Recommended book.

Religious discrimination.

By Howard Taylor.

.

Secularism and Neutrality.

·         Secularism is a form of religion. It claims, without evidence, that the Universe and life (even human life) can all be understood by the atoms/molecules, and laws of physics that make up their physical being.

·         Even if secularists don’t like it being called a religion, this is how it will be regarded by religious people from all nations. Secularism is not neutral.

·         Most people in the world recognise intuitively that there is more to life than science can, in principle, describe. They regard secularism as a denial of this intuitive perception.

·         Secularism is regarded as anti-religion.

·         Non-Christian religions are not neutral in their relation with one-another. Just because one particular religion does not make demands for worship spaces does not mean it is happy to let other religions have their space.

·         The nearest thing to neutrality is Christianity.

·         Multi-faithism is seen as a watering down of belief and is regarded badly by adherents of various religions who see it as insincere.

Race, Religion and Politics.

Race and religious issues are often spoken of as if they were closely related.  I believe that is a mistake. Although we have to be very sensitive to religious differences they are entirely different from racial differences (eg colour of skin.)

1.       Ethnic Origin is fixed from birth, whereas religious beliefs, like political beliefs, may, and often do, change.

·         People of very different racial and cultural backgrounds may have the same religion.

-          Many people would be surprised to know that the majority of Church attending Christians in the world are non-white. Even in London the majority of regular Church attenders are non-white. (Non-white people probably resent being told they should not have accepted the religion of the colonial homelands. They should instead be given the respect that allows them to choose their religion. Many Africans (for example) are grateful to the early missionaries for bringing Christ to them. White people who are non-Christians should not insult them by telling them they should not be Christians.)

·         People from the same race and culture may have different religious beliefs.

2.       Religious beliefs, like political beliefs - but unlike racial origins - may affect moral attitudes.

·         Some religions at their core are inherently tolerant, others very much less so.

·         Should all things be tolerated? Clearly not! We don’t tolerate racialism.

-          At what point should we stop tolerating intolerance?

-          Should we be intolerant of intolerance if that intolerance comes from the founder of the religion or its scriptures?

3.       Religious beliefs, like political beliefs, should always be open to vigorous debate.

·         Atheists should have the right to criticise the beliefs of religion in general and any particular religion.

·         Adherents of one religion should be free to explain why they believe what they do and why they don’t believe what some others do believe.

·         They should be free to commend their beliefs, seeking peacefully and reasonably to persuade others about what they consider very important matters.

-          Such debate and free speech might offend some religious sensibilities.

-          Nevertheless, as long as such debate is not intended to encourage hatred, it should be allowed. It is a legitimate use of free speech.

·         However criticism of someone’s ethnic origin or race would be undesirable – going beyond the bounds of acceptable free speech.

4.       Not all so-called religious conflicts have anything to do with religious beliefs.

·         The most violent representatives of both Loyalism and Republicanism in N. Ireland do not attend their respective churches.

·         In the West of Scotland the violent sectarian rivals have no idea what the words Protestant or Catholic mean. These terms are simply labels identifying one ‘tribe’ as over against another. It is thus a mistake to describe this kind of sectarian hatred as religious hatred.

5.       However in some areas of the world differences of religious conviction are the source of conflict.

There are conflicts that cannot be understood simply by reducing them to secular issues of politics or economics or race or culture. In a real sense they are religious conflicts.

6.       Whereas we might believe that all religions should have equal rights, what do we mean by a religion?

·         What is a bona fide religion?

·         Do ancient religions such as witchcraft, voodoo and, paganism etc qualify? Some of their leading adherents claim that they do.

·         Is a large number of adherents to a belief system, a sufficient guarantee of it being worthy of respect?

6. Not all people who claim to belong to a particular religion are happy to have that religion.

·         It may simply be community, family, ethnic or national pressure that stops them changing. In some cases death is the official religiously sanctioned penalty for changing one's religion.

·         People who are unhappy with their religious affiliation may not welcome the attentions of representatives of their religion especially when they are away from their home country.

·         Culture is a local phenomenon belonging to parts of the world. Religion may make universal claims. These may even be in the form of political, military and territorial claims. Culture and Religion should not be confused.

7.       Christianity is not the native religion of these islands. It was brought here by missionaries from outside the Western World. The native religion in these islands was/is Druidism.

====================================================