I AM a little 'put out' as I write this. Yet again (Trevor Jordan's letter last week) I am dragged into an argument I have no part in starting or perpetuating, i.e. the ongoing 'debate' between the SPGB and the massed ranks of the local advocates of the Christian faith.
Trevor states that our union's constitution declares the right of our members to profess any religion without 'let or hindrance'.
Our union being the RMT.
No problem have I with that, I restate. However, I do not think criticism of religion or any other theory which tries to explain the world we exist in involves any 'let or hindrance', as it seems Trevor is suggesting. On the contrary!
Any theory that cannot abide criticism is, I would say, not going to survive long. It will go the way of other exposed and worn-out philosophies with which history is littered, sooner or later, for better or worse for humankind.
How many still believe that the world is flat and carried on the back of a giant turtle, as some ancient Mesopotamian civilizations held?
By all means exercise freedom of religious belief. But the 'biggest' freedom is that of non-belief, in the primacy of the scientific basis of progress, in the creation of a 'paradise' on this earth and not the abject, slavish attitude which hopes there just might be some 'pie-in-the-sky-when-we-die'! (Quote from American socialist Joe Hill).
That is all I say, Trevor, and I'm sticking to it. Nothing here contradicts the aims of our union or the movement of which it forms a part. Be assured.
Steve Metcalfe
President L & M TUC
Lancaster Road
Morecambe Once again Dragged kicking and screaming into debate I AM a little 'put out' as I write this. Yet again (Trevor Jordan's letter last week) I am dragged into an argument I have no part in starting or perpetuating, i.e. the ongoing 'debate' between the SPGB and the massed ranks of the local advocates of the Christian faith.
Trevor states that our union's constitution declares the right of our members to profess any religion without 'let or hindrance'. Our union being the RMT.
No problem have I with that, I restate. However, I do not think criticism of religion or any other theory which tries to explain the world we exist in involves any 'let or hindrance', as it seems Trevor is suggesting. On the contrary!
Any theory that cannot abide criticism is, I would say, not going to survive long. It will go the way of other exposed and worn-out philosophies with which history is littered, sooner or later, for better or worse for humankind.
How many still believe that the world is flat and carried on the back of a giant turtle, as some ancient Mesopotamian civilizations held?
By all means exercise freedom of religious belief. But the 'biggest' freedom is that of non-belief, in the primacy of the scientific basis of progress, in the creation of a 'paradise' on this earth and not the abject, slavish attitude which hopes there just might be some 'pie-in-the-sky-when-we-die'! (Quote from American socialist Joe Hill).
That is all I say, Trevor, and I'm sticking to it. Nothing here contradicts the aims of our union or the movement of which it forms a part. Be assured.
Steve Metcalfe
President L & M TUC
Lancaster Road
Morecambe
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