May 17, 2013Dear Sir,The political realm is abuzz lately with nebulous secular appeals to a ‘separation of church and state’ in order to justify everything from selling alcohol on Sundays, to gambling and gay rights. Ironically, their advocates are appealing to a principle that does not exist in the UK, or Bermuda’s Constitution, and where it applies in the US, it means only that the state does not collect fees to support any particular church; neither does it mandate membership in said church.Jonathan Starling, moreover, would have us believe that Mr Cannonier’s personal participation in a Christian Prayer Week is inappropriate because it is insensitive to all the non-Christians out there.Uh-huh. Not buying it.We all know that it was not your traditional Muslim, Jew, Sikh or Buddhist whose nose was put out of joint by the Premier’s public display of his belief in God. It was irreligious secular liberals that were offended because a Christian presence within the Government is a thorn in the side of those seeking to use the power of the state to restructure Bermudian society. Mr Starling sheds political crocodile tears on behalf of religious freedom, but what he really wants is freedom from religion.Secular liberalism defines itself as a rebellion against Christianity. The desire to remove the church and replace it with a completely secular state gives liberalism its structure, beliefs and goals.A huge number of Bermudians are being told by a handful of secular elites that their views on moral issues such as gambling and sexuality are to be expelled from political discourse, with no justification given other than the fact that the unwelcome voices are informed by a Biblical perspective.An increasingly confidant, militant secularism is taking over the forms and functions of the church and excluding the actual Christian Church from having any presence or influence in the public square.Let us not pretend that these secularists’ appeals to a separation of church and state have anything to do with fostering political neutrality and religious diversity. The endgame of secular liberalism is to kick the Christian conscience to the bottom of the totem pole in the hierarchy of human rights. Something to be tolerated, so long as it shuts up and stays out of the way.GENESIUS OF BERMUDAPaget