Hallelujah!

GEORGE CAREY, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has just noticed that Christianity is facing 'gradual marginalisation'. (Cue double-forte rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus by massed Albert Hall choirs.) Plugging his book, We Don't Do God, he announces: "There are forces at work in Western society hollowing out the values of Christianity and driving them to the margins."

Now you tell us, George! It's a pity you didn't detect these dark forces several years ago when they were blindingly obvious to the rest of us. For example, when the BBC was poisoning the airwaves with Gerry Springer - the Opera and similar works of 'artistic expression'. Since then, due mainly to your church's misplaced policy of appeasing secularism, it's been downhill all the way.

The National Secular Society, the BBC and the Gaydian newspaper are now calling the shots. Prayers have been banned at council meetings; Christian adoption agencies have been forced to close; medical staff face dismissal for shunning abortions; nurses who wear crosses (that hated symbol for atheists) and pray for patients are victimised... the persecution intensifies with each perverse judgment handed down by a secular judiciary. Marginalisation has given way to a crusade against religious belief.

Much of this might have been prevented if George and his flock had not been obsessed with gender equality and homosexual rights but focused instead on their prime duty of upholding the Christian faith. Now what remains of the Anglican Church, under the leadership of an equally weak cartoon character, is left with a mountain to climb. Still, it's good you've finally seen the light George. Better late than never.

Keep breathing and carry on

A fanatical pressure group wants to change the law on assisted dying - making it easier for doctors to help patients kill themselves. Parliament has rejected any change three times since 2006 out of concern for public safety. The Council of Europe has ruled that euthanasia and assisted suicide should be banned throughout Britain and the Continent. They are supported by the British Medical Association and the European Convention on Human Rights.

But the multi-millionaires backing the pressure group think they know better. They quote opinion polls claiming that three-quarters of the British public favour assisted suicide. These simplistic surveys are basically flawed. They make no mention of sinister developments in countries where assisted death has been legalised. In Holland, for example, the 'service' has been extended from the terminally ill to include healthy people.

At a time when the national deficit exceeds £1 trillion (that's £1,000,000,000,000) and mature citizens are increasingly regarded as a burden on society, euthanasia as an instrument of socio-economic policy presents a frightening scenario. The pro-death pressure group comprises powerful, determined and ideology-driven activists. They are not going to go away.

My novel, KEEP BREATHING, predicts that legalising assisted death would result in full-blown elder abuse and that this irreversible nightmare could happen sooner than we think. We live in an age when the human rights of terrorists, murderers and even war criminals are protected. What about ours?

KEEP BREATHING  Available in paperback from Amazon, £8.99 post free. Ebook on
Kindle £2.90. Keep calm, carry on and order now - while you still can!