I was deeply shocked (I wasn’t really) to read the comments of the Mayor of Bradley Stoke Cllr Antony Griffiths tweeting about the Queen’s funeral. He was very angry at the attendance of Labour leader Keir Starmer. This is what he tweeted:
Amazing, isn’t it? Kir Stanmer turning up at Westminster Catheratral for a funeral. Such hypocrisy. He doesn’t believe in God! Disgraceful. But hang on: I don’t believe in God, either, yet I’ve been to countless funerals in churches and I didn’t once consider not turning up because of my atheism. I set aside my lack of belief because I want to remember someone and celebrate their life. I don’t need a God character to make me do that.
But the logical extension of Mr Griffiths’ argument is that any of us who do not have a religious superstition should not go to a church funeral, or a church wedding for that matter. Or even watch the Queen’s funeral on telly because so much of it was about God. For me, the God stuff ruins funerals because the service tends to be about God and not the person who has died. You’re saying prayers to him, singing songs to him and the person who has actually died becomes a bit part player.
Yet it’s Mr Griffiths who is out of step with the country and not Kir Stanmer. In 2019, 52% of the UK population said they belonged to no religion. And the number of people identifying as christian has declined from 66% in 1983 to 38% in 2019. Given that only 1% of 18-24 year olds identified with the christian church. Only one in three over 75s say they are christian. If this carries on, christianity will be all but dead by the the time this generation has ascended to heaven or been turned into worm food.
I didn’t watch the Queen’s funeral on telly and it was not because I didn’t want Mr Griffiths to call me a hypocrite. It was that I didn’t want to watch it. My guess is that a majority of those who watched the funeral didn’t really think too much about the religious side of it. People in my family who watched it certainly didn’t.
Finally, I am a bit of a loss to understand what the mayor meant when he said it “just goes to show what the Labour Party believe in.” Does it? I don’t recall Kir Stanmer issuing edicts on faith, instructing members to be atheists. On the contrary, Stanmer has always been respectful of people of faith, far more so than me. I suspect, though, that Mr Griffiths does show what the Tory party believes in. Narrow-minded, intolerant ignorance. As a Conservative and indeed a christian, he wouldn’t be alone.
