Prince Charles has delivered a 'thought for today' on the radio (BBC 4), pleading for religious tolerance. In the aftermath of the Berlin bombing one must suppose he's trying to forestall a witch hunt against Muslims, since no other religion currently foments such opprobrium among the peace loving people of the West. He suggested that persecution of Muslims (and other religions) would echo the treatment of Jews under the fascist regimes of the 1930s and was to be regretted.
We owe it to the memory of those persecuted not to repeat the oppression and violence visited on the different religious groups, he pleaded. This despite being personally warned of the fate of Christians in Syria, where religious tolerance seems to be optional at best. It is almost as if the Prince is in some kind of bubble, separate from the rest of us, where he perceives a sort of wisdom that eludes our senses, bearing little resemblance to the life of 'normal' people.
It is as if he is somehow on a different plane from the rest of us.
Charles, it is said, wants to become 'Defender of faith' on his ascension to the throne, rather than 'Defender of the faith', a reference to the Anglican Church of which the monarch is head.
His reference to faith alone indicates a casual reliance on reason and logic. In a realm, to be his kingdom, where a survey has shown that only 28% of the people now believe in God, (50% in 1990) he seems further out of touch than usual and I wonder if a lack of reason and logic can be blamed. Can he, for instance, be ignorant of the history of Islam. Does he not realise that from the outset, the soldiers of Islam have set out to conquer the world, overtaking the Byzantine empire, extending their sphere of influence as far as Afghanistan in the East and courtesy of the Umayyad dynasty, up to the Iberian peninsular and the Maghreb in the West. And yet Prince Charles wants to trust his faith, to appease and turn his cheek at every affront to our heritage, tradition and culture.
Yes, I'm a monarchist but I do fear that Charles, when his time comes, may let us all down with his other worldly ambition.
Friday, 23 December 2016
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