I read the following article, “Is conservationism a religious belief?”(Wednesday, 25th November 2009.) written by Paul Richardson, on the www.religiousintelligence.co.uk  website.  

The article itself is about some judicial decision (in the UK?) that environmental beliefs should receive the same protection as religious beliefs. I don’t know the history of this case but Paul Richardson presents an interesting viewpoint on the topic of the discussion of religious views in the public forum. 

Excerpt of his article, as follows: “Recent years have seen attempts to ban religious arguments from public debate. Partly this is a response to the rise of the Religious Right. No one worried when Martin Luther King used religious arguments. Partly, too, it is a response to the spread of multiculturalism and a fear that religious arguments are divisive and provoke conflict. Richard Rorty famously labelled them a ‘conversation stopper’. Non-believers cannot be expected to engage with religious arguments, he maintained; it is the job of believers to express their views in neutral, public reason.

In fact, there is no such thing as neutral, public reason. We all argue from certain presuppositions and within a certain tradition. As we debate with others, our traditions may be modified or even overturned but we cannot leave them behind when we enter the debate. They are part of who we are and how we think. Banning religious arguments from the public square can itself be a divisive measure. It can leave religious believers living in a ghetto where some of their core values and opinions are never challenged by others. Worse of all, it can breed a festering resentment, a sense on the part of believers that they are marginalised and despised which can turn them to fundamentalism or even religious terrorism.

For years some of us have been arguing that it is hypocritical to ban conventional religious arguments from the public square when what might be termed ‘New Age’ arguments are advanced all the time. … ”

I agree, there is no such thing as a neutral, public reason. I believe it’s important that we continue to strive to put our views into the public arena. Our views, are part of – ‘who we are’ – and, as such, we should have the right to express our views – religious or otherwise. (Along with the responsibility to ensure that the expression of our views is not deliberately hurtful.)

Posted on February 11th, 2010 by Shayne
Filed under: General