Friday 27 April 2007

Religion and Human Rights in Europe - a Secularist viewpoint

I commend this report on a recent Council of Europe conference in San Marino to all arena visitors.

3 comments:

Jose said...

Indeed, the times of pitting a God against another God should by now be over and done with. But they aren't, unfortunately it seems the generalisation of common sense among humans is not shared by many in our world today, and I am not referring to politicians exclusively but also to those who support them.

Those who believe their politicians as though they were gods, those who need to feel they are protected, when the fact is known that absolutely nobody is safely protected on this planet. We depend on ourselves and those who have not yet realised this is true are lost, believe me.

anticant said...

You hit the hail on the head, Jose. The only thing we have to rely on is each individual's personal responsibility. Unfortunately, all too many people seek refuge in 'powerful' - and power-seeking - institutions, religious and otherwise.

Bodwyn Wook said...

INSTITUTIONAL Human groupings arise to meet the need for inculcating individual 'conscience', which is only meaningful in relation to others. Just as the creative authority of the tribal shaman played out and more organised spiritual forms emerged -- all to this social purpose -- so, now, the religions have played out. And, so, chaps (and, 'their' women!) to-day are yodelling after New Labour & the New Cunts to 'make them safe'.

SO What do we perceive about this?

BEHIND And underneath, and over-arching all, is the human knack for each biophysical body to seek co-operative & mutually beneficial, 'safe', relations -- not least because of the prolonged nature of childhood in our species. The real question becomes, what happens, and especially during times of easy conditions, when Teacher's back is turned?

VISIONS, Dreams and the religions seem all to embrace a transcendant factor that fosters /conscience/. The shadow, of course, is the universal howl everywhere that sooner-or-later breaks out, of:

'GET The Jews!'

BECAUSE Sooner-or-later, when Teacher's back is turned, chaps /will/ get out their willies and show them off to women /not/ 'theirs' and so forth. As well as getting pissed as bastards and spewing in the compartment and all over the seats....

THE Fact is, of course, that specific religious formulations all play out in this abode of deacy -- entropy, /eg/ -- and, in time, religion as a broad category no longer will 'generate' conscience in enough persons, or other benefits on a broad enough cultural scale to outway drawbacks; and, thus, the epoch of religion shall follow the epoch of shamanism and witchcraft, into the bin.

THE Great difficulty to-day, for humanists (/sic/) is that the bureaucratic state, and the images of Cherie Blair and Condi Rice, are just not very, well, exciting (certainly, they do not do much to promote /conscience/ beyond inciting that vague nervous guilt chaps always feel, whenever caught wanking into the cream-pitcher!), and people thus are marooned psychologically and spiritually, left making do for their 'transcendant' goddess-images from such horridly inadequate little ape-girls as Jitney Spikes, the american caravanserai, country & western, illegitimate-pregnancy & 'on benefit' singer....

Wook, Chief Constable & Seen It All Before