The other Hitchens

When I saw the headline on my iGoogle newsreader “The problem isn’t the Pope, it’s the Vatican of political correctness“, I had to have a second look: PETER Hitchens, not Christopher. Right. So what does THIS Hitchens (a writer in the Daily Mail in the UK) have to say, I wondered? Well, here is the gist of it:

Actually, I am uneasy about the Pope telling us what to do. This is part of being British, or was when I was growing up… Even now, I like to roll over my tongue the defiant 37th of the English Church’s 39 articles: ‘The Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this Realm of England.’

The Pope’s warning about growing intolerance of Christianity in the British State should have been issued by the Church of England, and once could have been. But its present leaders are for the most part pretty dim, and almost all liberals – whereas Benedict is a serious thinker, a major intellect and a conservative.

Those who are outraged – or claim to be – about the Pontiff’s warning from Rome are trying to use a force they don’t really sympathise with. Harriet Harman’s ‘Equality’ Bill, a monstrous piece of far-Left fanaticism, flows mainly from the ideas of continental Marxists who knew little of Britain and cared less.

And – here’s the really important bit – its planned attempt to force the Churches to hire openly homosexual employees against their will have originated in that Vatican of political correctness, the European Union. I have the document in front of me, though our leaders have tried to keep it secret and Brussels has never officially released it. It is a ‘Reasoned Opinion’ on ‘infringement No 2006/ 2450’, signed by Commissioner Vladimir Spidla, and it orders the British Government, its subordinate, to amend the law of this country.

It declares that the United Kingdom has ‘failed to fulfil its obligation to transpose correctly Articles 2(4), 4 and 9 of Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000’. It goes on to ‘invite’ this country to ‘take the necessary measures to comply’. If we don’t, we’ll end up being ordered to act by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Beside this peremptory stuff, it seems to me that a sermon from the Bishop of Rome is pretty small beer.

It’s not foreign interference the sexual revolutionaries are against. It’s any sort of opposition to their semi-secret elite plan to do away with traditional morality in these islands and everywhere else. So who is really interfering in our way of life?

Mmm. Chastising sermons, even on matters of morality, seem to be quite acceptable when coming from the EU – but the Pope’s instructions to the English and Welsh Bishops is “foreign interferance” and “preaching”.

I like the way this guy talks. I like this article he wrote last week too: “The great and the good support mercy killing – that’s why I’m so worried”. Significantly, both topics are directly relevant to the situation here in Australia, at least in Victoria. I might keep my eye on what he writes in the future.

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12 Responses to The other Hitchens

  1. Terry Maher (Past Elder) says:

    I hope it doesn’t dampen your enthusiasm any, but I like what he wrote too. I regularly read the media in the land of my ancestors, and it would seem quite a different place than when I was there in 1969, which already seemed a different place from the traditions of my ancestors.

  2. Schütz says:

    Ah. 1969. The year AFTER 1968. Of course, I was still in nappies then, but we all know what happened in 1968. It has been a forty year recovery period, and many still suffer from ’68-disease, but most of us are getting over it. Those who were infants at the time seem to have developed a stronger resistance to the virus than those who were already in their adult years. Unfortunately, the virus appears to have been passed on to their children.

  3. Terry Maher (Past Elder) says:

    What recovery?

  4. David Schutz says:

    Well, surely that there ARE jounalists like P. Hitchens shows that the recovery is isn sight. Of course any recovery includes a battle between health and disease.

  5. PM says:

    At least the appalling pseudo-Labour government in Britain will soon be confined to the dustbin of history. Blair betrayed everything a real labour party should stand for and handed social policy and he cultural climate to the bourgeois latex left* to maintain the illusion of being ‘progressive’.

    At least I refer Tories who are honest about what they are. But will the Conservatives really be any better? On any fair reckoning, the aggressive and materialist individualism of the Thatcher era (‘there is no such thing as society’) played a major part in the dissolution of traditional social norms.

    The same may be true, I suggest, even in Victoria. Certain prominent pro-lifers have been so obsessed with opposing Labor that they have been caught unawares by the spread of utilitarian individualism in the ranks of the Liberals.

    (I can’t remember who coined this wonderful expression, but whoever it was has my compliments.)

    • Schütz says:

      Blair betrayed everything a real labour party should stand for and handed social policy and he cultural climate to the bourgeois latex left* to maintain the illusion of being ‘progressive’.

      The Labor Party did that so long ago in this country, that most of us think that IS what the Labor Party stands for!

      • PM says:

        Ironically, it was Howard, Costello and our own Abbot and Andrews who helped the ALP pose as a labour party again with their appalling and extremist Workchoices. Among other things, thye have the distinction of having expunged the last vestiges of the Third Commandment from Australian law.

  6. William Tighe says:

    PM wrote:

    “But will the Conservatives really be any better?”

    Based on this, the answer appears to be “no:”

    http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2010/02/david-cameron-tells-rowan-make-your-church-progay.html

    • Schütz says:

      Well! That’s quite an article. I love the conversation between the future PM and the Archdruid:

      ‘Your Grace. Nice weather today.’

      ‘Prime Minister. Bit damp out.’

      ‘You’ve really got to sort out your Church on gays. Everyone is equal, you know! Even the Tories think so now, old chap. Can’t have the Church setting a bad example, can we now, old thing?’

      ‘Well……. umm…… the economy, aah, if I might suggest, ha ha, gently, hum, that you sort of sort that sort of thing out first?’

      ‘Goodness gracious must dash. ‘Bye.’

      ‘God bless.’

      I gather that what the Holy Father is telling the English bishops is “you’re England’s last hope of retaining or regaining any sanity.”

      Gledhill concludes her article saying:

      I guess the Lord Chamberlain’s going to be running around quite a lot in the next year or so, finding out what it is that religious leaders and Prime Ministers actually mean when they happen to say what they actually think.

      At least everyone knows what the Pope actually thinks.

  7. Paul says:

    HI David,
    I have a habit of googling everything I see, and blow me down, Peter Hitchens is the younger brother of Christopher Hitchens.
    My source is Wikipedia:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hitchens

    and if you look at the photos of the brothers Hitchens, it is believable.
    Gosh!!!!

    • Schütz says:

      Actually, now that you mention this, I think I knew that – but had forgotten. Peter is a practicing Anglican, isn’t he?

      • Paul says:

        According to the “morality and religion” section of the wikipedia entry I mentioned, yes. More importantly, it is apparent from the things he has written. He once appeared on the BBC debating his brother.

        I must say that I find it hard to dislike Christopher Hitchens. He seems to have a sense of humour, even though he sounds a little aggressive sometimes. I think he would be better company than most of the earnest, chip-on-the-shoulder atheist obsessives in the media and bookshops.

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