What We Need...is A Healthy Dose of Secularism
When Beano and myself wrote "A Better Union", we stated our belief in the "secular society". Now, "secularism "has become a bit of a dirty word recently in certain circles, what exactly did we mean by the "secular society?
Quite simply, in our version of secular society there would be the closure of all "faith-based" schools, abortion (and beer) on demand, the legalisation of gay marriages, the de-nqabing of Muslim females, the decriminalisation of drugs and brothels, Irish League matches being played on Sunday....and it should go without saying, the complete removal of Christ from Xmas.
*Stunned silence from the collective EU readership*
Before "Enraged of Bushmills" leaves an abusive comment, that last paragraph wasn't exactly(!) what we meant by "secularism" and anyway even if it was, that kind of scenario ain't going to materialise in N.Ireland anytime soon.....
In a modern western democracy, everybody has the right to believe anything they choose, no matter how reactionary or ridiculous those beliefs may be. Indeed, tolerance of such beliefs is the cornerstone of civilised society- but that is definitely not the same as saying that those beliefs should form the basis of that particular society. A person's religion (or lack of) should be their own private affair. The state's job is not to "safeguard" such beliefs, but solely to set the widest of legal parameters to govern society. Within those parameters, it is up to each individual's conscience and moral judgement how they conduct themselves.
What would all this mean in Northern Irish context?
Well, in practical terms, here's three examples: giving women the 100% freedom of choose whether to have an abortion or not, the removal of state support for "faith-based" education and the full implementation in N.Ireland of all UK legislation in areas such as homosexual rights. So, basically we're looking to set up a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah, right here, in our wee province? No.
By advocating the woman's right to choose (and obtain) an abortion, we do not say that it is the best option in each case, we are also not forbidding "moral guardians" from presenting their arguments to the individual. We are simply saying that, in the end, it is solely up to the woman's individual conscience, but she should have the option of terminating the pregnancy in her own country. Similarly, we, in no way, would deny parents their democratic right to send their children to a "faith-based" (be it Roman-Catholic, Free-Presbyterian, Islamic or Jewish) school. It should, however, not be the state's responsibility (using my taxes) to subsidise such schools. And if Westminster decides that in the 21st Century, certain rights should be granted to certain groups, then unless we want to live in some kind of fundamentalist, redneck ghetto, those exact same rights should also apply to Northern Irish residents.
But what would be the implications for the Union of such a secularisation of N.Ireland?
I should state, first of all, that the views in this paragraph are solely my own, we (Beano and myself) didn't cover this subject during our discussions on our document. I believe that in certain "non-national" areas (e.g. abortion), then more radical Unionists should not be afraid to make informal alliances with those we would normally consider our political opponents. I despise much of what Sinn Fein stands for, but in the area of the womens' reproductive rights, their views (now) are much closer to my own than the DUP's are. Apart from the fact that you should always follow your heart and not necessarily the rest of the herd in such matters of conscience, more Unionists getting involved in this type of campaign can only help our overall image in the rest of the UK. Also by building up a society model which is closer to what is found on the mainland secular, multicultural Britain than that in the Republic of Ireland, then we are ensuring that an even bigger proportion of our society feels more comfortable within the confines of Northern Ireland.
Even if could, we don't want to ban conservative "religion" from Northern Ireland, we're simply saying that it must share the open spaces of society with the rest of us. Secularism is the way we can both protect society from religion but also protect the right of all to practise their chosen religion within that society.
Quite simply, in our version of secular society there would be the closure of all "faith-based" schools, abortion (and beer) on demand, the legalisation of gay marriages, the de-nqabing of Muslim females, the decriminalisation of drugs and brothels, Irish League matches being played on Sunday....and it should go without saying, the complete removal of Christ from Xmas.
*Stunned silence from the collective EU readership*
Before "Enraged of Bushmills" leaves an abusive comment, that last paragraph wasn't exactly(!) what we meant by "secularism" and anyway even if it was, that kind of scenario ain't going to materialise in N.Ireland anytime soon.....
In a modern western democracy, everybody has the right to believe anything they choose, no matter how reactionary or ridiculous those beliefs may be. Indeed, tolerance of such beliefs is the cornerstone of civilised society- but that is definitely not the same as saying that those beliefs should form the basis of that particular society. A person's religion (or lack of) should be their own private affair. The state's job is not to "safeguard" such beliefs, but solely to set the widest of legal parameters to govern society. Within those parameters, it is up to each individual's conscience and moral judgement how they conduct themselves.
What would all this mean in Northern Irish context?
Well, in practical terms, here's three examples: giving women the 100% freedom of choose whether to have an abortion or not, the removal of state support for "faith-based" education and the full implementation in N.Ireland of all UK legislation in areas such as homosexual rights. So, basically we're looking to set up a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah, right here, in our wee province? No.
By advocating the woman's right to choose (and obtain) an abortion, we do not say that it is the best option in each case, we are also not forbidding "moral guardians" from presenting their arguments to the individual. We are simply saying that, in the end, it is solely up to the woman's individual conscience, but she should have the option of terminating the pregnancy in her own country. Similarly, we, in no way, would deny parents their democratic right to send their children to a "faith-based" (be it Roman-Catholic, Free-Presbyterian, Islamic or Jewish) school. It should, however, not be the state's responsibility (using my taxes) to subsidise such schools. And if Westminster decides that in the 21st Century, certain rights should be granted to certain groups, then unless we want to live in some kind of fundamentalist, redneck ghetto, those exact same rights should also apply to Northern Irish residents.
But what would be the implications for the Union of such a secularisation of N.Ireland?
I should state, first of all, that the views in this paragraph are solely my own, we (Beano and myself) didn't cover this subject during our discussions on our document. I believe that in certain "non-national" areas (e.g. abortion), then more radical Unionists should not be afraid to make informal alliances with those we would normally consider our political opponents. I despise much of what Sinn Fein stands for, but in the area of the womens' reproductive rights, their views (now) are much closer to my own than the DUP's are. Apart from the fact that you should always follow your heart and not necessarily the rest of the herd in such matters of conscience, more Unionists getting involved in this type of campaign can only help our overall image in the rest of the UK. Also by building up a society model which is closer to what is found on the mainland secular, multicultural Britain than that in the Republic of Ireland, then we are ensuring that an even bigger proportion of our society feels more comfortable within the confines of Northern Ireland.
Even if could, we don't want to ban conservative "religion" from Northern Ireland, we're simply saying that it must share the open spaces of society with the rest of us. Secularism is the way we can both protect society from religion but also protect the right of all to practise their chosen religion within that society.
