Secularism: Good for Society

10 days ago, Baroness Warsi, Britain’s first female Muslim cabinet minister, wrote in the Daily Telegraph that religion was being ‘sidelined,marginalised and downgraded in the public sphere.’ Personally, I could think of only one response to this comment: good.

Warsi claims that Europe needs to be more comfortable and confident in its Christianity, and that to create a more just society, people need to feel stronger in their religious identities. As far as I am concerned, this is complete nonsense – religion has no place in the governance of society and the secularism that Warsi believes is threatening Britain, is just the next step in modernising our country which will encourage fairness and equality.

One has to assume that Baroness Warsi believes that religion will help society, and make it more just, because religion is the source of morality. However a recent study for the Richard Dawkins Foundation has shown that only 1 in 10 Christians seek moral guidance from their religion. A very brief look at the Catholic Church pretty much leaves the argument that religious people are more moral dead in the water.

David Cameron said last December that the UK was a Christian country, and ‘should not be afraid to say so’ but is this really true? In the 2001 census, 72% of the public considered themselves to be Christian but this figure is expected to drop to 54% in the 2011 census. When 1,136 people who said they had recorded themselves as Christian in the 2011 census were asked why this was, only 31% said it was because they genuinely try and follow the Christian religion. Using these figures, we can estimate that only 17% of the British population are genuinely Christian.

So why should Christianity be at the forefront of our society, helping to shape laws and define our communities?  When over 8 out of 10 Brits are not Christian, why should we force them to follow laws that are influenced by a religion based on a book which orders homosexuals to be stoned to death?

In the past, Warsi has claimed that Islamophobia, or prejudice against Muslims, is socially acceptable in the UK, and I think a big cause of this is that the UK is still primarily, a Christian state. Because religion is allowed to play a role in society, there is less acceptance of other religions such as Islam and this works both ways. Muslims feel aggrieved and in some, more extreme, cases may protest violently about this leading to non-Muslims discriminating against them. This is a vicious cycle.

In the past, I have argued against fee-paying schools, and against single-sex schools and so logically, I have to argue against faith schools as well. Faith schools cause a divide in society, strengthening antipathy between religions and segregating Christians from Muslims and Jews from Hindus. Not only this, but they spend valuable time in which they should be teaching students knowledge to help them in the world about myth and legend which is of no real benefit. Many may argue that faith schools perform better than average, but personally, I think one has to assume that this is because faith schools are selective and so can choose the best students.

I have no problem with people following and practising religion. It is an age-old tradition and people should be allowed to believe what they wish to believe. However, I do have a problem with religion being shoved down the throats of our society and I honestly believe that our country would be more seamless if we became a truly secular state.

The Opinionated Genius