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Queen's Medal of Honour

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anotheoldgit | 15:43 Fri 08th May 2009 | News
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-117868 8/Queens-medal-honour-scrapped--Christian-Musl ims-Hindus.html

The cross-shaped honour - The Trinity Cross of the Order of Trinity - has been handed to distinguished members of the former colony of Trinidad and Tobago.

I just cannot understand this, aren't the peoples of Trinidad and Tobago, very much Christian?

So they have re-designed the Queen's Medal of Honour just because the old design was offensive to Muslims and Hindus.

If they don't like the old medal, then they don't have to accept it, full stop.
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yea this sort of thing gets my goat. Its another example of the pc brigade gone mad. I have two medals awarded by saudi and kuwait. And i have no objections to the islamic references on them cos they came from that kinda constitution. As far as i know this is still considered a christian country despite not many practising it. And the monarch who's award this medal is, is the head of our church. Constitutionally anyway.
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yea this kinda thing really gets on my goat. Its the pc brigade gone mad again. I have 2 medals awarded me by saudi and kuwait, and i have no objections to the islamic references cos i accept that is past of their constitution. As far as i am aware this is still a christian country even if most dont practise this. Also our monarch who makes this award is the head of that church. Constitutionally anyway.
aog:

There you go again, getting your kn*ckers in a twist.

"if they don't like the old medal, then they don't have to accept it, full stop."

Didn't you bother to read your own link? It was decided by the Privy Council, comprising no less than 12 law lords, that "the merit decoration was unlawful because it discriminates against non-Christians."

I'm sure that you'd be the first on here to protest were the boot to be on the other foot?
the boot's been on the other foot with me twice as i pointed out. Didn't object cos i realised i was being honoured. The fact it was obviously from another country and culture made it seem all the more special rather than offensive.
24% Hindu, 5% Muslim

"But questions at the time of its creation were raised over the Christian nature of the words 'Trinity' and 'Cross'. Some of those nominated for the award have refused to accept it."

"The High Court in Trinidad and Tobago ruled the decoration discriminated against non Christians but said it did not have the power to invalidate the royal order."

"Prime Minister Dr. Eric Williams in 1972 prevailed upon a reluctant Dr. Wahid Ali, then President of the Senate, and a Moslem, to wear the Trinity Cross; he agreed to accept it only after the Prime Minister promised to change the name of the award in the future

In 1995 the Dharmacharya (spiritual head of the Hindus belonging to the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, the largest Hindu organisation in the Caribbean, Pundit Krishna Maharaj, refused to accept the Trinity Cross from Prime Minister Patrick Manning, for his social work on the grounds that it didn"t represent a true national award involving all religious denominations of Trinidad and Tobago

In 1997, a cabinet appointed committee was appointed to look at the issue of the Trinity Cross"

It's been a long time coming, this reform. The new medal is sectarian and bears symbols relevant to Trinidad and Tobago.
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There you go again, getting your kn*ckers in a twist.

It is better to get them twisted than to have your head buried inside them all the time.

Can't you see what is going off, slowly but surely we are having our traditions taken away from us, don't you care?

This Medal has been legal for 40 years, why is it now illegal?

Are all Muslims & Hindus also complaining about being made Knights and will it now be illegal to be one, and to carry the title of Sir?

A review of the British honours system by the Commons Public Administration Select Committee in 2004 recommended reducing the number of decorations from twelve to four, with the new proposed titles having no reference to the Cross or Christian saints.

Today the Medal of Honour, tomorrow the Victoria Cross I presume?
aog:

So, in your insular little world, you'd rather forsake the laws of the land for "traditions", would you?

I'll bet you're also a monarchist? I don't hear Her Majesty complaining, do you? (And don't give us any guff about her not being able to comment!). She would get Philip to put his size 12 in it instead!
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paraffin

So, in your insular little world, you'd rather forsake the laws of the land for "traditions", would you?

What a totally stupid remark to make. People have laid down their lives in defence of their traditions.

Not all laws are correct, that is why people demonstrate, take the poll tax for example.

I don't hear Her Majesty complaining,

The last time a monarch complained against the establishment he lost his head.

Mind you we are not too many years away from similar practices returning in this country, and little people like you will just let it happen without a single protest.

aog:

And there was I being nice to you a few minutes ago on your Gurkha / Afghanistan post!

Good job I don't take the huff as you apparently do, isn't it? Or we'd never "talk" to one another again, would we?

No, I won't let the Queen be beheaded. Who'd look after the corgis? There - happy?

Mind you, I am struggling to come up with one of these traditions we've gone to war for recently?

C'mon, let your lips curl in an upwards direction - go on, you know you want to - that's it! Feel better now?
I think the problem is slightly too complex for knee-jerk reactions.

Trinidad was named by the Spaniards using the Spanish word for the Trinity - so non-Christian inhabitants of Trinidad have got a long-term problem regardless of anything the Queen does or does not do. However, I guess because most of them don't speak Spanish on a daily basis they don't feel too aggrieved by this.

The Queen is the Head of State of Trinidad and Tobago. The fact that she is also Head of State of the UK is nothing to do with this issue.

The Privy Council is the final Court of Appeal for T&T (another potential bone of contention, as it was for Australia) so that's why we've even heard about the subject. Still nothing to do with the UK.

Calling the original honour the Trinity Cross was a nod to the name of the islands without putting Tobago's nose too far out of joint.

Overall I'd say it was the correct thing to do and the PC had no real alternative but to nod it through unless there was some major problem with what T&T wanted to do in their own country.
People have laid down their life for traditions? Really?

I think there's a distinction to be made between a way of life and the values that go with it, and symbolic traditions.

Slavishly hanging onto traditions simply for their own sake strikes me as odd.

The medal is a reflection of bravery and service. Changing the shape of it won't tarnish that in the slightest. If it no longer alientates non-Christians as well, good. That's progress.

It's a no-brainer - unless you've decided that there's intrinsic merit in the shape of the medal. I'd be interested to hear why.
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anotheoldgit

Just digressing slightly, I've put an answer to your video question on the other thread, the one re: keepvid.
And if you look at modern day aeroplanes from above, the wings slant away from the nose.

In the olden days, they were at right angles, forming a clear cross shape. Yet another one of our proud traditions ruined.
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Quinlad

You beggar belief?????????????

You make me CROSS and they can alter things all they wish, but this will never alter.






That saddens me. Then again, you are a very angry man.

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