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The VE Bulletin Excerpts
'No price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself' Rudyard Kipling
Vol 20: No 2 July 2003
Church and state 'The place of religion in the parliament of a multicultural, secular, democracy'
The
letter reproduced below was sent by Mary Gallnor, in a personal
capacity, to all state and federal parliamentarians. It is particularly
relevant to the issue of voluntary euthanasia, as politicians will be
afforded a "conscience vote" or a "free vote" on the Dignity in Dying Bill.
I am not a Christian, but having been
brought up in strict Irish Catholicism in Protestant England, I do
acknowledge that some people get comfort from a belief in a
supernatural being. That is incomprehensible to me but, as a humanist
and a liberal, I respect the rights of everyone to follow a chosen path.
However, when they impinge on the rights of others then I believe I
have the right to speak out. I refer to an edict from the Pope sent to
members of parliament by Archbishop Wilson in January. In this document
all Catholics, world wide, are instructed to follow Catholic teaching
and I agree they are free to obey the Pope in their personal lives.
What I take objection to is that there is a special message to all
Catholic politicians instructing them to take the Catholic dogma on to
the floor of parliament; in other words into our lives. In effect the
Vatican has laid down its own legislative agenda to be followed by the
whole world and I find this frightening, dangerous and very offensive.
We
live in a multicultural secular country which is not Christian, Jewish,
Muslim, Hindu or Catholic. Surely we expect anyone who chooses to enter
parliament to leave religious dogma at the door and instead to apply
critical, rational thinking to their chosen work as lawmakers. Bertrand
Russell wrote " what we need is not the will to believe but the will to
find out". Well the way to find out is to research both sides of the
argument using clearly verifiable evidence and then to balance the harm
and the good to society of passing any bill, irrespective of personal
preference. Let us be clear, religious dogma cannot be proved and if a
belief in the dogma of their church forbids it then they should abstain
from voting on that particular bill.
During her excellent contribution to the
embryo stem cell research, Senator Amanda Vanstone gave her opinion on
the place of religion in a secular democracy when she stated
Your
religion is your business and no one else’s. It follows that I attach
very little importance or interest in arguments over religious dogma.
My personal view is that when you make your religion an issue, you drag
it into the political domain and you tarnish it.
Further she maintained
You are entitled to follow your
religious beliefs but you are not entitled to demand by legislation
that everybody else does the same.
Amanda also quoted Clarence Darrow in the infamous Scopes "Monkey Trial" who argued that
The realm of religion is where
knowledge leaves off, and where faith begins, and it has never needed
the arm of the state for support, and wherever it has received it, it
has harmed both the public and the religion it would pretend to serve.
Our
Founding Fathers were obviously concerned about this as is shown by
article 116 of The Constitution, but up to now members of parliament
have been getting away with doing it with impunity. Some even cite
their religious dogma as reason for opposing social justice issues.
I suggest that it is high time that we
stopped referring to a "conscience vote" which is a euphemism for "cop
out" and call it instead a non aligned vote or, as in the UK, a free
vote. I put it to you that it is also time for us to restate vigorously
and often, that there is no place for religious dogma in the parliament
of a secular, democratic country.
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