Atheism

In response to the blog post by Dad Who Writes, about his journey from Catholicism to atheism I thought I would post here what I said in the comments to his blog post.

I don’t have a similar journey to share. I’ve always been an atheist. My parents were not religious. They did force me to go to Sunday School for a few months (so I would see what it was about) but I didn’t buy into any of the God stuff. This was a Church of Ireland protestant Sunday School. I have a brother 12 years older than me so when I was growing up I was reading his science and engineering books. I think I started to tell people I didn’t believe in God from around the age of 8 or so.

Sometimes I despair. I really do. The content in the article by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in The Independent has made me despair today. Especially the bit quoted. Read the rest via the link below. Or maybe not. Do something to make yourself happy instead.

Iranian painter Delara Darabi, only 22 and in prison since she was 17, accused of murdering an elderly relative, was hanged last week even though she had been given a temporary stay of execution by the chief justice of the country. She phoned her mother on the day of her hanging to beg for help and the phone was snatched by a prison official who told them: “We will easily execute your daughter and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Her paintings reveal the cruelty to which she was subjected.

Read More: Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Who’d be female under Islamic law? – Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Commentators – The Independent

Apparently some of the idiots don’t think the church is discriminating enough against homosexuals and women. But really: Yawn. Irrelevant fools.

I wonder if this is how it really happened?

Complete and utter IDiots. This is not news of course. But more evidence comes via PZ Myers.

The furore over the radio interview and speech given by the Archbishop of Canterbury last week are well documented in all media channels. I won’t reiterate them here. For what its worth I don’t think that the Archbishop’s use of Sharia as his example to illustrate his point was all that controversial. Rather it was the bigger point he was making that I take issue with. I haven’t read his speech, but reporting of it and synopses from trusted sources, seems to indicate that the Archbishop was saying that individuals religious beliefs or world view based on religious teaching should be a valid principle that is taken into account when Parliament is defining the scope of legislation and law. A recent example of what he seems to have been alluding to are the Roman Catholic adoption agencies who wanted to have the right not to place children with same sex couples.

It seems to me that the Archbishop is making a bigger play to get more influence for religion, of all types, back into the public policy arena. As such his speech is much more insidious than simply saying some part of Sharia is inevitable in the UK. He wants to roll back the gains we have made towards an enlightened, secular society in which everyone is the same under the law and is free from the tyranny of religious leaders.

He, and his fellow travellers, should be resisted with all the vigour we can muster. Joining the National Secular Society would be a good start. If you are reading this and are not a member then please consider joining. The more numbers the Society has the stronger its voice will be to resist the people who want to move our society backwards in time.

For the record: Anyone else can believe in whatever religion they like. As long as it doesn’t effect the choices I, or anyone else who doesn’t share their belief, want to make. Giving favour under law to any interest group, whether religious or not, is not the way to go. The argument that some groups have such favour now isn’t an argument for extending it to other groups, rather I’d say it highlights that it needs to be taken away from the ones that currently have such privilege.