2019\u201d Keith Wood said.<\/p>\n

This group of radical secularists has made clear that they will not be satisfied until they have turned Britain into a European-style secular state<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is evident from the NSS website<\/strong><\/a> that their campaign hinges on the myth of religious neutrality<\/strong><\/a> and the spurious notion that secularism is a better guarantee of freedom than Christianity. The group\u2019s website<\/a><\/strong> quotes the Dutch MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld who declared that \u201cThe promotion of a secular democracy, based on individual citizens’ rights, is the best guarantee for freedom of religion.\u201d Those who have studied the history of the twentieth-century may well doubt the veracity of these statements, given that the rise of toleration has been largely pioneered by Christian, not secularists, statesmen<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the Queen’s coronation in Westminster Abbey in 1953, she was anointed and crowned. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth was asked by Archbishop Fisher, inter alia:<\/p>\n

\u2018Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel?\u2019
\nAnd the Queen replied: \u2018All this I solemnly promise to do.\u2019<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"At<\/a>
At HMQ’s coronation service in 1953, it was declared that \u2018The whole world is subject to the Power and Empire of Christ our Redeemer.’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland presented the Bible to the Queen. Between them, the Archbishop and Moderator said to her:<\/p>\n

\u2018The whole world is subject to the Power and Empire of Christ our Redeemer\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Our gracious Queen: to keep your majesty ever mindful of the Law and the Gospel of God as the Rule for the whole life and government of Christian Princes, we present you with this book, the most valuable thing that this world affords. Here is Wisdom; This is the royal Law; these are the lively oracles of God.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Archbishop told Her Majesty when she was given the Orb from the Crown Jewels:<\/p>\n

\u2018Receive this Orb set under the Cross, and remember that the whole world is subject to the Power and Empire of Christ our Redeemer.\u2019<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Further Reading<\/strong><\/h3>\n