Sunday, November 15, 2009

Just what we need...

I read with dismay that John Denham, the communities secretary has launched a "crusade" to get more superstition into our government, apparently we need more according to Mr Denham. In an interview with the daily Telegraph he talked about a new panel of "religious experts" that are to advise the government on making public policy decisions. He said,

"However, Mr Denham argued that Christians and Muslims can contribute significant insights on key issues, such as the economy, parenting and tackling climate change." 

One wonders what "special" insights a religious expert might have on climate change that either a climatologist or even a member of the general public might not have, or indeed how Hindu economics would differ from the Zoroastrian version. My belief is well and truly beggared at this pathetic and blatant vote grabbing move, this Government proves once again that it prioritises it's own crabby hide over what is right and fair for the majority of people in this country.

"I don't like the strand of secularism that says that faith is inherently a bad thing to have and should be kept out of public life,"

I suppose he's talking about me, a member of a clearly aggressive and dangerous sect who foolishly prefer that our Government provide privilege to no specific group, regardless what they do or don't believe without evidence. Most people in this country (or at least a significant proportion) have no strong religious belief, only a tiny fraction attend Church regularly so I wonder, is the panel going to include an atheist "expert", an agnostic "expert" or a humanist "expert", will the Islamic representative be a Woman or the Christian one a homosexual, I'm not holding my breath.



At this point I shall borrow the words from the NSS web site as they seem appropriate for Mr Denham,

Involving religious leaders also assumes that everyone of a particular religion speaks with one voice and these leaders represent a whole community. In some cases, women and minors are effectively voiceless as are those who see themselves as belonging broadly to a certain culture but who are not religious. A secular government is the only way of ensuring that every citizen is treated equally

Don't worry Mr Denham at the rate your party is going you haven't got much longer to worry about secularism or clinging onto power.

2 comments:

Elizabeth said...

That's amazing! That reminds me of Richard Dawkins' book when he writes how strange it seems that theologians are always consulted in a time of crisis -- like what can they contribute?

Steve Borthwick said...

E, I know what he means, since these religions already have huge power, influence and financial resources it seems ludicrous that the Government feels the need to give them even more unfettered access to political influence; the whole thing stinks of a vote buying exercise.