I’m not really sure what is so shit-hot about the attitudes and conventions of the Dark Ages, but Harper and his government have decided to fecklessly dive into the land of pants-on-head stupid and establish a official government bureau of “Religious Freedom”. Let’s be clear, not something useful like an office sponsoring freedom FROM religion, so sorry Rishma of Pakistan, you still get be sentenced to death for allegedly burning pages from a magic book. Because, obviously we need MORE religion in the world because rational thought is too fucking hard to deal with.
“The federal government’s long-awaited Office of Religious Freedom will be unveiled soon, officials say, after months of delays caused by difficulty in finding the right person to head the office.
The new body, which will be housed within the Department of Foreign Affairs, was expected to be up and running earlier this year.
But a senior government official told CBC News that Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has had a hard time finding someone to fill the role of ambassador to head up the office. Two people who were approached ultimately turned the post down for logistical and personal reasons.?
Reasons why? Because being head of the Canadian christian god brigade overseas is not appealing. I’m really flabbergasted at my government right now. I’m imaging that in some meeting some wonk pops this ass-blister of a suggestion and throws it out there –
“Hey, you know that separation of church and state thing, its dumb, lets set up an office and get the government officially involved in delusional religious shit”. Ohh the meetings goes quiet. “But where are we going to get the money?” says Economic Wonk, our resident member of brain trust of turdistan says, “oh, well we closed a bunch of science and research down there is plenty of money saved from that…”.
And then there was cabinet/Harper approval. Yes, lets close down scientific research on one hand and fund the promotion of stale religious brain-flatulence from the bronze age. Brilliant! How can we lose? It is astonishing that people voted for people that actually endorse this sort of thinking.
“Some supporters of the idea have grown frustrated with the long wait. The $5-million office was first announced during the May 2011 election campaign as a centrepiece of the government’s foreign policy.”
A vesitgal bone thrown at the dumb-as-dirt religious value voters that worked. Apparently jebus said lower corporate tax rates so we can screw the rest of society over. To my idjit right of centre commentators, did you notice that you only get lip-service paid to your nuttily-regressive ‘social conservative” goals all the while the economic conservatives who hold the real power happily continue to gut the bastions of the social democratic state? You think getting screwed over would become tiresome after the nth time, apparently you thought in 2011, *this* time it would be different.
Bhatti argues the new ambassador must be objective.
“The person shouldn’t be one-sided,” he said. “He doesn’t focus on the one religion, or one persecution. He will treat every religion equally and give his recommendation to the foreign office and government regarding truth and reality.”
I don’t even know what this means. But I think I would be a good candidate for the job. I all religions the same, with contempt, would this make me a good candidate for the job? Probably not since the ability to think clearly is not selected for when trying to get a job within a religion.
“As CBC NEWS reported last year, internal Foreign Affairs documents showed nearly all of the panellists who participated in a closed-door consultation with Foreign Affairs last fall in Ottawa were drawn from Western religions, primarily Christianity. Few Muslims were in attendance and there were no Muslim panellists.
Arvind Sharma, a Canadian scholar of religion, has been carefully monitoring the government’s plans, and says the idea presents a great opportunity for Canada on the world stage.
But the McGill University professor warns that’s only if Canada avoids promoting proselytization.”
Yep, Canadian Christians for Christ, sponsored by the secular government of Canada? *sigh* Canada is a secular democracy and really needs to axe this crumby idea.
Giving government support to mythology is stupid and needs to stop before even more people get that idea that religion is an still acceptable choice in the 21st century.
11 comments
September 9, 2012 at 6:15 am
witchylisa
I’m a bit confused as to its function. What is it? Humanitarianism? Ecumenical?
LikeLike
September 9, 2012 at 7:48 am
The Arbourist
Promote tomfoolery?
These are the values identified for the US version of this albatross.
Given the U.S. commitment to religious freedom, and to the international covenants that guarantee it as the inalienable right of every human being, the United States seeks to:
Promote freedom of religion and conscience throughout the world as a fundamental human right and as a source of stability for all countries;
Assist emerging democracies in implementing freedom of religion and conscience;
Assist religious and human rights NGOs in promoting religious freedom;
Identify and denounce regimes that are severe persecutors on the basis of religious belief.
LikeLike
September 9, 2012 at 8:06 am
witchylisa
“Given the U.S. commitment to religious freedom, and to the international covenants that guarantee it as the inalienable right of every human being, the United States seeks to:
Promote freedom of religion and conscience throughout the world as a fundamental human right and as a source of stability for all countries;
Assist emerging democracies in implementing freedom of religion and conscience;
Assist religious and human rights NGOs in promoting religious freedom;
Identify and denounce regimes that are severe persecutors on the basis of religious belief.”
Isn’t that a good thing?
LikeLike
September 9, 2012 at 8:24 am
The Arbourist
@witchylisa
A mixed bag at best in my opinion. The promotion of belief in the unprovable, irrational and magical is never a good thing for a society. How do you promote stability in society when the magic books of choice are filled with genocide, violence and misogyny?
Where does religion work? It works in states that are usually secular so that the can keep the religious bullcookery in line with reality. Look at states that are not secular – the linked example for Pakistan – they want to put a 14 year girl to death for blasphemy….
Blasphemy.
Does it not bother you how catastrophically wrong this is, and on so many levels? Never mind the fact she was set up by a shifty imam, but the crime of burning a frakking book results in calls for her death? Here? Now? In the 21st century…? The tyranny of nonsensical religious horsepucky drives my blood-pressure up several points.
I think the case would have to be made that religion is actually a good thing for society before an office promoting its values gets my approval.
LikeLike
September 9, 2012 at 12:58 pm
witchylisa
Religion is neutral. It’s a social reality just like any other. How it is used is what makes it either dangerous (Pakistan) or beneficial (Quaker driven feminist organization). Sure, Pakistan is a shithole. But, it’s not because it is Islamic that it is so, rather it is through Islam that it’s maintaining its state. This is not to say that Islam is a vehicle of repression but only a vehicle of conservatism, dynamism and value transmission just like any other religion or way of life.
LikeLike
September 9, 2012 at 1:01 pm
witchylisa
You don’t have to believe in the bullshit that a person believes in, but you have to believe that he has to right to believe
You have the right to believe that what he believes is bullshit, but you don’t have the right to stop him from believing in that bullshit
LikeLike
September 9, 2012 at 1:26 pm
The Arbourist
Absolutely.
LikeLike
September 9, 2012 at 1:33 pm
The Arbourist
Perhaps. I more inclined to see religions, in general, as a socially conservative force in society. Not that all conservatism is bad, but in christian and islamic religions the dogma is used by the dominant sects to oppress women, a feature we can most certainly do without.
Certainly there are exceptions as you mentioned, and we should encourage those exceptions to flourish. But should we be supporting more belief in the supernatural, via a government agency? I would have to say “No” to that.
LikeLike
September 9, 2012 at 1:52 pm
witchylisa
But religion is also a force of progress and conservatism. The same dynamic entity has been used for millennia for both progress and conservatism Female subjugation=Republicans and Saudi Arabi
Female empowerment=Early Christianity/Christian feminism and the multiple changes that Islam brought about for the sake of women since its beginning until the Islamic Golden Age
Religious freedpm is not about encouraging a person to follow a religion but to enable him the conscious choice as to whether he wants to follow a specific religion which the person in question wholeheartedly wants to or simply choose to follow no religion.
And, honey, between you and me: Conservative Christianity is not pro-oppression (Mainstream is)
http://witchylisa.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/5-deborah-the-original-xena-warrior-princess/
LikeLike
September 10, 2012 at 12:22 pm
The Intransigent One
In my opinion, religion is absolutely not neutral. Certainly religions and religious organizations have, from time to time, promoted the greater good and the betterment of the world for all. But the thing all religions have in common is the belief in forces and entities that simply do not exist. It is not good to believe a lie, even if it makes you happy.
That said, I still believe people should have the right to practice the religion of their choice or none at all, because I also value freedom. Including the freedom to shackle your soul. Because the only person I’m the boss of is me, and that’s only on days I’m sure I believe in free will.
LikeLike
September 11, 2012 at 9:45 am
The Intransigent One
Here are a couple essays by a much better writer than me, about why religion is unequivocally bad:
http://freethoughtblogs.com/greta/2010/07/08/do-you-care-whether-the-things-you-believe-are-true/
http://freethoughtblogs.com/greta/2009/11/25/armor-of-god/
LikeLike