this is a great entry. by the way, i hope my facebook thing wasn't something that annoyed/hurt you - i'm not anti-religion at all (my family are irish catholics), but i was offended by the pope's remarks about secularism, especially given the controversial nature of this 'state' visit in the light of the things you mentioned.
Well, it did set me thinking. But, the thing is, I don't think there's any such thing as "aggressive secularism." Secularism is just religion and government keeping out of each other's faces. On the government free from religion side: policies get debated on their merits, and just because one has the backing of some faith group, doesn't give it any more clout. On the religion free from government side: no passing laws against religious expression (looking at you, Sarkozy), no passing laws specifically aimed at religion, full stop -- on the understanding that religions and the religious are not exempt from the laws that exist, such as human rights and anti-discrimination (back to the government free from religion). And so on and so forth
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your points are all very interesting. i didn't think about it in as much depth at all, to be honest. i just had the strong reaction to the comment that i was utterly delighted to be growing up in a less strictly catholic way/society than all of the earlier members of my family. my mother was raped at 15 and was sent to a magdalene asylym where she had to do back-breaking work throughout her pregnancy, away from her family, and made to feel worthless by the nuns. she has been an alcoholic ever since, and my brother, adopted by my aunt to hide the 'shame', grew up to be a borderline schizophrenic, abusive drug addict, who in turn has made my nieces start in life very difficult.
I'm kind of with you - the same mixed feelings, in spite of an intense dislike of Pope Palpatine. Time was, I used to think of atheists as allies in the battle against fundamentalist Christianity. Now it feels like an attack from both sides, with the progressive religious caught in the crossfire.
The "sky-fairy" types really don't seem to realize it's still bigotry when they do it, do they? I think they think that because they believe themselves to be right, that gives them a pass on things. I keep having to point out to atheist friends that that's not cool at all.
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i am not a fan of catholicism.
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The "sky-fairy" types really don't seem to realize it's still bigotry when they do it, do they? I think they think that because they believe themselves to be right, that gives them a pass on things. I keep having to point out to atheist friends that that's not cool at all.
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