The Supremacy of God
I'm getting interested in Humanism — a philosophical outlook based on science and human potential (as specifically opposed to religious dogma). I've been a humanist for probably about as long as I remember, although it wasn't until very recently that I discovered that there was a word for it or (gasp) groups of people who meet periodically because they have the same point of view about life. I haven't attended a meeting yet, but I plan to try and hook up with the BC Humanists, who meet monthly or so in Kitsilano, and see what's up.
From reading their web site, I note lots of things that I agree with, and one that I don't: the topic for the next meeting is "A Legal Challenge to Remove 'The Supremacy of God' from the Canadian Constitution.
Now, you can't really get more anti-religious than I am*, but I see this kind of legal challenge as a complete waste of effort and money. In the end, if they're successful, what will they have changed in the world? Who's life will be made tangibly better? This is the sort of thing that concerns me about joining a group like this: that it'll be filled with people who hate god and religion rather than love humanity and all that's good about it. I want no part of the former.
Perhaps this is an effort to raise the profile of the Humanist movement. Fair enough, but I believe there is such a thing as bad publicity. A while back the Canadian Humanists petitioned for just this sort of change, and got nowhere with it, apart from a lot of sour publicity that on the whole, made them look like whiners.
I'd approach this problem differently: Rather than try to get the reference to God in the constitution eliminated, I'd petition to get it clarified. Which God, specifically are we talking about? Certainly, if the country is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God, we'd all benefit from knowing who exactly is supreme so we can evaluate whether the rest of the constitution truly respects that supremacy. Certainly a country based on the Roman Catholic notion of God will be markedly different from one based on the holy writings of Islam.
Framing the issue in this way seems better to me, because we get to make all the same points but without setting up a "Humanists vs. Everyone Else" situation, where every religious organization can call humanists immoral and evil while ignoring the vast chasms between their own concepts of morality. It would be fantastic if we could start a real debate about this issue, and just maybe those in power might discover that because opinions on the matter differ wildly in our multicultural society, that it might be best if we just leave God out of it.
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* This is patently not true. People can be a lot more anti-religious than I am. I do think that the world would be a better place without religion, but I like my religious friends and family members and all I expect from the religious is that they don't try and impose their beliefs on me.
From reading their web site, I note lots of things that I agree with, and one that I don't: the topic for the next meeting is "A Legal Challenge to Remove 'The Supremacy of God' from the Canadian Constitution.
Now, you can't really get more anti-religious than I am*, but I see this kind of legal challenge as a complete waste of effort and money. In the end, if they're successful, what will they have changed in the world? Who's life will be made tangibly better? This is the sort of thing that concerns me about joining a group like this: that it'll be filled with people who hate god and religion rather than love humanity and all that's good about it. I want no part of the former.
Perhaps this is an effort to raise the profile of the Humanist movement. Fair enough, but I believe there is such a thing as bad publicity. A while back the Canadian Humanists petitioned for just this sort of change, and got nowhere with it, apart from a lot of sour publicity that on the whole, made them look like whiners.
I'd approach this problem differently: Rather than try to get the reference to God in the constitution eliminated, I'd petition to get it clarified. Which God, specifically are we talking about? Certainly, if the country is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God, we'd all benefit from knowing who exactly is supreme so we can evaluate whether the rest of the constitution truly respects that supremacy. Certainly a country based on the Roman Catholic notion of God will be markedly different from one based on the holy writings of Islam.
Framing the issue in this way seems better to me, because we get to make all the same points but without setting up a "Humanists vs. Everyone Else" situation, where every religious organization can call humanists immoral and evil while ignoring the vast chasms between their own concepts of morality. It would be fantastic if we could start a real debate about this issue, and just maybe those in power might discover that because opinions on the matter differ wildly in our multicultural society, that it might be best if we just leave God out of it.
__
* This is patently not true. People can be a lot more anti-religious than I am. I do think that the world would be a better place without religion, but I like my religious friends and family members and all I expect from the religious is that they don't try and impose their beliefs on me.
posted by Brent at 9:24 AM
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