I DARE not record one irreligious comment a person made to me after news that Southern Health planned to remove bibles from wards in its hospitals, one being Casey Hospital.
I had known about the move and while it annoyed me I took it as just another ‘ho hum’ what are they doing now?
My view is, however, that this is a despicable and unforgivable act.
Emotion in the comment caused me to think more deeply about what we Australians are losing in the name of ‘political correctness’.
‘Political correctness’ is a meaningless term used because we have no better way of describing our willingness to hand over traditional Australian customs to impress others.
Our way of life in Australia was something we came to appreciate so much that our forebears fought and died to preserve it.
Something that people from many nations were attracted to and came in droves to enjoy.
Something that we should do more about maintaining and something that I have learned in the last six weeks is a treasure to be protected at any cost.
The Gideon Bible Society has been placing bibles in hospital wards and motel rooms for as long as I can remember.
The reason given for banning this custom and for deleting the icon of Christianity from hospitals is that the presence of the bibles is offensive to some people from other religions.
Well that’s just too bad.
Australia is a Christian country that has benefited greatly from Christian virtues and family support given by the Christian church.
Hopefully it will remain that way.
That doesn’t mean that other religions should be restricted from growing and from working alongside the Christian religion to better our multicultural community.
But they have no right to suppress our way of worship.
I see no reason, if they want, to place the Koran or any other book of worship or icon of their religions alongside the Christian scriptures, but leave the bible where it is.
Southern Health has joined the capitulation to a silent invasion of our country and the undoing of a fabric that we have fought at great cost to protect.
We have welcomed people of all cultures, colours, and nationalities to Australia, but only to complement our way of life, not to take it from us.
New Australians came because the country offered opportunity and a freedom you don’t see in many of their homelands.
If they came to Australia to change and not to complement our culture then send them home.
We are seeing ageold and loved traditions taken away such as denial of Father Christmas and Christmas trees each year in many places.
I have just returned from countries where Imams call prayers five times a day and see this as their right, which it is; where bells chime from Christian churches several times a day, where openair altars stand and people pause for a few moments to have a short prayer according to their beliefs.
These things in countries where you would not dare interfere with the traditional way of worship.
I wonder what would be the reaction in those countries if a group of Christians claimed they were offended by those traditions and asked them to be halted.
The people who decided to remove the symbol of and spirit of Christianity from Australian hospitals should rethink it, put the bibles back, and apologise to the Christians whom they have hurt and offended.
However, I doubt the presence of bibles offends many people of other religions.
If it does then those offended lack the tolerance our religions of the world preach.
While at the Colosseum in Rome I wondered about the hundreds of Christians eaten by lions because they would not denounce the Christian religion.
Compare this with the meek capitulation of the contemporary wardens of Christianity who took this latest attack on their religion without a whimper.