Sep 08 - ERG Says Religion And Secular Society Must Co-Exist

The Equality Rights Group says plain speaking is always to be welcomed and that it is important that differences be explained and understood for there to be peace in any Society, and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Gibraltar’s pre-investiture statement on same-sex issues is an honest declaration of position.

 

A spokesman for the Group said: "The Catholic Church has its views, and secular society has a different point of view. Yet, if we are to believe both the foundation of Roman Catholic theology and the premise of secular society, understanding and mutual respect are necessary and essential.

 

"It need not be emphasised that, as Gibraltarians, we are proud of our practical sense of coexistence in this community. The new Bishop was sent to Gibraltar and served amongst us for many years as a priest and will certainly have understood our core values of respect for others in this community.  In the same way that secular society has made it an open profession of democratic understanding to highlight and underline non-interference in ecclesiastical practices or doctrines, it is also incumbent upon religious institutions and leaders to avoid incursions into the secular and political freedoms of society at large. This, indeed, is the core premise surrounding the issues on legal amendments to civil (not religious) marriage in Gibraltar which ERG has strongly and clearly advanced and which society at large has understood.

 

"ERG has clearly demonstrated its well-publicised willingness to open lines of dialogue and respect with the new Roman Catholic Bishop of Gibraltar, and we have extended that same invitation to dialogue to all Gibraltar’s denominations. Living by the golden rule of treating others as we would wish to be treated ourselves is not just a nicety, it’s a foundation stone for human decency and peace for both the religious and the non-religious alike which can be found in even the earliest societies.

 

"The new Bishop will stand by and defend his religious and institutional precepts as are his right and role. ERG and secular society will do the same on their side. Peaceful coexistence demands that an effort be made to agree to disagree, yet exercise a maximum of real everyday respect towards differing views. Having already publicly declared our willingness to sit down with the denominations to establish ties, we can only issue that same call once again and await for good will to prosper, whilst speaking with the same clarity and plain language as the Bishop to say that we will continue to defend any incursions into the human and civil rights of the community of Gibraltar. In this, and for the sake of positivity, we must all be careful in the terminologies we employ, since ‘political correctness’ and ‘religious correctness’ may just as readily be switched."

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