Oath of allegiance to the Queen

[JAStewart]

The United Kingdom.

 

He said 'celebrate', not 'initiate.' Ever heard of Guy Fawkes?

[JAStewart]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e1/Ukpassport-cover.jpg

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieu_et_mon_droit

 

This French sentence means God and my right.

 

French? God? Besides the fact that those two things go as well together as chalk and cheese, its absurd that a British passport should contain a French sentence!

 

Maybe not. Maybe I'm the crazy person. Maybe its just me.

 

Yeah.

[MuckleJoannie]

[

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieu_et_mon_droit

 

This French sentence means God and my right.

 

French? God? Besides the fact that those two things go as well together as chalk and cheese, its absurd that a British passport should contain a French sentence!

 

Maybe not. Maybe I'm the crazy person. Maybe its just me.

 

Yeah.

 

If du reads farder doon da article du wid see dis

 

A French motto rather than English was chosen because the English language had only recently replaced French as the language of the English ruling classes. Henry, though of English parentage, spoke French and had claimed the title of King of France

 

Fae

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_claims_to_the_French_throne

 

The Kingdom of England was ruled by a Norman-French descendant and Norman-French-speaking aristocracy when this title was first adopted in 1340 by King Edward III, who claimed the throne of France after the death of his uncle Charles IV of Francehttp://

 

Efter da Norman Conquest French was da language o da ruling classes for many centuries.

[EM]

Speaking of which, don't our passports say 'God' on them too?

I don't think so, I don't see it on mine at any rate.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieu_et_mon_droit

 

This French sentence means God and my right.

 

Fair cop

 

The funny thing for me is that although James is quite correct, my passport does not have it any longer. Here is a blurry image of its front:

 

http://www.erik-moncrieff.com/misc/PassportFront.jpg

 

I'd completely forgotten that it originally had anything on the cover. So much for my carbon footprint.

[Fifi]

its absurd that a British passport should contain a French sentence!

Sacré bleu! There are actually two!

 

Honi soit qui mal y pense.

[Malcolm]

^^ ^^ the babelfish translation being...

 

Honi is which badly thinks of it ... Eh ???

[Njugle]

Honi soit qui mal y pense (Old French: "shame upon him who thinks evil of it")

 

The motto of the Order of the Garter.

 

Never trust ye olde babel fish, oh the trouble it has caused me in the past......turned out well in the end though.

[DamnSaxon]

We live in a country where we still celebrate the burning of Catholics every November.

This is very true - I spent my teens growing up in Lewes, Sussex, where, on Bonfire Night, there are torchlit processions through the streets to mark both the Gunpowder Plot and the earlier burning of 17 Protestant martyrs half a century before. Local 'Bonfire Societies', and others from around Sussex, congregate on Lewes, the street lighting is turned off and roads closed, and there is considerable merriment as the burning tar barrel is thrown into the river, etc. After the processions, the societies march off to several large bonfires on the Downs around the town for large firework displays.

 

The processions are fancy dress - each society having its own traditions - and include Tudor nobles, Red Indians (who, yes, are proceeding through the November evening wearing almost nothing, warmed only by their blazing torches) and many others. And with a generous dollop of big banners reading "No Popery!" and so on, you can't forget what the Fifth of November is all about in the UK.

 

Think of a sort of Up Helly Aa with a Bonfire Night theme and you're getting the flavour of it. It really is not to be missed if you ever find yourself near Lewes at that time of year, though the Bonfire Council discourages people from just trying to come for the night - with the streets closed and everything shut down, it's not easy to get to or from. Oh, and FYI: modern day Catholics join in the processions and celebrations alongside their Protestant neighbours. No Popery, but No Hard Feelings either. Very "British", but that's another thread!

[Fifi]

Honi soit qui mal y pense (Old French: "shame upon him who thinks evil of it")

Old French, but very relevant today.

[Frances144]

Honi soit qui mal y pense (Old French: "shame upon him who thinks evil of it")

Old French, but very relevant today.

 

Na boy, na!

 

Honi soit qui mal y pense ('Honey, your silk stocking's hanging down').

 

W. C. Sellar (1898 - 1951)

1066 And All That, 1930. (co-written with R. J. Yeatman)

 

Like duh! True history.

[man of kent]

I'm a Royalist, I believe she has a position, the hangers on including her husband do not.

I think the sooner we ditch all this crap about political correctness the better. Britain - which includes Scotland, needs to remember we are a Christian Country, based on Christian beliefs and we have rules to follow otherwise what would be have? (dont say France).

The sooner that all others realise this again it will be better. By all means allow other religions to practice, but the faith is founded on christianity, schools are Christian, remove other religious schools or better still remove all religion based schools and practice education! If your from Poland your a Pole, if your from Russia your a Ruskie, if your from Pakistan your a Pakistani, if your British then practice it, live by Britians rules, Britains beliefs and above all, be proud to be British. An oath wont change anything, its believing that will. I took an oath to protect her majesty and the shores of Great Britian, I still believe that to be correct.

 

As for a British Football Team - good god, what a nonesense - must be a women, come on you Jocks!

[McMess]

Britain - which includes Scotland, needs to remember we are a Christian Country, based on Christian beliefs and we have rules to follow otherwise what would be have? (dont say France).

The sooner that all others realise this again it will be better. By all means allow other religions to practice, but the faith is founded on christianity, schools are Christian, remove other religious schools or better still remove all religion based schools and practice education! If your from Poland your a Pole, if your from Russia your a Ruskie, if your from Pakistan your a Pakistani, if your British then practice it, live by Britians rules, Britains beliefs and above all, be proud to be British. An oath wont change anything, its believing that will. I took an oath to protect her majesty and the shores of Great Britian, I still believe that to be correct.

 

As for a British Football Team - good god, what a nonesense - must be a women, come on you Jocks!

 

True, Britain is technically a Christian country, but what percentage of the population are actually practicing Christians?

 

I think faith schools - including Christian, should be abolished. However, I do think it's important to teach children about all religions in an objective way. This is crucial to instill cultural tolerance, acceptance and integration.

 

Back on to Britain as a Christian country. Many people, including myself, are against religion being used in politics or daily life. However, the legal system and society is entrenched in Christian values. This is no bad thing, as I agree fully with many of these values and they can indeed provide a very good moral framework. However, these values are shared between many religions and cultures - they are just qualities of being a decent, moral person.

 

I don't see why we should even need to attach a religion to them. The values are universal whether you are religious or not, and I think people would find it a lot easier to see what they had in common if there wasn't a religious label attached to it. Teach good morals on their own merit, not in the name of religion.

[shetlandcars]

I went to a religious school; we had prayers, hymns and candles at assembly in the mornings. Sat cross legged on the hard floor looking at an overhead projector, singing 'colours of day'

 

Always remember the smell of snuffed out candles wafting through the hall on the way out to class.

[Guest posiedon]

man of kent wrote:

Britain - which includes Scotland, needs to remember we are a Christian Country, based on Christian beliefs and we have rules to follow otherwise what would be have? (dont say France).

Scandinavia?

 

The sooner that all others realise this again it will be better.

WTF????

By all means allow other religions to practice, but the faith is founded on christianity,

That sentence doesn't make sense, the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Pastafarian "faiths" are not founded on Christianity.

 

schools are Christian,

As far as I'm aware, there are no sectarian schools in Shetland. (let's call them by their proper name)

remove other religious schools or better still remove all religion based schools and practice education! If your from Poland your a Pole, if your from Russia your a Ruskie, if your from Pakistan your a Pakistani, if your British then practice it, live by Britians rules,

You make sense up till this point.

 

Britains beliefs

Then go and spoil it.

Britains beliefs! What are Britains beliefs

exactly?

and above all, be proud to be British. An oath wont change anything, its believing that will.

Believing what?

 

 

McMess said.

True, Britain is technically a Christian country, but what percentage of the population are actually practicing Christians?

7% of the population regularly attend Church, which means 93% dont, yet the self appointed [unelected] "leaders" of this tiny minority group, want to influence how we (the vast majority) live.

Abortion.

Stem cell research.

Equal rights for gays.

equal rights for women.

Etc, etc.

I think faith schools - including Christian, should be abolished. However, I do think it's important to teach children about all religions in an objective way. This is crucial to instill cultural tolerance, acceptance and integration.

Ra-men to that.

 

Back on to Britain as a Christian country. Many people, including myself, are against religion being used in politics or daily life. However, the legal system and society is entrenched in Christian values.

These are not "Christian values" They are basic human values and were around a long time before "Christianity" was invented, and I use the word invented in a literal sense.

 

 

 

Teach good morals on their own merit, not in the name of religion.

Morals and religion shouldn't even be used in the same sentence! The world would be in an even bigger mess than it is now if we all got our moral code from the bible/quran et-al.

[JAStewart]

I think that to refer to Britain is a 'Christian country' is wrong, and instead, it should be referred to as a 'culturally Christian country'.

 

I'm an atheist, but I'm a cultural Christian. I live in a society where people say 'god damnit', or 'jesus christ!'. Indeed I say these, its just how it is in the society that I'm brought up in.

 

As posiedon says, if we were brought up in a country of Christian morals.. well.. things would be so much worse.