>seems to me that religion is *even more* egalitarian than government. We each
>get to pick our own, custom belief system... (In this country there are no
>churchs exerting control over my life.)
I don't know where you are from, but I know that in England, the Monarchy is
considered a representitive of the church. to illustrate what I was trying to
say in my last email - in England it is unconstitutional, and thus forbidden
for a member of the Royal Family to marry a Catholic! Don't ask me why, 'cos
I don't know, but the church is in there somewhere, telling people what to do,
and how to do it.
Also, withing our second chamber (The House of Lords), there are 26 Bishops
from the Church of England, who take an active part in debate over British
Law. If they disagree with a piece of legislation, then they have the power
to hold it up, and propose ammendments to it. Once again, church intervention
strikes again - the House of Lords is an unelected body, and thus there is no
way of removing these Bishops.
Finally, you will notice that the vast majority of Schools (I'm being careful
here, because I know that someone will know of an exception) in this country
are affiliated to a religion. I went to a Church of England school, some of
my friends went to a catholic school, etc... And in these schools, the
teaching of Religious Studies is compulsory upto a certain age. Some of my
friends were forced to take RS for GCSE, even though it's a useless subject.
Current government legislation makes the teaching of RS compulsory in schools
upto about the age of 13 or 14. I think that this is fair enough, as knowledge
of other religions may reduce race hatred etc, but to force people to learn
to any higher level would be a big mistake. The problem is that there is the
danger of indoctrination into a specific school of thought. If a C of E
school runs RS lessons, then it is likely that the emphasis will be heavily
on Christianity (I know that it was at my school), thus merely giving people
a single religion to choose from. Take it or leave it, but they'd be much
happier if you took it.
Religion, and indoctrination are coming at you from all sides, and you might
not even realise it. I don't want it, so why should I have to kneel before it.
Religion is dangerous, there's no getting away from that fact, and it does
control, no matter what anyone says, the church has got its finger in so many
pies - so to speak - that it'll always be there.
No offence intended in anything I write, and don't worry, people that I hate I
wouldn't even bother writing to.
Drakir
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Richard Jones
jonesr@gatwick.geco-prakla.slb.com
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"I'm gonna die standing upon my feet, you're gonna die grovelling on you knees."
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