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MaltaToday online poll: majority overwhelmingly vote against religion in Constitution
Respondents to an online poll on MaltaToday.com.mt have overwhelmingly voted to remove religion from the Maltese Constitution.
28 April 2012, 12:00am
Matthew Vella
Matthew Vella
2 min read
The question was informed by a recent pronouncement from former US ambassador Douglas Kmiec, a staunch Catholic, to include the mention of God in a reformed Maltese constitution.
Up to Friday 27 April at 6pm, a total of 1,153 voted on MaltaToday's online poll on whether they thought religion should be included in the Maltese Constitution.
The question was informed by a recent pronouncement from former US ambassador Douglas Kmiec, a staunch Catholic, to include the mention of God in a reformed Maltese constitution.
Going by MaltaToday's online community, the proposal has met little support: only 83, or 7% of voters, felt that a reference to God - as an alternative to Roman Catholicism - was appropriate.
But a total of 645 readers, 56%, said that state and religion should be kept apart and that would mean abrogating Article 2 of the Maltese Constitution.
Article 2 of the Constitution of Malta states that the religion of Malta is the Roman Catholic Apostolic Religion; that the authorities of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church have the duty and the right to teach which principles are right and which are wrong; and that religious teaching of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Faith shall be provided in all State schools as part of compulsory education.
416, or 36% of voters on the online poll, voted yes to keeping religion in the Constitution, specifically because they agreed that the Roman Catholic religion is part of Maltese identity.
Only nine voters felt they had no opinion on the matter.
US ambassador Douglas Kmiec has suggested that a reference to 'the Creator' should be included in an updated Constitution that reflects Maltese people in 2012.
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ....", which has enshrined the separation of church and state in the United States of America. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.
Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...
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It-tama tmut l-ahhar u nipprova nwiegeb ghar-raba' darba!
Lil Progress: IL-GIDDIEB huwa int ghax jien qatt ma kont sindku ta' mkien. Int GIDDIEB U STUPIDU ghax dil-haga jien ktibtha 20 darba, imma l-injorant ma jifhem qatt.
Overwhelming majority! Darba kelli summienu u mietli. Wiehed kelli. Bhala persentagg jien tlift mija fil-mija mis-summien tieghi. Marridux ninsew lejn liema naha xxaqleb dil-gazzetta. Harsu lejn l-ahbarijiet u lejn il-kummentaturi. Anki kieku dawn l-1200 vot KOLLHA kienu kontra r-referenza ghar-religjon ecc ecc Dik tkun overwhelming majority? Il-qofol, imma, hu jekk ahna nkunux ahjar jew aghar meta nippruvaw ingennbu r-religjon. Tghid did-darba jghaddi?
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This is not a real poll. It's someone who log onto your site and vote. A real poll has to be random to be taken seriously.
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@Progress: INT GIDDIEB! Jew GIDRA! Probabbli t-tnejn. Jien qatt ma kont sindku ta' mkien u dan jien ktibtu mitt darba, imma intom veru gdur. Anqas Malta semplici ma tifhmu.
Issa din ta' l-overwhelming majority tibqghux iddahhqu biha. L-ewwelnett din il-gazzetta kulhadd jaf lejn fejn ixxaqleb u kulhadd jaf min jaqraha. Jekk jivvutaw 10 min-nies u KOLLHA jghidu ABJAD inkunu nistghu nghidu li l-Maltin mija fil-mija jridu l-abjad! 250 qalu li mintoff ghamel izjed gid....dik overwhelming majority. u issa haw manafx kemm, 5, 6 mija? allura overwhelming majority. Imma dan jaqrawh il-lejburisti li hafna minnhom anqas bil-Malta ma jafu jiktbu.
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Kif joqomsu malli ssemmilhom il-passat moqziez taghhom.
Kelma lil Progress: Int GIDDIEB U STUPIDU. Jien qatt ma kont sindku ta' mkien u dan ktibtu 20 darba. Imma stupidu bhalek ma jitghallem qatt. U kieku tibqa' laburist?
Joseph MELI •
Dear Socialista88,
Are you smoking crack or on some other form of substance abuse?As I clearly made the reference to 100 and 70% as an example of what other polls and surveys state but thanks for bringing my attentino to how many voted in this poll -as how would I have known without your advice?Also usually these polls DO NOT allow people to vote more than once -name one that has allowed you to do so?Anyway,do try to keep up with the programme please as the issue I clearly addressed was about declaring actual numbers of respondents to surveys or polls and not percentages -which is something only Maltatoday does!
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Prosit Giovanni Demartino ghac-certifikat li qed taghti lill-Gvern Nazzjonjalista li wara 25 sens dittatorjat wassal biex hemm maggoranza skomd ma qed tghid il-Malta Today li am jridux li r-religjoni niosranija tibqà fil-Kostituzzjoni. Ara fi zmien il-PL li inthom u anki inti issa qed tkompli takkuza li kien kontra l-Knisja qatt ma kien hemm maggoranza kontra r-religjon, imma kienu biss kontra l-forzi tad-dlamijiet li kien u ghad hemm fil-Kurja. Nerga' nghidlek prosit tac-certifikat sabih li tajt inti stess lill-partit tieghek, il-PN.
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Skont Progress jien fallejt KUnsill. INT, PROGRESS, INT GIDDIEB U INJORANT. fHIMTNI? int giddieb GHAX JIEN QATT MA KONT SINDKU, DIN KTIBTHA MITT DARBA U INT, TANT INT GIDRA, LI GHADEK MA FHIMTHIEX. sTUPIDU.
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@ pmurray - It would appear that 1,153 voted , and not 100! Having said that, usually these polls allow people to vote more than once - generally limit is up to once daily.
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@ Giovanni Demartino - Jigifieri int, fi xjuhitek, ghadek temmen li l-Arcisqof Gonzi bil-hnizrijiet li kien jaghmel fis-sittinijiet kien jirrapprezenta lill-Knisja u lill-Kristu?! Gonzi kien (u jibqa' fl-istorja ta' Malta) politikant nazzjonalist moqziez li ha vantagg mill-pozizzjoni tieghu bhala Arcisqof biex iheggeg lill-fidili (fil-veru sens tal-kelma)kontra l-Laburisti. Jien ghalija billi ammetta li zbalja u l-fatt li talab zkuza ma jnaqqsu xejn mill-hsara enormi u irreparabbli li ghamel lill-Knisja vera ta' Sidna Gesu' Kristu. Hsara li ghada tinhass sal-lum.
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At last a glimmer of hope. The Maltese are changing and as this poll shows, now are beginning to understand that church (any church or belief) and state don't mix. Also why the prominence given to what an ex American ambassador thinks anyway. Why doesn't he go back to his country and change his constitution. He's even proposing a more retrograde step to include a "creator". Let's hope that most Maltese have progressed enough to not mix state and religion again. What constitutions should reflect is real relgious freedom for all (including non believers).
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Govanni int hlief gideb u hdura fuq il-laburisti mghandekx, jien darba kont meeting u Mintoff smajtu jghid li minghajr religjon Kristjana ahna mahna xejn, infatti ta ezempju fejn qal Kristu ghalliemna biex nghinu lil min hu batut kif ghamel hu , ghamila cara fil kostituzjoni meta sirna republika li l-Knisja kattolika tigi referita ghax kien jaf li jigi xi gurdien u jipprova jkisser li ghallimna Kristu bhalek tinterprita l-gideb. Ghati dak li hu ta Cesari u ghadi dak li hu t'Alla u int xghamilt fallejt kunsill ghax hallejt dejn u fejn marru l-flus?
Dak hu dnub zgur. Dak imissek tghid lil Poplu Mosti,
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We Maltese are the first European Christians and Roman catholics, should we dismantle this in the constituttion than we lose our credibility, even when the church interdicted the labour party still the labour party insisted to include that Roman catholic religion is our identidy. Whoever does these polls has an agenda hidden to tarnish the Church and we labourites still recognize that Roman catholic religion is there to stay, no matter what.
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Hazin! Hafna hazin. Tiftakru meta kienu jzebilhu lil Sir Michael u mhux lill-arcisqof? Meta kienu jzebilhu lill-arcisqof u mhux il-knisja? Meta kienu jzebilhu l-knisja Maltija u mhux il-veru knisja? Meta kienu jzebilhu l-knisja u mhux ir-religjon? Meta kienu jzebilhu r-religjon u mhux lil G Kristu? Iz-zerriegha nibtet u bdiet taghti l-frott. Ghalhekk qeghdin sew!
Joseph MELI •
It should be noted,and most commendably so,that Maltatoday is the only publcation that actually submits the number of respondents to polls or surveys which thereby provides a true and accurate reflection of opinion.As we are constantly bombarded by the results of surveys-commissioned by governmental agencies(including the NSO)or EU sponsored -which provide the apparently "irrefutable conclusions" reached in their survey results which only give percentages -but fail to provide a percentage of how many respondents (in any event these are usually only very low in number)which invariably gives false and misleading statistics.As 70% sounds an overwhemlingly majority but only reflects 70 people if only 100 responded.Well done Maltatoday-leaders in responsible and accurate reporting as usual.
Joseph MELI •
It should be noted,and most commendably so,that Maltatoday is the only publcation that actually submits the number of respondents to polls or surveys which thereby provides a true and accurate reflection of opinion.As we are constantly bombarded by the results of surveys-commissioned by governmental agencies(including the NSO)or EU sponsored -which provide the apparently "irrefutable conclusions" reached in their survey results which only give percentages -but fail to provide a percentage of how many respondents (in any event these are usually only very low in number)which invariably gives false and misleading statistics.As 70% sounds an overwhemlingly majority but only reflects 70 people if only 100 responded.Well done Maltatoday-leaders in responsible and accurate reporting as usual.
