Call to Make UK a Christian Nation - But What About the Vegetables?

Down on our little allotment plots my best mate Nosher and I are still chuckling over two pronouncements made last weekend by those who think they are in charge. We are wondering whether they should also be applied to our vegetables.
First, Gordon the Moron announced that the law regulating the flying of the national flags of the Dis-United Kingdom was going to be relaxed, so as to foster a sense of national identity. Given that Gordon the Moron and his predecessors have done just about everything possible to destroy our sense of national identity, this move should be viewed with suspicion - patriotism being both the first and last resort of scoundrels.
Second, the Bishop of Rochester issued a call for the UK to be made once more a Christian nation, claiming that our sense of Christian identity had been eroded by the modern consumer culture (or whatever, it doesn't much matter).
These pronouncements by the 'great and the good' have caused puzzlement to Nosher and me. Let's deal with the 'Christian nation' part first.
Now, it is true that our cultural heritage in the Dis-United Kingdom is dominated by Christianity - because the vast majority of our ancestors had it forced upon them at the point of a sword or through threats of torture and execution. And then successive generations were indoctrinated until that they believed they were superior to everyone else and had the right to force their religion on others. It was only when modern secular liberalism developed in the twentieth century that religious freedom resulted in the vast majority of people in this country abandoning the practices of Christianity. Because they had a free choice.
Due to our Christian history, it is hardly surprising then that Christian messages and motifs abound in our modern culture. But that doesn't mean that we are a Christian country, or that attempts should be made to turn us back into one.
The vast majority of people in this country do not attend any religious services, and even if they might say they believe in a God or gods, that does not entitle anyone else to hijack their freedom and declare that the country is Christian. Nosher likened this to telling his vegetables that they should be Christians instead of sun-worshippers.
'It doesn't matter what label I give them, they'll still worship the sun' he said 'that's what makes them vegetables. And so long as they grow big and tasty, and produce lots of seed, and don't mind me eating them when I wish, I don't care much what or who they worship!' The same principals should apply, of course, to people. Apart from getting eaten by Nosher.
The best solution, in our view, would be to declare a fully secular state with no special privileges for any religion, and to ensure that organised religions stopped their cynical manipulations as they try to gain extra advantages over one another. Then all religions would be equal, and all believers and non-believers would be equal. That, it seems to Nosher and me, and to our vegetables, is a most just and fair solution that will bring wisdom, tolerance and harmony to our land. And put a stop to all the hypocrisy.
And what about the flag flying? Well, in 1924 the British Government passed a law forbidding the flying of the national flags except under very specific and restricted circumstances, thus depriving the general population of any sense of ownership of their sense of national identity. Not surprising then, that successive generations have gradually lost their patriotic attachment. It takes real negative genius to destroy something without anyone actually noticing what is taking place.
Of course the law has not been enforced particularly stringently since the late 1960s, when Union Jack underpants became fashionable for a while, but the point had been made: we're the people, and we'll do what we want with our national flag.
So now we're being told that we can officially fly the flag again, although the Union Jack must be at the top if the flag of our own country (in Nosher's and my case, the red cross of England) is to be flown too. I can't see Nosher obeying that injunction - he sees himself as English first and British second, and that's how it should be. But our political masters see things differently - they want to rub our noses in it and make sure that being English counts for nothing in this Dis-United Kingdom ruled by self-deceiving idiots blinded by their own conceit and illusions of influence.
It would be like Nosher telling his carrots that they are root vegetables first and carrots only second. If you're a carrot, it's the other way around, so Nosher lets them think what they want. Obvious really, but not to the people who think they're in charge of the country, and for whom their distorted sense of personal authority matters more than what us ordinary people actually feel, think, or believe.
Well, it's a lovely day in this little corner of South Gloucestershire, and allotments don't look after themselves, so it's back to work.
More from http://www.overthegardenfence.blogspot.com/ soon.
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