The Archbishop stressed the danger of secularisation but he might have missed an important spiritual side of all religions. On 19 November there was a congress about the Holy Name of God. But who cares? What does the public in general know about such an important aspect? Has anything tangible ever resulted from this yearly meeting?

“You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.” The message is very clear: No one can swear by God and worse, use invective as if to insult the very Creator and blame Him for some mishap that occurs. There are many who do not know how to indulge in a conversation without obscene blasphemy. Immediately or in the future, those that blaspheme must pay dearly for their deeds. And so will have to answer those who fail to take action! In seeking atonement we state “in what I have done and in what I have failed to do.”

The “colourful” invective against God, Christ, St Mary and other saints is so obscene that when analysed, one would hardly be able to believe what is happening in defiance of the law. A boy was arrested for blaspheming in court, and rightly so. At the same time who dares take action against the very police, soldiers, local wardens and all classes of workers? To be put in perspective, suppose one uses the same insulting and obscene terminology by blaspheming against the President; the Prime Minister; the Opposition Leader; the Judiciary; the Archbishop or even a close relative, what would be the consequences? Since when are these mortals more important than the Supreme Being and Saint Mary?

I have been stressing against the anarchy of litter and irresponsible behaviour, but invective blasphemy against God is the lowest form of filth and insult against civilisation. In certain religions this would result in the death penalty, but in the presumed civilised pseudo Catholic Malta no one dares take the slightest action.

Some food for thought: In Russia, during the Tsars, blasphemy was the order of the day. With the advent of Communism, when anything to do with God or religion was taboo, it was considered to be a crime to blaspheme. Within a few years, blasphemy was completely eradicated. Do we need an extreme atheist system to bring sense into our fictitious pride? When will our pseudo Catholic leaders wake up from their lethargy?

This scourge has now become so deeply rooted that even infants start swearing at a very tender age! Who in Malta is going to stand up and be counted?

Frans H Said

St Paul’s Bay