By Desmond Rutherford (Adelaide, Australia) JAN 22 | Some members of the Christian religion condemn what they regard as sin.
But what about those of us who are not Christians?
We reject their notion of sin, shame, guilt, and forgiveness through whatever mechanism their cult has adopted. We do not believe their biblical texts to be the word of a deity.
Christians as well as other religions, must understand that they do not have the right to dictate their beliefs to those of us who find religions unattractive and unconvincing.
Equally, there can be no objection to people believing in their chosen religion provided they refrain from proselytising and imposing their beliefs on others with condemnation for committing the religion’s sins.
If you are not a member of the religion, you should not be pressured to regard yourself as subject to the religion’s laws.
How then would religious people preach their message? I am tempted of course to say “they mustn’t, they shouldn’t,” but the real core of the matter is that under human rights, individuals including children must have freedom to choose their religion and that means freedom from religion…any religion.
Under the European Union’s Declaration of Human Rights and the first amendment of the US Constitution, theocracy is not an optional form of government for the Republic or the representative democracies which adhere to the declaration.
In essence that means no matter the political majority, nothing should trespass on people's freedom to live without the demands of a belief in a religion, and most importantly without influence from the religion in either their personal or public lives.
We humans, are more than capable of regulating our societies for the welfare and morality of our citizens without recourse to outmoded, tribal laws from our primitive, religious and superstitious ancestral past.
There are still many mysteries of life indeed which pose questions for us to solve. It is time, in this 21st century, that we do so without resorting to mythological excuses for what science and rational critical thought can with a little effort, provide us.
To paraphrase Darwin, “There is much beauty and grandeur in reality.”
There is no need to complicate any truths with mythology, and more is gained from its insight. There must certainly never be a requirement to live one's life in the shadow of religious policies.
Societies must be firmly rooted in the humanities, not based on Christian, Muslim, Jewish or any other religious form. Religions tend to disregard individual experiences, and thus it falls to our nations to protect and preserve our hard won secular liberties from religious inquisitions.
God is dead, but some people are having a funeral service which has been going on for far too long.
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1 comments:
It almost seems to be a genetic imperative that people not only develop religions, but insist on forcing their own beliefs on others, even non-religious ones. How else would you explain the condemnation that surrounds one when you deny the existence of Santa Claus and refuse to give gifts. Ironically, the only excuse you can use without too much criticism is that it is 'against your religion'.
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