‘We need Religion more than ever this Christmas’-Andrew Rosindell MP.
Today the Romford MP Andrew Rosindell writes in the Havering Daily on how after a challenging year, this Christmas we need religion more than ever. Mr Rosindell writes:
This year has been a challenging time for most, if not all of us. All over the country, including in Romford, people have struggled economically. They have faced job uncertainty at best, and unemployment at worst. Economic challenges have been the tip of the iceberg. Loneliness and the disappearance of most day to day human interactions have led to depression, anxiety and mental health issues.
Most importantly, thousands have died with COVID-19 and others have faced missed cancer diagnoses and other health conditions.
It is at times like these that we need to fall back on our faith more than ever. Whatever religion you may be, and even for some without faith, the community and togetherness that religious services and religious worship bring us is of genuine, enduring comfort.
Cruelly, this pandemic has taken this source of comfort away from us, right when we need it the most. In my view and in the view of many other M.P.s, with Christmas on the horizon, this comfort must return.
That is why this week, Sir Edward Leigh M.P., President of the Catholic Union, wrote to the Prime Minister to urge him to allow religious services to resume. As he points out, “churches have shown they are capable of introducing social distancing and following Government guidance”. Additionally, the letter notes that the Chief Medical Officer has said there is “no evidence of places of worship contributing to the spread of the virus”.
The letter concludes by urging that “we must never again stop people from attending religious services.” I am pleased to be a signatory to this letter. Freedom of religion and worship is a cherished right on these islands and no government should be allowed to take that away from us.
As usual, I hope to attend some of the wonderful Christmas services at some of Romford’s many churches this year, including what I hope will be the usual midnight service at our magnificent St. Edward The Confessor Church in Romford Market on Christmas Eve.
I am longing to see constituents at our local churches that I have been kept apart from for too long.
I couldn’t agree more Mr Rosindale. In these troubled times, our faith is very important to us, whatever our religious beliefs are. Perhaps if we had more hospitals, the increasing backlog of non- Corona Virus conditions could be drastically reduced. Never mind more hospitals, what about more Doctors and Nurses and their pay? They are the ones who have got us through this crisis, not forgetting the other keyworkers as well. Yes, this Government is throwing money at this, and throwing money at that, in order to reduce the impact of the pandemic. How about throwing money on real issues such as fully resolving the completion of the new Royal Liverpool Hospital. That would be far better than throwing money away by wasting over £100,000 per month on electricity for the empty 23-ward hospital. Not to mention the £3 million spent on the everyday running of the empty hospital in the last six months of last year. May our God help us when we know the final cost of maintaining the empty hospital until it is fully opened in 2022…… Yes, we do need our faith, but we certainly don’t have any faith in this Government.
Andrew Rosindell MP always seems very keen on advocating regular religious observance or a military life for everyone else but as far as I am aware he has no such service himself. What does Mr Rosindell think of all the religions that do not have the British monarch as the leading figure ? What is the future of national churches in a global economy ?