Religion
does not belong in the private sphere only but in the world of public
discourse, the Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin has said in a
speech in Belfast at the weekend.

Referring to the abortion debate, he said
that,  “the tendency
in public debate is to relegate discussion about the natural identity of the
human person to the private sphere
and instead to prioritise freedom, or more precisely, individual rights and
freedom as the fundamental value and greatest good”. All this explains that the message
of the Church “is becoming increasingly counter cultural”.

Expanding
on his theme he said that a large part of the political class believed the
Church was ‘interfering’ in public affairs. However, Archbishop Martin stated that
while the Second Council Vatican said clearly that the Church mustn’t
“interfere with the legitimate autonomy of socio-economics, political and
cultural affairs…that doesn’t mean that religion has no part to play in the
national conversation”.

He added that “freedom of conscience, the right to a free vote for politicians on
the issue [of abortion] and
to conscientious objection for anyone who doesn’t want to cooperate in any way,
however indirectly, with abortion” must be guaranteed by our political institutions.

More
specifically, he defended the
right of Catholic politicians to take part in politics as Catholics and not
have to “leave their faith outside the door when they are entering the
legislative chamber.”

He asked: “But why shouldn’t a Catholic
politician, or lawyer, or teacher, or person of any other profession for that
matter, be able to confidently and unapologetically express their sincerely
held faith-based arguments in the public square without fear of ridicule or
being branded a bigot or against freedom?”

Archbishop
Martin declared that the position of the Church about social issues such abortion or same-sex marriage
is open to understanding by
anyone and is not based on specific faith-based reasons.

 In effect, the “tradition of moral reasoning
based upon natural law is accessibe to all people of good will even if they do
not share our faith commitment”.