from Voice for Justice UK
It is interesting how, in Britain today, we are taught on the one hand to despise our history and national identity, while at the same time euphorically extolling our victory over Nazi expansionism in WW2. It is a victory that should be both recognised and celebrated, of course. By 1940, German forces had swept across Europe, taking all in their path. Poland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and France had all fallen, leaving Britain to stand alone against the combined might of Hitler’s seemingly unstoppable Wehrmacht. Faced with what looked like almost certain defeat, Churchill famously called the nation to stand. He ended his rallying call, broadcast on 18th June, 1940, with the words,
‘What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us … Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, “This was their finest hour”.’
If Britain had fallen, the world would, without doubt, be a very different place, but by God’s grace, we stood … and we conquered. This week, that victory has been commemorated with a military parade through London, a fly-past over Buckingham Palace, and a tea party hosted by King Charles, who, it was announced by the Palace, would lead the nation in ‘celebrating, commemorating and giving thanks to the wartime generation whose selfless devotion, duty and service should stand as an enduring example to us all – and must never be forgotten.’
Fine words, but how much do we really honour those who gave their lives that we might live? The truth is that our society is falling apart as we dismiss and ridicule the values for which our forebears died, even going so far as to rebrand white combatants the lackeys of patriarchal colonialism! In what today is called multi-cultural Britain, Christianity is being increasingly derided and even reviled, with our history of empire rebranded as immoral and devious exploitation, and growing numbers of our national heroes consigned to the rubbish heap. Sadly, as a nation, the process has gone so far that we now actively seek to prioritise the rights and interests of minority groups over those of our own people. Which is not to say that minority groups should not have opportunity and be welcomed to become part of this nation – they should – but we should uphold and affirm our identity, and position should be awarded on merit, decided without bias. In the absence of this, the UK cannot and will not survive.
It is urgent that Britain recovers pride in its values and heritage. As VfJUK has often said before, we are a Christian country, with all of our laws, culture and society founded on Christian belief and faith. With our sense of ‘fair play’ and respect for all, as made in the image of God, it is this that has made our nation great and given us the courage and strength to stand in adversity – that gave us, indeed, the courage to respond to Churchill’s call. We are not perfect – how could we be? We’re human. But there is so much to be proud of in our history and, most especially now, we must honour the memory of those who gave their lives that we might live – who sacrificed all for the values in which they believed. It is because of them that we enjoy freedom today.
To echo Churchill once again, in that same speech given in June, 1940, ‘We have to think of the future and not of the past’. But if we so cavalierly misrepresent, devalue, and discredit our past, then we will have no future.
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