Godless Guides

Secularisation means many things but it is basically the abandonment of the idea that a particular faith and morality are coterminous.

As institutions make space for diversity, they come under  pressure to abandon references to God.

There is a major difference between accommodating a diversity of consciences, as freedom of religion demands, and imposing an authoritarian secularist ideology. One opens up an institution to reflect difference; the other abolishes difference.

The Scout Association retains its promise to “do my duty to God”, but allows alternative wording for people of other faiths and will allow atheists a formula that includes no religious reference.

The Girl Guides labour under a classically secularist delusion that it is possible to unite people by imposing on them a banal formula which is either vacant or a licence for limitless egoism.

Self-oriented individuals who prioritise their own beliefs above those of others are under no obligation to respect or  recognise those of others.

Before, God was recognised in the Christian understanding, namely one who bestows equality of dignity on all His creatures. Pluralism and tolerance were written into that understanding. But the secularist formula has no such underpinning.

The Guides have ditched a creed which underpins pluralism in favour of another which is either vacuous or deeply anti-pluralist.

So what exactly are Christian Girl Guides to do now?

Martin Conroy

Oldhamstocks

East Lothian