I will make an early declaration that I waver between atheism and agnosticism depending upon my mood. Despite my mood swings, I am not fanatical on this issue. As much as I might dislike many aspects of religion, I am certainly not in the Richard Dawkins school of thought as I can see a role for religion, even in today’s Britain . Yet with the recent way in which various religious leaders and organisations have tied themselves into knots about gay marriage, it is looking increasingly like they are not sitting comfortably in the role that the UK as whole expects from them.
Organised religion, at its heart, is all about controlling people. The way they think (morals), the way they act (with conscience) and the way they interact with other people (civic society) whether they are of the same faith or not. Like anything else in life, this control can be used for both good and bad purposes. For me, the fundamental purpose for any organised religion should be that it should always be striving, no matter how misguided it may do so, to be attempting to make things better and to advance human beings in some way. For those who like to consider themselves civilised, this means by making people more tolerant to others, more fair in their dealings and conscientious about the needs of others especially the vulnerable. So how does insisting that gay people should not be treated the same as anyone else fit in with this goal?
Europe as a whole, with many countries around the world feeling the same way, believe strongly in the separation of religion and the state. It makes sense as each party can be a brake to the excesses of the other. Yet we are now in a position in the UK where the state is the progressive actor, striving to make people better and more tolerant and religion is the block. This has been the case for a long time. For organised religion to survive in any meaningful way, the UK population has to feel that it adds value to their lives. In the personal sense this may remain the case for some, but in the broader political sense this is not so. Whether it be through gay bashing, covering up child abuse cases or otherwise acting in a very discriminatory way (access to faith schools), there is a definite sense that religion in the UK is on a downwards spiral.
I do dislike organised religion (irrelevant to the issue of my lack of belief in a deity) and yet as someone with a strong interest in political theory, I feel that there is a big gap opening in the UK ’s civic society. There is a desperate need for credible and big organisations to challenge the government and to stand up for what is right, particularly for those incapable of defending themselves. This means fighting against the excesses of the wealthy, the belittling and denigration of the poor by the politicians and for everyone to be treated equally, and yes this includes the gays. When they go down the path of saying a particular group of people should be differently, particularly in a less equal way, then religion is no longer standing up for what is right and thus sliding down a slippery moral slope. What the ancient scriptures say is no defence, worse still making rulings and decisions that make people’s lives worse (the Catholic church’s attitude to use of condoms, particularly in the third world) is not only morally bankrupt, it should also be seen as criminal in the way that ‘incitement to terrorism’ is now criminal. We should all be responsible for what we do and say, it is time religious leaders faced their responsibilities to society at large. It is way past time religion began to properly look forwards, not backwards.
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