Random thoughts on Random topics sparked by my travels through life and the things I see or hear on the way
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
God Knows Best
My local pub had a guest beer on tap recently called God Knows Best and a fine drop it was too so perhaps in terms of beer he does although I suspect he left it to some mortal to actually brew the stuff.
This phrase sprang to mind again when listening to coverage of the Popes current visit to the UK, which as these things go is generally being hailed as a success. I was particularly struck by a speech he made in Scotland which has turned into a bit of a theme throughout his visit, it was a plea to ensure that religion (presumably his) is not excluded from decision making in an "increasingly secular society" He reminded his audience that the current legal system and laws were founded on Christian values and that this tradition needed to continue as the freedom promised by secularism was illusory and it merely provided people the "freedom to harm themselves"
So my first thought is that this Pope, who as a previous member of Hitler youth should know better, seems to have limited grasp of history. In particular the history of his own church and religion in general and the misery it has visited upon millions of people, never mind the harm it has wrought.
As a very recent example during his current visit he has felt the need to apologies for the catholic churches part in child sex abuse but seems to fail to recognise that the very "do as I say" attitude that he is promoting was a significant factor in why these particular events came to pass and why the church felt the need to systematically cover these up. The rise in secularism that he so bemoans is exactly why we even know about these events, as the church has lost its all powerful grip on people's lives they have felt safe enough to come forward and let the light shine on these dark times.
It is also condescending to believe that only Christian values are worth considering in the drafting of the rules that govern our societies, especially as an ever decreasing number of people necessarily subscribe to these values. This seems to me to be a simple plea for the once powerful to remain or become powerful again.
On the other hand we can all be prone to a bit of "I know best isim" especially when we see someone doing something that runs counter to our own belief system, so take up one of the Christian messages the Pope has forgotten and remember to be tolerant of the people you meet who do stuff you don't agree with, perhaps it is hunting and eating whales or maybe it is wearing a burka or letting prisoners vote. Whatever it is remember to apply the test of personal liberty versus societal contract rather than any adherence to an outdated dogma written ostensibly 2000 years ago when the world was quite a different place.
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Your views of the Catholic church were shared by an important person in history, Martin Luther, who 500 years ago took on this powerful organisation and in essence won and broke down the monopoly. It's important to recognize that "the church" is not religion or faith, it is a governing body. In comparison there are a lot of sports I love but keep me away from the clubs and the management that purports to represent them. I haven't had anything to do with the local Catholic church but I suspect that they are doing a lot of good behind the scenes.
ReplyDeleteI actually agree with the Pope in that I think he is challenging Christians to be more vocal and the politicians and business to listen.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your challenge that 2000 year old dogma has nothing to offer:
ReplyDeleteA man called JC came into a very violent world and the country he lived in was ruled by the sword and a roman dictator. Forget for a moment whom he claimed to be, he was a man in history. JC's #2 rule for living was "Love thy neighbor as thyself", and this simple notion with his other teachings have transformed the world for the better. The Pope comments without this guidance we create "freedom to harm themselves". A good example of this is the recent recession and corporate greed. Without the check of good values and beliefs, modern economic dictators created a lot of harm to themselves and others.
Potentially if society and politicians took more notice of these timeless teachings we would have less harm being done.
Correction : a lot of the teachings in the bible go back 5,000+ years. NB: Values don't change, only our interpretations of them.
ReplyDeleteI do indeed draw a distinction between "The church" (which is always the way the catholic church refers to itself) and spirituality.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the foundation values such as love each other are a good idea.
What I don't subscribe to is others no matter who they are telling me how to live my life, presuming I am not harming others in the process.
Replace God in the title with I or The Government or Muslim Fundamentalists. Whomever is doing the telling, the problem is they tend to think "they know best" for all of us.
Lets all find our own path and respect our fellow man on that journey
BDT, you have very good values and are a good person and most of the time will do the right thing. But there are many people, companies who don't. Legislating "values" and appropriate behaviour is a difficult thing to do (apart from the major stuff (murder, stealing, etc)and my view this is not the role of goverment, under guise of a nanny state. It needs to be built into the fabric of our families and communities. I like and agree with your last sentence, but unless we have an active discussion the beleifs and values that underline the "respect" for each other, will start getting wattered down. Christians have something to offer in this conversation.
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