Writing with poetic sophistry David Robertson claims no less than that Christianity is the very foundation of our society and democracy. (Scotsman Sept 6th) Homo Sapiens has been muddling along quite nicely for about 195,000 years. A moral society requires that people have empathy not religion. What evidence does he have to support that the riots in Sweden were caused by secularism ? There were riots in London in a country with an established church ! He paints a picture of the church as a protector of the poor and dispossessed and necessary to prevent society being run by the rich and powerful. Might he be amenable to the church with its vast inherited wealth giving up some of its affluence and tax breaks so the state can properly fund schools free of specialised religious attitudes ? Mr Robertson talks about democracy itself depending on “traditional Christian values of tolerance and equality”. These are laudable sentiments but unfortunately some church versions require that to participate you are neither a woman nor gay. He says that the secular state is arrogantly “redefining marriage” which is somehow a slippery slope into totalitarianism. Despite the distaste of some religious enthusiasts most people want marriage equality and politicians are only responding accordingly. Again we hear that “public Christianity” is being “pushed into the background”. What does he mean by this ? If he is saying that Christians should have the right to worship openly and to share the usual means of public expression to advance their individual and collective views then he will get no argument from me. I suspect what he actually hopes however is for religion to continue to enjoy a privileged and unchallenged influence over our bodies of government and the minds of our schoolchildren. He dismisses objections to that as “secular fundamentalism”. Unlike Mr Roberson’s vision of a religion dominated society, an equal platform for all views is hardly a fundamentalist position.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 07:16:22 +0000
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