Religion and secularism
Jacqueline Calleja (The Sunday Times, April 1) wrote a rather selective account of the history of religious persecution during the last 2,000 years and made certain conclusions and comparisons that many would consider to be completely incorrect. For...
Jacqueline Calleja (The Sunday Times, April 1) wrote a rather selective account of the history of religious persecution during the last 2,000 years and made certain conclusions and comparisons that many would consider to be completely incorrect.
For some reason, Mrs Calleja did not mention the persecution, murder and torture inflicted, directly and indirectly, by the Catholic Church on those who did not agree with its teachings during the Middle Ages.
On the other hand, Mrs Calleja wrote that the persecution of the early Christians by the Romans "can be compared quite correctly" to what she sees as intolerance and hostility towards the Catholic Church by the secularised world today.
I beg to differ. The Catholic Church may have been persecuted under certain Communist regimes in recent decades, but it's certainly not being persecuted by "our developed world" by which I presume one means Europe and North America. Ironically, those Communist regimes often promoted attitudes to issues such as sexual morality and homosexuality that are very close to those of the Catholic Church itself!
In the free world, it is perfectly understandable that there would be a reaction to efforts made by conservative Catholics and similar minded people of other denominations who try to impose their religious beliefs on those who are not of the same persuasion. When a Church, any Church, tries to influence the enactment of legislation or the running of a country, then it ceases to be purely a religious organisation, but it also becomes a political movement. In this dual role it must be prepared to face criticism from those who do not agree with it.
Secularism is not the "ever-advancing black tide" that Mrs Calleja depicted. Thanks to secularism people with different beliefs and opinions can live in harmony within the same society. Secularism is based on the values of tolerance and freedom. Unfortunately these values are constantly under threat in societies where religion exerts an unhealthy influence over the state.