‘Think Humanist’ follows up its inaugural thought from A. C. Grayling with one on religious education from Stewart Lee, whom I imagine that most people will know from the extremely controversial ‘Jerry Springer: The Opera’ – though he’s also a (pretty good) comedian in his own right.
Lee is a great choice: thanks to the JS:TO he has a reputation as one of these secular/atheistic fundamentalists we occasionally hear so much about. He’s often portrayed an anti-theist with nothing better to do than mock the beliefs of the faithful. Yet his ‘Think Humanist’ piece is remarkably even-handed and open-minded:
Believers say religious stories survive because they are literally true, but even rationalists accept that religious tales, myths and folk-stories, while not always actually true, can be true in terms of what they tell us about human experience. As rationalists, we should be careful, in trying to block religious education in its most pernicious forms, that we do not prevent young people from accessing a treasure trove of invaluable material.
He goes on to suggest that we should actually expand religious education to include “the folk-tales and ancient stories of all religions and pantheos of Gods alongside each other, without ever addressing the argument of their literal truth.” In other words: we should make children aware of what’s out there and leave them to make up their own minds what’s true and what’s not.
In the current climate, it’s often overlooked that ‘Freedom of Religion’ means not only the freedom of religious groups to practice their beliefs, but also the freedom of the individual to make an informed choice about which religious group (if any) they belong to. That – in my opinion – is one of the core concepts of (small-h) humanism: allowing individuals to make informed choices about how they live their lives. On this issue, I see no reason why liberal atheists, agnostics and religious believers shouldn’t work together against those seeking to impose a more restrictive and intolerant ideology onto the rest of us.
(Speaking of intolerance, guess who’s back in the news: "I don't believe in religions. I think all religions are fairy tales, I think they are evil and I don't think Islam is one of the better ones.”)
2 comments:
Yes, Freedom of Choice is more important than any decree and the only religion which insists on freedom of choice is Christianity.
You can't grow up in it - it requires rebirth, i.e. understanding what your part of the deal is and either accepting or rejecting it. But the idea of pressure to believe is contrary to the whole idea.
Nice post Insomniac.
"In other words: we should make children aware of what’s out there and leave them to make up their own minds what’s true and what’s not."
Here here!!
What a novel concept. A great concept.
I'm not familiar with Grayling, but will now check him out.
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