It is an Enlightenment value to separate the Church from the State. It means the freedom of religion. Every human being is free to think and act according to his findings. And it means the Government can't make him act against his morality. But there's a context here.
.@TomWalkom says @PMHarper's tough new anti-terror bill is almost certainly unnecessary. http://t.co/gnxSOzdHDx pic.twitter.com/KKvgMrkIct
— TorontoStar (@TorontoStar) January 31, 2015
As a consequence of the separation of Church and State some have come to believe that the public square must be morally neutral and cleansed of all expressions of religion. That's French style laïcité. We have also come to believe that it doesn't matter what a person thinks or believes, what his view is on the universe and man's place in it; what consequently is good or evil and how man gathers knowledge, if any. After all, we're all equal, aren't we?
As a result of a wrong approach to the premise that man is born tubala rasa and must be equal before the law, we now hold that every race (inherent), culture (acquired), belief (acquired) and idea (acquired) are "the same" and equally valid.
This renders us blind for the enemies of our own values. We think of them as our equals with slightly bad ideas, but to which they are entitled. And that it doesn't matter what a person believes, thinks or does. Morality has become subjective, a private opinion.
But there's a context to the Enlightenment and liberal democracy. One single truth: that freedom is the supreme and universal human value to which all must subordinate in order to continue to believe, think according to our findings.
To deny that single, universal truth will be the downfall of the single most important Enlightenment principle and the entire civilization that depends on it.
To abdicate from that fundamental principle doesn't make us Libertarians, but the enemies of Liberty. It leaves freedom exposed to those who want her downfall, because they believe that man is slave of a unpredictable, omnipotent God.
To abdicate from that fundamental principle doesn't make us Libertarians, but the enemies of Liberty. It leaves freedom exposed to those who want her downfall, because they believe that man is slave of a unpredictable, omnipotent God.
Looking away, evading reality, abdicating our voluntary thought processes is no strategy to preserve our freedom and the civilization based on reason. Blaming our own values for the present predicament is perverse self-immolation, self-abnegation, self-denial and ultimately, self-destruction.
Allowing mental 9 year olds with an underdeveloped internal locus of control to burn the house down, is neurotic madness. Ideas and beliefs DO matter. Morality DOES matter. Because that ultimately determines what we do.
Allowing mental 9 year olds with an underdeveloped internal locus of control to burn the house down, is neurotic madness. Ideas and beliefs DO matter. Morality DOES matter. Because that ultimately determines what we do.
@DioscorusBoles @Kassandra_Troy @TorontoStar Many of us do not want our freedoms denied for reasons we think are hugely exaggerated
— Richard Calhoun (@richardcalhoun) January 31, 2015
@Kassandra_Troy @DioscorusBoles @TorontoStar the proposed laws are the sort of denial of freedoms that have got us all to where we are
— Richard Calhoun (@richardcalhoun) January 31, 2015
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