For Harry and England – The Relevance of St George

Flag of St George, copyright Steve Webster

Today is the 23rd of April, the day when England celebrates its patron saint, a man not even born in England who is famous because he killed a mythical beast.

Admittedly, this has never been as big a deal as our cousins from the emerald isle raising a glass of the black stuff to St Patrick, but in recent years many have tried to increase the significance of this day in the name of national pride.

This usually involves bars and pubs bedecking themselves in white bunting baring the red cross and serving pints of real ale.

Even the Prime Minister has been getting in on the action this year.

David Cameron said: “St George has been England’s patron saint since 1350, but for too long, his feast day – England’s national day – has been overlooked.”

However, is this all not slightly ridiculous and archaic?

St George can thank his status in this country to Edward III, who marched on Scotland carrying the famous red cross in the 14^th century.

Nearly a hundred years later, following the Battle of Agincourt, his feast day was made a national holiday.

As previously mentioned, however, St George was not even English, in fact England is not even the only country he is patron saint of.

Germany, Greece, Portugal, Lithuania, Georgia, Catalonia and Palestine celebrate him.

He is even the patron saint of, among other things, soldiers, archers, the Scouts, herpes, leprosy, plague and syphilis. No, you did not misread that.

As a symbol of national pride are we really saying we can find nobody better to represent modern, diverse English values?

Put it this way, 23 April is also William Shakespeare’s birthday, a genuine British icon who never had to rely on mythology to become one of the Greatest Britons.

Interestingly, the place of St George mainly comes down to another debate raging in the last couple of weeks, the UKs position as a Christian country.

When St George was first adopted by this country, or perhaps given his heritage we should call him a refugee, he was heralded as a martyr who was killed for speaking out against the Emperor Diocletian’s torture of Christians.

Historically England and the UK as a whole is a Christian nation (as long as you ignore our early flirtation with Paganism) and our society is based (loosely) on Christian values, but is it real fair to say modern Britain is a Christian country?

Between 2001 and 2011 censuses the percentage of people describing themselves as Christian fell from 71.7% to 59.3%, while those describing themselves as of no religion went up from 14.8% to 25.1%.

These statistics show the majority of people in the UK classify themselves as Christian, but this badly misrepresents what British people view as being Christian in a modern context.

Today the church does not hold the same significance in day-to-day life and while we should not ignore our history it is really fair to say we are a Christian nation in the strictest sense of the word?

The teachings of tolerance of understanding are something we should certainly take into account, perhaps now more than ever, but let’s not pretend these are exclusively Christian ideas.

Our world views are now dictated much less by the influence of the church and more by a wider understanding of the world and science.

This is not to say we should not be proud of our Christian heritage, but it is just that, heritage.

We are no longer a country of religious fanatics who rode off to fight the crusades, we are a tolerant forward-thinking nation which is capable of basing its decisions on more than just the teaching of the church.

With this in mind is it really right that a Palestinian-born patron saint of sexual transmitted diseases should be used as a symbol of psudo-nationalism, a man who throughout history has been used as a call-to-arms in this country, normally to go and fight another Christian nation.

In this great country can we really not come up with somebody more worthy, more relevant to our modern world than someone whose most notable achievement was killing a fictional animal?

We should be proud of this country and its heritage, Christian or not.

We should be honoured to be English, British and members of the United Kingdom.

We should remember this country’s history, but not let our history govern our future.

Outpourings of national pride and patriotism should not be criticised, but St George does not embody a modern Britain I recognise.

Today is William Shakespeare’s birthday and to my mind this is far more worthy of celebration as are the thousands of Englishmen and women who have made this country what it is.

There are many great people, born in this country and not quasi-fictional, who have done wonderful things, who in different and more relevant ways represent a modern England, an open and tolerant England and do not cling to these antiquated notions of what patriotism is.

Patriotism is about more than donning a flag and thumping your chest, it is about being proud of who you are, where you are from and what your country has and can still yet achieve.

Let us celebrate being English and British by celebrating those worthy of admiration, not those who image has been bastardised in the name of war-mongering national pride.