Tuesday 23 April 2019

Apparently one of the magistrates

in a neighbouring state wants to ban the Bible and the Koran from courtrooms. He has allegedly said they are relics that belong in museums.
I am appalled. 
I know that a majority of people no longer go to church on a regular basis. There are people who go to church at Christmas and Easter and no other time. I know Muslims who don't go to the mosque any more regularly than that. 
I also know people who don't go to church at all.
All of these people are basically good, decent people. They try to live their lives in ways that I would consider Christian. They try to keep that massive and essential commandment which appears in one form or another in many places that is to "love one another".
An understanding of that commandment whether it comes from the Bible, the Koran, the Vedas, or something else is essential to our very existence. 
We can try and teach it to children through example and other stories about people doing good to one another but for some people this will not be enough. They need more than that. 
Yes, religion has caused and still causes many problems. Those problems though are caused by a minority. A majority of followers seem to find some comfort in their faith. It is where so much great art, music, literature, architecture has come from to enrich our lives.  It is also where the seeds of things like medicine and mathematics have come from and which now make our lives so much easier. I couldn't write this now without the maths and engineering which came about through religion dating back thousands of years.
The idea that all this can simply be discarded as some sort of ancient history is wrong. We need to understand the past in order to handle the present and look to the future.
I don't believe in talking snakes or arks or water turning to wine but I do believe in that commandment to love one another. If we don't we can't progress. 
It is why we need to keep religious books in court rooms. They still serve a purpose - even for non-believers. 

3 comments:

kayT said...

I'm sorry. I don't agree. Religious books do not belong in courtrooms. You can teach and learn morality without religion. No one should be putting books that have morality next to dangerous nonsense, which religious books do, into courtrooms. Courtrooms should be dedicated to truth.

Anonymous said...

You are entitled to your opinion but I think you have entirely missed the point that Cat is making. Those ideas about morality have to come from somewhere. You can teach morals without religion but the basis of those morals comes from religion and religious beliefs which were put in place thousands of years ago as a means of ensuring humans adhered to a code of conduct which kept them as safe as possible. Simply telling people "don't" doesn't work. Chris

catdownunder said...

kay T - I think you misunderstand the purpose of religious books in courtrooms