In the Guardian Jonathan Chaplin writes about why public discourse should not be secularised. See Face to Faith.
In The Times Geoffrey Rowell writes that Church movements will always fall short of perfection.
Earlier in the week, Libby Purves wrote that Faith and power is the fundamentalist’s brew.
Alan Wilson wrote about Church new media futures….
Nick Baines wrote about (not) being a Grumpy bishop.
The Church Times has a useful article, Decided in Denmark: a climate Q and A. And also a Leader: Copenhagen: a tipping point.
And last week, Ann Petifor argued that UK needs more not less government.
Giles Fraser wrote at Cif belief about Choosing for oneself.
What Jonathan Chaplin ignores is that–in a secular society–the law (even if based on a religious belief) must have a secular rationale. Morality is not the same as religion. Atheists have a set of morals as well, they simply do not base them in a belief in a supreme being.
Making a secular, moral rationale for the law is not the same as making a faith-based rationale for it.
For once I disagree with Giles Fraser and agree with Richard Dawkins: children should be allowed to decide for themselves which, if any, faith, to follow. Baptism should be for adults only. As for Copenhagen, it would be better if the talks failed, as James Hansen argues. The worse outcome would be an ineffective agreement with the bishops’ blessing: the Church’s approach at decision-making is a poor example and lends too much credence to the sceptics. The internationisation of the Anglican brand gives too much power to the airline industry. As Alan Wilson says “We have to work out for… Read more »
Hugh No-one doubts that children have to make up their own mind, the question is how you get them to the place where they can do that. Deliberately not giving them a faith perspective is imparting your own value system as clearly as giving them a Christian, Muslim, Jewish or Pagan upbringing. In all cases, they can then wrestle with what they’ve been taught and either move on or grow into an adult faith/atheism. Households where neither faith nor any life philosophy are ever mentioned tend to be quite soulless places and rarely bring forth children who later genuinely evaluate… Read more »
What Jonathan Chaplin ignores is that–in a secular society–the law (even if based on a religious belief) must have a secular rationale. Morality is not the same as religion. Atheists have a set of morals as well, they simply do not base them in a belief in a supreme being.
Making a secular, moral rationale for the law is not the same as making a faith-based rationale for it.