There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. The closed-minded bigotry of our supposedly secular society reached a point where it is no longer amusing to watch. Different groups are at each others throats on almost every important political issue and obscuring it further by bringing religion in to it. The church and state should not mix. To deliberately obfuscate the two is an act of intellectual high treason.
I do not mean to mean to disrespect any particular belief but my point is, the religious opinions of a public official, or lack of it, should be entirely his business. There is no reason to bring religion in legislative debates as it is not, nor will it ever be, the answer to any political issue. This is not just a response to the mediocrity on how we make a spectacle out of the RH Bill issue but goes further to our irrational behavior to venerate opinions from our religious groups as though they are the absolute truths.
I am greatly mystified by the disproportionate privileging we give to religion in our otherwise secular society. What makes religion so special that we grant it this uniquely privileged respect? Whenever a prominent issue arises over sexual or reproductive morals, you can safely bet that religious leaders from several different faith would express “what they think is right” openly and even going as far as representing influential committees on panel discussions on radio and television. I am not suggesting that we should go and silence the views of these people but why does our society readily accept what they have to say as though they have some expertise comparable to that of moral philosophers, lawyers or doctors?
Here’s a weird example of the privileging of religion: Bishop Gabriel Reyes did not suffer any legal repercussions when he openly stated that they, the Catholic Establishment, will urge the nation to ignore the bill once it passes into law. Is it not a case of insighting people to discontent and rebellion? Of course it is but it is normal in our society, when it’s not supposed to be, to use religion as a legal justification for discrimination against groups that do not conform with their beliefs. Such is the power of religion. It trumps all and we are not doing anything about it.
The freedom of speech is deemed not to include hate speech but hate only has to prove it is religious, and it no longer counts as hate. The rest of us are expected to defend our prejudices and positions but ask a religious person to justify theirs and all you hear is religious liberty. The whole point of religious faith, its strength and chief glory, is that it does not depend on rational justification. I am not saying that the reasons of religious people are less valid than those of non believers. The thing is, to use religion as a shield to attack other groups is a sign of intellectual and moral cowardice and to bring it to political discussions is nothing more than a show of ignorance and naivety.
We should promote critical and rational thinking instead of encouraging blind belief and reaction to dogmatic ideology and preservation of vested interests if we want our country to go anywhere. As Thomas Jefferson, in his letter to Peter Carr, once wrote: “… shake off all the fears & servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.”
¾ + ¼ = 1 