All the public events connected with the recent death of the Queen Mother were performed with such precision and dignity that it was awesome as well as moving to watch. The procession taking the coffin to the lying in state and the funeral itself were models of solemn pageantry, impeccable timing and British restraint. Like the mourned Queen Mother herself, they were impressive spectacles. No doubt many of us were moved with feelings of thankfulness to God for the Queen Mother’s life: for her strength of character which helped to sustain both monarchy and nation during critical times; for ‘her steadfastness, her loyalty, her determination, her sparkle’ referred to by Ian Paisley in his House of Commons tribute; and for a long life of public duty with an (at least outward) adherence to Biblical morality, to righteousness. The splendour and pomp of the ceremonial is now gone. It was glorious in a way while it lasted. But nothing has changed. We are still faced with the grim and squalid reality of Britain’s moral condition. The following digest of facts and figures only tells part of the story. Promiscuity

Britons are more promiscuous than ever before. The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles 2000 found that men and women have more sexual partners than they did 10 years ago and are more likely to be unfaithful. The survey also reveals that more men are paying for sex and more people are contracting sexually transmitted infections. The study of 11,161 people between the ages of 16 and 44 from across the UK found that only one in five men and one in four women had had the same sexual partner over the course of their lives. In the 16-24 age range one in seven men and one in ten women had had more than ten partners in the last five years.

...they committed adultery

and thronged to the houses of prostitutes.

They are well-fed, lusty stallions,

each neighing for another man's wife.

Should I not punish them for this?"

declares the LORD.

Should I not avenge myself

on such a nation as this?

 (Jeremiah 5:8-10)

A sizeable number of people were found to have ‘two-timed’ during the past year - 21% of men and 15% of women in the 16 to 24 age group. The number of men who have paid for sex in the past five years has doubled since 1990 to one in 23, rising to one in 11 in London. Sexually transmitted infections in the UK increased by almost 300,000 cases between 1995 and 2000. In one year (1999-2000), gonorrhoea rose by 31 per cent in males and 26 per cent in females. In the same year, chlamydia, one of the major causes of infertility in women, rose by 17 per cent. The Department of Health admits: 'Virtually all the sexually transmitted infections are increasing. There has been no reduction in the annual number of new diagnoses of HIV made and the latest annual figures (1999) saw the highest number of new HIV diagnoses ever recorded.

'Promoting promiscuity

The numbers of girls having under-age sex has increased fivefold in one generation. Nearly a quarter of girls born in 1974 had sex before they were 16. For those born in the 1950s it was 5%. Contraception is available free on the NHS. Condoms are readily available in supermarkets and petrol stations. Despite all this, in the past ten years the teenage pregnancy rates have not fallen. The UK now has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe. The abortion rates for 16-19 year olds have risen by 50% since 1975.

Recently the ‘morning after’ pill has become much more widely available. The Christian Institute reports that ‘the morning after pill Levonelle-2 is taken to prevent conception up to 72 hours after intercourse. If conception has already occurred, the pill prevents the embryo implanting in the lining of the womb. Levonelle can therefore act as a form of abortion (from a Christian, though not a legal, perspective). Over-the-counter sale encourages sex without any forethought whatsoever. The government plans to make the morning after pill available without prescription to women aged 16 and over. Some school nurses are prescribing the morning after pill to girls. Chemists are also lawfully giving the pills to 15 year-old girls. This is because some health authorities are using new legal powers given to them by the government to allow nurses and pharmacists to prescribe drugs directly.Children and drugs

One in five children aged 11-15 have used drugs in the last year, according to a government-commissioned survey. The number of pupils who admitted abusing glue, gas, aerosols or other solvents has also jumped sharply. 12% of pupils had used drugs in the last month and 20% had used drugs in the last year. Drug use appears to be higher among boys than girls. Some 39% of 15 year-olds had used drugs in the last year. In total, 4% had used class A drugs in the last year. 42% of pupils said they had been offered one or more drugs in the last year.

If we have felt a sympathy for members of the Royal Family, some stirrings of proper patriotism, a certain nostalgia as we mourned the Queen Mother... let us seek God’s face afresh, that he may be merciful to sinning, disgraced Britain in our lifetime. Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people (Proverbs 14:34).

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