The news a couple of days ago that Tony Blair has joined the Roman Catholic church should have come as a surprise to no-one. It’s nice to see a couple of commenters to BBC News’s story saying very much what I was thinking:
Quite frankly, who cares? Not talking about his faith previously was probably one of the few good decisions he took as prime minister. Running the country is not about what version of god you believe in, in fact religion should have no part at all in the day-to-day running of the country.
Alex Bailey, CorbyI would never have voted for him had I knew he was religious. The thought that people in power have gone to war based upon the voices in their heads fills me with horror. To not believe in fairytales is the norm, anything other than that is delusional. We need more normal atheist people to speak up for common sense.
D Johnstone, Birmingham
I am really not sure about the first comment. As a basically Christian country all our legislation is based on Christian tenets. So surely Christian principles should be part of the day to day running of the country. However it’s a pity that George Dubya hasn’t realised that Christianity does not necessarily go hand in hand with democracy.
> So surely Christian principles should be part of the day to day running of the countryI don’t agree. I think you’re confusing theist dogma/belief with morality. Our moral principles (whatever they are) should underlie the way the country is governed/run. But said moral principles do not have to be (indeed IMO should not be) theistic. Only if one wants (agrees to have) a theistic state should those guiding priciples be theist. And I would maintain that we now live in an open, tolerant society which does not agree on a single theism whose principles should guide us. Morality can exist without religion.
I see what you’re saying but what about the current situation where the blasphemy laws only protect Christianity? It was this sort of thing that I was thinking of. I do agree that morality can exist without religion. If we were to have a country which was not governed by refernce to religious morality at all then we should not have specific laws to protect any religion. Maybe it’s time to disestablish the C of E?
I agree, disestablishment of the CofE is indeed long overdue. In this age there seems to me no place for an established church unless one is going to be a fundamentalist state — which we aren’t, and IMO no-one should be.I agree too about the blasphemy laws. Either have none, or else they have to cover all belief systems.
After all Christian fundamentalists can be just as extreme as the fundamentalists of any other faith.