In August this year, the University of Nottingham blocked the appointment of a Catholic chaplain because of the way he had “expressed” his Catholic beliefs. The would-be chaplain in question, Fr David Palmer, a vocal pro-life advocate and, shall we say, vivid tweeter was given the boot for describing abortion as the “slaughter of babies” and assisted suicide as “killing the vulnerable”.
A university spokesperson, while trying to extricate the university from its intellectual 6x6 graveyard plot, explained that it was not Fr Palmer’s opinions that were the problem, but the language used to express them. This peculiar episode is a stark reminder that religious values have been in effect excommunicated from the public sphere by a secular, soi-disant tolerant, morality.
