This time from the Chief Rabbi.
The Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks of Aldgate, warned today that Europe was dying because the growth of secularism had made people too selfish to have children.
Copypock!
Secularism is a good thing. A truly secular society allows people to practice whatever religious belief they wish, without fear or favour. It also ensures that those of no belief are free from persecution based upon the beliefs of others. As for that canard about being too selfish to have children; I hear this hogwash from time to time. We are individuals endowed with free will. The decision to have children or not is a luxury afforded by the trappings of a civilised society. No longer are women breeding machines, pregnant or suckling from puberty to menopause. And quite right, too. Some of us make a conscious decision not to have children. There are plenty who have enough to make up the difference. It is, therefore, no one else’s business and it is not for them to make value judgements based upon their belief system on those of us who make that choice. It is, to repeat a meme you will find on this blog; none of his business whether I breed or not.
Its loss of a tolerant religious culture made it vulnerable to the advance of fundamentalism, he argued.
Evidence? Oh, that’s right, this is an evidence free statement. There has always been religious fundamentalism and there always will be, so long as Man walks the planet and indulges in belief systems. It’s the nature of the beast. There is no evidence that this is a greater problem all of a sudden – unless you believe the control freaks in government who are always on the lookout for a convenient bogeyman with which they can justify their latest illiberal legislation.
Comparing its decline to that of ancient Greece in the third century of the pre-Christian era, he said the answer lay in the rediscovery of the continent’s Judeo-Christian religious roots.
Er, fuck that, frankly. I prefer not to base my morality on a bunch of bronze age myths and legends. We have moved on since then. If other people want to; fine. I’ll absolutely support their right to do so. Just don’t expect me to follow suit.
Lord Sacks said that Europe was the world’s most secular region and the only one experiencing population decline.
Oh my. I believe we call this a non-sequitur. When I see this kind of silliness, I am reminded of these lines by Matthew Prior:
Sir, I admit your general rule, That every poet is a fool: But you yourself may serve to show it, That every fool is not a poet.
It goes on:
In his address he said that civil society needed religion because it sanctified the family and parenthood, safeguarded against relativism and protected the moral principles on which western freedom was based.
Ooooh, gaaaaawd! Bollocks, double bollocks and triple bollocks. This is the horseshit the religious trot out with tiresome regularity – perhaps they should go into laxative production. We do not need religion for family, parenthood or morality. People are perfectly capable of all of these things without belief in gods and without resorting to the half-arsed opinions of daft, arrogant old men in frocks. Indeed, we are perfectly capable, being civilised, sentient beings, of coming to our own conclusions and can recognise the difference between good and evil – and, frankly, for a man who practices a religion that routinely indulges in the genital mutilation of infant boys, I’ll take no lectures from him on morality.
The emphasis on consumerism and instant gratification had left little room for the sacrifice involved in parenthood, he said.
Evidence? Oh, yeah… We went there earlier.
Like the people of ancient Greece, Europeans were unwilling to marry or to bring up children.
No one else’s business but those involved. I chose to marry. Mrs L and I chose not to have children. If anyone thinks they have any say in the matter they will find out rather quickly that their opinion on the subject counts for nothing.
“That is where Europe is today. That is one of the unsayable truths of our time. We are undergoing the moral equivalent of climate change and no one is talking about it.”
Oh, Jesus! “Unsayable truths” my arse. And, yes, let’s roll out the old climate change bogeyman. Oh, yeah, and evidence for this assertion? Um… Right…
He said: “Wherever you turn today – Jewish, Christian or Muslim – the more religious the community, the larger on average are their families.
Yes. And. So? If they can afford them, then fine and dandy.
The Chief Rabbi said being a parent involved a massive sacrifice of money, attention, time and emotional energy.
He questioned where this selflessness could be found in modern Europe.
Perhaps the chief Rabbi ought to be travelling on a train during half-term. Anyway, so what?
“… The only serious philosophical question is, why should I have a child? Our culture is not giving an easy answer to that question.”
Why is it any of the Chief Rabbi’s business? Oh, that’s right, it isn’t, it is the business of the people involved and no one else. The Chief Rabbi is entitled to hold and practice whatever beliefs he wishes – with my blessing and support. However, he does not have the moral authority to judge me or my life decisions. I do not answer to him or his god. And fortunately, going by the Chief Rabbi’s observations, it would seem that I am far from alone.
As I’ve said before, I’m amazed that you summon the energy to struggle past the second or third line of crap like this and then fisk it.
Perhaps we should put Rabbi Sacks and Jonathan “the population of the UK should be no more than thirty million” Porritt into a cage fight and leave them to it.
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You’ve got me going now:
“the continent’s Judeo-Christian religious roots.”
WTF is that about? This ‘continent’ has been majority Christian (albeit in an increasingly diluted, non-practising sort of way) for [a long time], Jewish people have only ever been a small minority.*
* Disclaimer, I like Jewish people on the whole, I’m just stating facts.
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Well, while I can ignore ignorant cockwaffle, when these religious crackpots have the effrontery to assume that they have the moral authority to judge my lifestyle, it tends to make my blood boil.
Indeed. Two sides of the same abhorrent coin.
Someone should really put a spigot in this bigot. He regularly spouts the most appalling crap – it’s his idea of a job, I suppose.
I don’t agree with you, though, that religious fundamentalism isn’t on the increase, or that it’s not a growing menace to a peaceful and prosperous 21st century. It stems from fear, and an irrational refusal to consider facts logically. Not just Islamic, but also Jewish and Christian, nuttery are becoming far more mainstream than they were when I was young and most sensible people – including those who were religious – laughed at their extremism.
Also, I disagree with you about world population. Sachs appears to be comfortable with the prospect of standing room only. Are you? Material resources aren’t inexhaustible. Most of the increasingly unsustainable growth in world population occurs, as he rightly says, among the superstitiously religious, who regard birth control as “sinful”.
Religion is anti-social in this day and age. It is the problem – not the answer.
Religious Leader Urges Everyone To Have More Sex?
We really are through the looking-glass.
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Anticant – religious extremism is rather less than it was, say, during the medieval period up until the late nineteenth century. The extremists are nasty, but they are a minority and as nothing compared to the Inquisition. The vast majority of people in my experience are vague believers in that in the UK, for example, they will consider themselves C of E but only ever go to church for hatches, matches and despatches. My experience of France is pretty similar – they regard themselves as nominally Catholic, but the local church is hardly full to bursting on a Sunday.
What is worrying and does seem to be on the increase is the pandering by politicians to “faith leaders”.
I’m not sure why you think I would want standing room only as I agree with you regarding resources. I am comfortable with the civilised approach of having fewer children and ensuring that those who are born have a decent upbringing by parents who can afford to do so and genuinely want them. Indeed, the old “have lots of children” approach stemmed from less civilised times when high infant mortality was the norm. We don’t need to have large families today as it is usual to expect most, if not all, of our children to survive into adulthood and women to survive childbirth.
Europe has it right. Given development, third world countries will, eventually, start to do the same – if we can overcome the ridiculous, regressive religious dogma regarding birth control.
The problem with extremism of any sort – not just religious extremism – is that the most fanatical shout the loudest, and if they back up their verbal bullying with violence or the implied threat of it, most moderates shut up and keep their heads down. So we end up with small hyperactive tails wagging big inert dogs – what I call the ‘democratic deficit’.
When I was young, peoples’ religion – or lack of it – was generally regarded as their own private business, and rightly so. Nowadays, more and more religious folk seem to regard their faith as a bludgeon with which to belabour those of other faiths, or the faithless. Secularism – which they wrongly equate with atheism – is the favourite target of the likes of Sachs, the Pope, and Rowan Williams. They correctly identify many of the current ills of society, but prescribe the wrong remedy – a return to religion.
Personally I think the French have got it right, due to their long history of post-Revolution anti-clericalism. Here, we should apply the provisions of the 1936 Public Order Act and ban public displays of religious symbolism on marches, demonstrations and suchlike.