Many of us involved in the scientific community who have no religious faith have been coming out of the closet to take on those religious elements now embedded in politics and government. The battle between faith and science has been raging for years in the U.S., and more so lately in Canada as the evangelical Christian based Harper Conservatives consolidate their hold on government. Not everyone understands why many of us are so relentless in our attacks on religion so I will attempt to explain why.
Religion in politics and government represents a very real physical threat to those of us with no faith, and I mean that in every sense of the word.
The key issue is actually quite simple. Although there will be variations and exceptions, the gist of the argument is as follows. Those of strong religious faith believe in an afterlife, the existence of an all powerful deity, and slant their decisions within government accordingly. Those of us with no religious faith, and having to deal with the finality of death, tend to focus more on science as our saviour both as individuals and for our species. We are perhaps short years to curing some of mankind’s major diseases, and perhaps short decades away from the defeat of old age itself. We in the atheist community make decisions in government based on our need to extend human life; those of faith tend not to because they feel it is unnecessary. That sociological distinction is creating the playing field for a political battleground that will rock the religious world in the years to come.
Our stand unfortunately requires that we make direct attacks on religions that interfere in political decisions, notably the evangelical Christians within the Conservative party under Stephen Harper. The more moderate faiths are not an issue, the evangelicals and to some extent the Catholics are most certainly a problem – in particular around stem cell and genomics issues. Scientists, in particular from the bio-sciences, are literally at war with the faith end of the spectrum because they insist on being involved in politics and government, and manipulate and underfund programs that are key to our very survival. Faith and science rarely mix. You can believe with all your being that the moon is made of cheese, and dinosaurs walked the earth with human beings, but that doesn’t make it so. Nor is it a premise from which to make realistic decisions on science and technology, in particular medical technology.
The religious affiliation of a politician, his political party, and the people they appoint should be everyone’s business when those individuals make decisions that impact on the life and death of living human beings. Too many people with faith based opinions and perspectives have been appointed to key scientific and government posts, the current Science Minister and members of Reproductive Technologies Canada as prime examples. From a secular perspective this practise is outrageous and needs to end. If it doesn’t end then we have no choice but to continue to attack faith and religion in government, if not faith itself, as this is a fight for our very survival both as individuals and as a species.