March 27, 2020 - 11:46am
The virus should be an opportunity for us all to pull together, irrespective of faith or the lack of it. Which is why a number of responses by the secularist organisations have been especially disappointing. For instance, early on in the crisis, when the government included “religious staff” caring for their congregations among those key-workers who were entitled to send their children to school, the National Secular Society objected.
They wanted the availability of childcare to be removed from religious people working to support their communities. Many rightly objected to this petty piece of anti-religious point scoring, and — credit where credit it is due — the NSS apologised:
“We understand how our commentary could appear insensitive at a time when many religious staff are supporting the vulnerable. We should have paid more regard to this and apologise for any offence we caused by not doing so.”
This apology was appreciated. Thank you.
But it’s not the only example of secular organisations using this crisis to take a pop at religion. Take Humanist UK’s chief executive Andrew Copson’s characteristically snide reply to a tweet from historian Tom Holland. Holland’s recent bestseller, Dominion, was an exploration of the extent to which western culture has been saturated by Christian assumptions. This was Copson’s sarcastic response:
In my recent Confessions interview with the former Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks he told me that: “Christian-Jewish relationships in Britain are so stunningly good, I am minded to say that they are better here than anywhere else in the world.” And indeed they are. But this is not good news for the secularists who require us to think of different religions as at each other’s throats, thus to present themselves as the safe space where all can get along.
That is why some secularists understand it to be in their interest to undermine the healthy inter-faith relationships that we have in their country. If different religions all get along, the secularist argument for itself is much weakened. So they seek to poison the well of inter-faith conviviality. And they need to be called out for doing so.
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SubscribeOne factor that might explain Italians’ relative tolerance for fascism is the manner in which the Italian fascist régime ended. In 1943 the Grand Fascist Council deposed Mussolini, who was replaced by one of his own generals, Badoglio, who had committed atrocities in Italy’s colonial campaigns in Africa. The deposed Mussolini was imprisoned but then released by German commandos, and he set up a rump fascist state in northern Italy under German control. The fact that prominent fascists betrayed the Duce and joined the Allies was no doubt the circumstance that prevented an Italian version of the Nuremberg trials. As a matter of fact countless fascist criminals were never punished.
The fact that fascist crimes were not denounced in open court, that no heart-rending testimonies were publicly broadcast, that fascist criminals were not hanged, set the stage for a gradual rehabilitation.
A considerable amount of axe-grinding going on in this article. Just one observation: if ‘a new low’ for the secularists is being slightly ascerbic about theists, it compares very favourably with theists’ historic and current lows; the anti-science resulting in the spreading of the virus, not to mention the murders, pogroms, wars….
I am a secularist – but I also acknowledge the good that religious institutions do, incuding my local church. I support my church when I can – because they do good work with the homeless and in the community, not because I am a Christian. Is this really the time to be trying to drive a wedge between various religions, atheists etc when we are all facing a global pandemic?
Alarmist Feminazi propaganda unfounded in fact, meant to garner support to expand the misandrist agenda to dehumanize men and rob them of any and all basic human rights. I cannot believe this rubbish is being peddled on this forum.
IPV Facts:
Most IPV is initiated by females
33% or 1/3 of all IPV victims are male
In the UK and most other countries number of beds for male victims of IPV = 0
Number of innocent boys denied housing in publicly funded shelters as a consequence of IPV = >6600
Let’s deal in facts and not hysterical fictions.
Test Case: In the recent Australian Bush fires Femanazi propaganda article claimed “extraordinary claims firefighters battling Australia’s devastating blazes will return home to BASH their partners” (https://www.dailymail.co.uk…
This claim is based on a so called “Study”, which like all Feminazi propaganda does not stand up to acedemic rigor even slightly. This was based on a survery of a total of 46 people, all who were women who responded to a newpaper advertisement and were not asked if their partner was fighting Bush fires but generally asked the timeframe and correlated that with bush fire activity in the general area.
It is time to call out this type of propaganda wanting to disguise itself as jounalism. Shame on you Joan Smith spreader of hate and lies.
Thank God all that Richard Dawkins stuff has largely been going out of fashion
I would not ring alarm bells or shout from loudspeakers yet. The secular worldview will not get weakened “If different religions all get along,…” In true sense, and by definition, major religions will never get along. Only on surface, yes, they may and do, forced by .. well … secular politics of states. In my opinion, the defenders of theism should not focus on Die-Hard atheists (out of fashion lately) but on (exponentially!) rising numbers of agnostics. The After-Covid19-World may have one more polarization on top of Liberals v. Conservatives, Globalists v Populists, etc. The “educated” may turn toward agnosticism or what-ever and “masses” will seek comfort in even more orthodox religious faiths.
Only in the US is the far-right against the welfare state, because of the race history. « No Germans will be cold or hungry » promised Hitler and it may be the only time he kept his word. He never promised they wouldn’t be killed but still.
Thanks for this interesting and informative article. One small caveat:-
“…The crisis has been unimaginable…”? Depends on your imagination, and memory. History is replete with far stranger and worse crises, real and imaginary.
I believe that every religion worship to the same God with a different name, at the end of the story humanity needs to have a superior deity to believe specially in times of adversity… for good or 4 bad