Church above the law??

[SonOfOdin]

Well, here is a little history on the Maltese Politico-Religious Crisis

Prime Minister Dom Mintoff proposed Integration with the United Kingdom(as Malta was still a British Colony) and the majority voted yes, but the Prime Minister disagreed on Representation issues and the condition to fire some 60 dockyard workers if integration happened....and so he fought with the British Parliament and worked on gaining independence...this was in the 1950's
The Maltese Bishop(in which he was almost as powerful as the P.M at that time), Michael Gonzi fought with Mintoff on this as he was afraid of Protestantism spreading in the Island

So the Labour-Church war began, with Mintoff and Gonzi regularly fighting on discussions and debates

After an election, the Labour Goverment(under Mintoff) fell and the new Prime Minister(Gorg Borg Olivier) went to London to discuss indipendence. The British Parliament agreed(due to a new Maltese leader) and Olivier signed a consitiution for indipendence with this condition :

" Under its 1964 constitution, Malta became a parliamentary democracy within the British Commonwealth. Queen Elizabeth II was sovereign of Malta, and a governor general exercised executive authority on her behalf, while the actual direction and control of the government and the nation's affairs were in the hands of the cabinet under the leadership of a Maltese prime minister."

Mintoff disagreed with the constitution and boycotted, instead he wanted to change this const. and add these points :

1) The removal of the Catholic Church being above the law and above the Consitution on matters like Human Rights
2) The inclusion of provision prohibiting the Archbishop from declaring it to be a mortal sin to vote for a particular Party or person
3) The Introduction of civil marriage and the recognition of divorce for non-Catholics
4) Freedom to recieve or to decline institution in the Catholic Church
5) Right to burial in Goverment owned cemeteries not to be refused for political or religious reasons
6) Freedom for all religious denominations

Before this, the Church had not accepted the redemption of sins for socialists(Labour party supporters) and thrown their corpses in dumps instead of burial in cemeteries
The Archbishop had also called Mintoff a Communist and an Antichrist(even though Mintoff was an open minded Catholic)

So a referendum was held if people wanted the Current consitution , or Mintoff's additions
The results were :

Yes - 50.68%
No - 42.36%
Invalid - 6.95%
(out of 129 949 votes)

So the constitution passed without Mintoff's points
But London itself told the Nationalist Leader(Olivier) to accept some of his points and the Vatican warned Gonzi to remove him of power if he continued like this

Fighting(violent fighting with even fatal accidents), continued throughout the 70's and early 80's and eventually stopped

The British army remained in Malta until 1979, when Mintoff was again in power and had boosted(unlike no other Maltese boost) the economy and no longer needed the payment of a British/NATO base in Malta

Nowadays, it's all normal and the Church is no longer powerful and no violene is commited in politics
But the Constitution still stands, and the church is still practically above the law
What do you think about this?

[IvanTheTerrible]

I honestly though that since the information age society would have moved beyond religion.

[CtrlAltDe1337]

The Church should be under the law just like the State should be under the law. The law is higher than both and all should be under it.

I honestly though that since the information age society would have moved beyond religion.

This is the political mudpit, not EMM, mate.

[Chlodwig I.]

After they are Member of the EU
they can be sued at the European Supreme Court (for Humanrights).

[.K.]

This is the political mudpit, not EMM, mate.

They're intrinsically linked, so why force distinctions when you can make valid points about one field using the spirit of another?

Anyway, this information is sort of scary--I'm glad it was shared! It sort of reminds me of when I went to a wedding this summer and thought of all of the implications of ownership and it was a somewhat bizarre mix of religion and law. It made me question whether or not I'd actually be ok with marrying into the church, which, beforehand, I just thought was a given tradition that was almost secular-ish in a way.

[Mikesmith08]

Its history, nothing else. Remnants of the power of the church, if ever there was a serious crime commited by a memeber of the clergy in Malta then the laws would be changed and the man prosecuted.

[SonOfOdin]

Yeah, but the constitution remains unchanged, so basically by law, the church is still above the law
Archibshop Gonzi is now dead, way before we entered the EU

[SonOfOdin]

In my country, I'd say 96% marry with Church because of tradition, and nothing else
I personally say that divorce should be legal for anyone who likes, regardless of what the Church says
If I get married by state, why should I not divorce because of the Church's traditions??

Seriously, Malta's church is way way way conservative and stupid...and yet powerful
They even banned Children of Bodom(a Melodic Death/Power Metal band) from coming to Malta because they are "Satanic", while they don't even name Satan directly or indireclty in their music(which is just stupid)
I believe that the Goverment should remove all power from the Church, like the Labour Goverment did in the 70's
They should care for taking care of THEIR people, and shouldn't really interfere in what other people do

[Erik]

What do you think about this?

I think it's seriously messed up.

But I also think that if a majority wants to have the Church above the law the rest just has to accept it or move to a place more to their liking.

You can't force democracy and human rights on people against their will.

[SonOfOdin]

Yeah but the Nationalists(Demo Christians) wanted to let the church in power because they worked side by side
The Labour Party(Socialists/Social Democrats) wanted to remove the church from power because of corruption and because they believed that it had only to do with Spiritual affairs and not State affairs(which is true)

People voted for the Nationalists because of superstition and conservative thinking that the Church is all too mighty
Then when the economy failed under them, they elected the Labour Party