As 40% of all marriages in the UK now end in divorce, the catholic church is stepping in to save the day. Gosh, how nice of them. About time eh? Now divorce will be a thing of the past!

The Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral held a special mass for couples this month where 650 happily married (yet catholic) couples gathered to praise Jesus and generally look down on people who live in sin and get divorced. The couples had a combined 43,000 years of married life behind them, but you can bet it felt like a lot more than that!

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor is hoping to warn of the dangers faced by society in people getting divorced, or not even getting married at all.

While it’s true that more divorces mean that more children experience family break ups, is it not worse that children live in a house filled with conflict and hate if parents stay together when they really should be apart? Catholics would disagree.

Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor claims that the threat to society face by divorces is a time-bomb that threatens the integrity of the whole British society. He went on to say that the breakdown of a marriage was ‘one of the greatest evils’. He really needs a reality check.

The effects of the break up of marriage can be seen because of drugs and crime. The effects of the break up of marriage can be seen because of drugs and crime. So many people are in prison…as the result of broken marriages. And it’s a time bomb because the effects are insidious. It’s starting now with divorce but its effects will go on and on.

This is why we shouldn’t let religious people have any say in the running of the country. They’re bound by what was written in a fairy story book and think it somehow gives us the laws with which to live our lives. Marriage is a religious concept, does it not surprise the Catholics that people who aren’t religious don’t feel the need to get married?

One of the couples at the mass, the O’Driscolls, think that the breakdown in marriages is usually due to people being unwilling to compromise and work out any problems.

When things go wrong it’s no good just brushing things aside. Just speak about it. If you leave it, it will only get worse.

Even though many marriage experts believe that a union of two people doesn’t necessarily require the act of marriage to survive, instead a long term relationship built on compromise and understanding would be better; Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor disagrees.

He would, churches have seen marriage numbers fall, which hits them in the pocket. The Cardinal claims that marriages blessed in church stand a better chance of success.

What utter garbage.

Society must have some sort of infrastructure. There’s an African saying…’you need a village to bring up a child’. Public policies should be judged on the basis of whether they help family life or not. If they do, they should be approved.

The church is suffering from recent developments in society such as the emergence of ‘civil partnerships’ and the decision to make the discrimination against homosexuals illegal. Both of these actions harm the church’s view of family life as they are both against the word of the bible.

Again, this is why the religious should be kept out of any decisions to do with running the country.

Clive Bellmore