February 2007 Early in January I was interviewed for The Yorkshire Post about Govt proposals to amend restrictions on shooting game on Sundays and other festivals alongside the abolition of game & game dealers licences. No one is aware of such recommendations I suspect! I think there are few who want to see Sunday further eroded, and probably no takers for a day's shooting on Christmas.

More legislation that this Govt. has not thought through and typical of its dreaming up ideas about things about which it has no experience nor knowledge. Certainly in shooting circles there is no desire for another day; 6 days are available and they are sufficient. It certainly makes a mockery of the Sabbath and its purpose. Added to which the countryside is crowded enough* and it would be a shame to have too much on so that it has to be regulated. As it is there would be a clash over access, because at present the restriction prevents any clash with the walking and rambling fraternity and shooting syndicates as there is a complete day for the former when the latter are not out and about.

 Yet it is thanks to Christianity and its legacy from Judaism that we have a week end at all and a day that is special for other things. Re-creation, as Christian emphasis would put it, is our bonus and sadly it is only a few (the remnant as the Old Testament would say) who give God the glory first at some point in the day, or by special effort during the week. Many city churches do cater for evening and midday worship to enable people to open up their Sabbath back home for other activities that are legal. In anticipation of the Sabbath there have never been field sports on Sundays, nor indeed was there racing until commercial pressure forced the change. On the commercial issue about shooting on the Sabbath I hope gamekeepers and others, who help at the shoot by beating etc, will stand firm about keeping a day separate for the family and God. There are bound to be raised voices from a few who anticipate making more money out of the opportunity, but hopefully they will get no support from any workforce if the legislation does go ahead.

Country folk are probably more aware of the 7 day cycle with its Sabbath space and certainly my riding days with the army gave the horses a rest on Sundays with minimum work in the stables for those of us on duty on that day. The Romans worked a system of a day off every ten and if we are not careful we will end up with a continuous stream of working days without even a breather unless employment contacts are alerted to the Christian provision for a Sabbath rest. It is the case that Christianity has set a norm that now many walks of life challenge or, far worse, reject out of hand. Often this happens as a result of the work in hand having to maintain its momentum, rather like the blast furnaces in foundries having to run continuously until they were run down for maintenance and there was time off available.

We therefore need to be careful about taking Christian values for granted, especially those deeply embedded in our culture, daily life, and the general establishment behind the structure of our society. Or, rather, we need to be more aware of the reason that they are there so they are not sidelined and the opportunities they give us lost. We see in the media ridicule over City Councils removing Christmas in favour of a winterval, yet the very people they set out not to offend want to see us hold Christmas because they benefit from the season's activities and space and it confirms to them that we do have values, that we do have a nominal faith that regulates our lives, and that we do give space and some glory to God.

The recent demonstrations outside Parliament as I write endorse the logical end of our freedom to apply God to our situations. It seems to be silly to outlaw someone's conscience derived from Christian belief and understanding in this instance by denying some people their conscience. If others, to whom they object, merit special treatment for other reasons the opportunity for that already exists, either through charity or by their merit. A previous example of this clash of interest was Sunday trading with the proviso that those who wished to maintain the Sabbath could do so. The lesson we need to learn is what is our faith for, where is it leading us and how, when do we make space for our neighbour, and why it is important to us so that we can stand up and be counted as occasion demands. Those occasions may become more frequent than we think especially when others we think should be doing the thinking are not doing the thinking clearly in the first place and not for the right or Christian reasons in the second place.

Don't lose heart or faith,

* do you remember that bright sunny New Year's Day? I am told that the car parks at White Horse and Sutton Bank top were full to overflowing! Ed.