I would argue that the pursuit of absolute values and the notion of personal responsibility are incompatible with each other. By absolute values I mean that there is a set of values which are immutable and apply in all circumstances and at all times. It is generally fundamentalist or evangelical religious people who espouse this idea. Such values are usually articulated in religious scriptures or by a religious leader. By personal responsibility I mean that one follows what one believes to be right and is prepared to take full responsibility for his actions.
The conflict arises when a person's conscience leads them to a different view than that which is proscribed by the absolute values which they otherwise believe to be infallible truth. A recent survey revealled that 80% of Catholics in UK do not accept all the teachings of the Pope but rather follow their own conscience in such matters!! But what happens when we go against our own conscience or sense of what is right or wrong in order to conform to a set of absolute values or beliefs?
It is here I believe that we would be abandoning the principle of personal responsibility. We are in effect saying "I will pass responsibility over to what my scripture is telling me or to a religious leader who is interpreting them for me even though in my heart of hearts I believe it to be wrong".
This can lead to otherwise good and tolerant people becoming discriminatory or worse in the name of absolute values. No, the proper course must be to say "My conscience is king and I will follow what it tells me and I am prepared to take full responsibility for what I believe, even if it conflicts with what you tell me!"
Monday, 27 September 2010
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
The Pope attacks UK Equality Laws
I was disappointed to see that the Pope has chosen to speak out about the Equality Bill which is passing through Parliament at the moment. UK Equality laws are there to give protection from unfair discrimination to religious people as well as to gays and other groups. The main objection is, of course regarding homosexuals being included in the legislation. The Pope is concerned that this is an attack on religious freedoms! It is no such thing.
There is always some difficulty when there arises a conflict of rights. In this case religious freedom and the rights of gays not to be unfairly discriminated against. The legislation seeks to compromise by exempting religious institutions and allowing them to discriminate when employing people in positions where they would be responsible for teaching religious principles or say those in pastoral roles. This means that no gay priests will be forced on churches. This is actually quite a big compromise. But the Pope is not happy with this. Churches and religious institutions would not be exempt from discriminating when it comes to administrative staff or those not in teaching or pastoral roles. That to me seems a fair compromise. After all what objection could anyone have?
Do the Churches want to ban all people from taking up any sort of employment if they are not living entirely according to the scriptural moral laws? If that was the case they would not be able to employ anybody, save a living saint. And there are not many of those about. For instance does the Church employ those who live as co-habiting couples in administrative roles? Why single out homosexuals? And what if a serving employee has an abortion. Does the church want to be exempt from the employment laws of unfair dismissal and be allowed to fire such an employee for gross misconduct?
The churches have nothing to fear from this legislation, and indeed much to gain. Apart from anything else do they think that gays are likely to even want to work for an employer that preaches homosexuality is a sin and can legally discriminate against promoting staff to more senior positions? Probably not.
Still, the Pope's protestation are likely to fall on deaf ears. Gordon Brown says it would be inappropriate to comment. So that's Ok then.
There is always some difficulty when there arises a conflict of rights. In this case religious freedom and the rights of gays not to be unfairly discriminated against. The legislation seeks to compromise by exempting religious institutions and allowing them to discriminate when employing people in positions where they would be responsible for teaching religious principles or say those in pastoral roles. This means that no gay priests will be forced on churches. This is actually quite a big compromise. But the Pope is not happy with this. Churches and religious institutions would not be exempt from discriminating when it comes to administrative staff or those not in teaching or pastoral roles. That to me seems a fair compromise. After all what objection could anyone have?
Do the Churches want to ban all people from taking up any sort of employment if they are not living entirely according to the scriptural moral laws? If that was the case they would not be able to employ anybody, save a living saint. And there are not many of those about. For instance does the Church employ those who live as co-habiting couples in administrative roles? Why single out homosexuals? And what if a serving employee has an abortion. Does the church want to be exempt from the employment laws of unfair dismissal and be allowed to fire such an employee for gross misconduct?
The churches have nothing to fear from this legislation, and indeed much to gain. Apart from anything else do they think that gays are likely to even want to work for an employer that preaches homosexuality is a sin and can legally discriminate against promoting staff to more senior positions? Probably not.
Still, the Pope's protestation are likely to fall on deaf ears. Gordon Brown says it would be inappropriate to comment. So that's Ok then.
Thursday, 21 January 2010
Come and join the dance!
The Sufi poet Rumi asked this question: "Do you want to come to God dressed for dancing or be carried on a stretcher to God's ward?" It means that we are all equally God's beloved children and that narrows our choices down to just two: We can either dance our way into Heaven or be carried there on a stretcher to God's ward where we will need to be healed first. But in the end we shall all join the dance. There is no other possibility, but it is so much more fun to go there dancing.
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