The Most Anti-Christian Country on Earth
by John Waters, First Things:
The Taoiseach (to outsiders, Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar) recently responded to a call for crucifixes to be removed from the walls of Irish hospitals:
Charities and religious bodies that run hospitals and such should have regard for the fact that in modern Ireland there’s now diversity of views on religion and so on. It is the 21st century; a lot of patients, a lot of kids aren’t religious, maybe aren’t Roman Catholic and the ethos of a publicly funded institution should reflect the public.
He was commenting on a new government report on the relationship between the state and hospitals run by religious orders. The report stated that hospitals should be conscious of the negative impact that Christian “décor” can have on a patient, but did not address whether the absence of Christian “décor” could have a negative impact—whether particular patients might desire Christian iconography within his or her view at times of great anxiety or sorrow.
The review concluded that the “life and well-being of patients” must take precedence over religious ethos. The phrase “life and well-being” might carry many meanings, but it is hard to envisage any risk to life and well-being arising from an artifact of a particular religious faith hanging on a wall—especially if that religious faith was the founding ethos of the hospital you happen to be in. To decide that a wall-mounted crucifix can be reduced to the phrase “religious ethos” and then marked for disposal is not merely illogical; it is bigoted by virtue of supporting bigotry over belief—a bigot being someone who is “intolerant towards other people’s beliefs and practices.”
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