Cardinal Keith O’Brien Picks Easter to Slam Atheists and Atheism
Cardinal Keith O’Brien, archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, who is known for his outspoken views, eschewed traditional Easter themes of resurrection and hope and instead set his sights firmly on the “marginalisation” of Christianity in the UK.
He told the congregation at St Mary’s Cathedral; “Christians must be united in their common awareness of the enemies of the Christian faith in our country, of the power that they are at present exerting, and the need for us to be aware of that right to equality which so many others cry out for.”
His homily included instances where Christians had fallen foul of equality legislation, preventing discrimination against gay people, and swiftly drew fire from groups campaigning against religious privilege in public life.
Keith Porteous-Wood, from the National Secular Society, said religious leaders were becoming “increasingly paranoid by the mass exodus from their churches” and were blaming the “bogeyman of secularism” rather than their own “narrowmindedness and bigotry”.