The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #94565 Message #1832254
Posted By: Grab
11-Sep-06 - 08:37 PM
Thread Name: BS: Science without Religion..............
Subject: RE: BS: Science without Religion..............
Expose them in the media, yes; inform the citizenry of the positives and negatives, when they are interested, but do not try to force some official "take" on each religion/sect/etc.
Yeah, that's where the problem of the "if and only if" comes in. In the real world it's probably not achievable, sadly, but it'd be nice if it were. In a lot of cases the media provides some checks and balances, but in a lot of others it doesn't. Jim Bakker fell from favour because of affairs and embezzlement, not because he was a lying toad. And Pat Robertson is still around in spite of inciting violence against non-believers.
What gets me annoyed is that all schools and employers go through the whole equality thing, and breaking that gets you into big legal trouble. But the moment you say "it's religion" then some zealot can go round telling kiddies they're going to burn in Hell if they don't /// - delete as appropriate - and they must actively discriminate against anyone who doesn't do that. That's where enforcing rationality comes in.
A good start would maybe be to apply the same standards of equality to religion as religion itself expects in other fields? Dunno how that'd work, but it's an idea for starters.
Graham.