Although I'd agree the church should not be as entangled with the state as it is, people of faith are equally entitled to have a say on this, or any matter. We may live in a predominantly secular society, but I would argue we certainly do not live in an atheistic one...not yet anyway. Although I could not find any statistics for Guernsey, as far as I'm aware, despite significant growth in no European country do atheists (in the purest sense of the word i.e. no belief in the spiritual / supernatural) form anywhere near the majority; I think it's reasonable to presume a similar trend here. I would say a more accurate description of Guernsey society is one that contains a broad spectrum, from atheists right across to devoutly religious. What we need to do in situations like this is find a solution that as much as possible reflects this spectrum....and in this case I think Martino's idea is as good a suggestion as any I've seen. Anecdotally, in the swearing in ceremony for the current States Assembly, when given the opportunity to use an oath that omitted all references to God only a handful did. I suppose it's a matter of opinion whether that's a good advert for religion or not though! ;-)
Voice For Victims
Voice for Victims is a campaign aimed at promoting the rights of those affected by child sexual abuse.
