Religion without faith
Aisha Sherazi
Citizen Special
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Well, that was that. The Ontario elections are over, and the apparent fuss about funding faith-based schools is over with it. So, what was achieved by the debate?
On the surface, very little. The schools are still operating as they were before, with parental, not public funding. The public Catholic system is still in place, as are the other public school boards. Who would have thought that such a non-issue could cost the Ontario Progressive Conservative party an entire election campaign?
As I followed the debate, I noted a distinct aversion toward "religion" in general. Secular beliefs and attitudes seem rife in Ontario. People questioned why we should be funding these religious schools. Some called for separation of religion from the state, as in the United States. Some even went as far as to say that the Catholic system itself should no longer be funded, which is plain ridiculous. After all, the Catholic system is successful and not broken. Why would we replace unfairness with further unfairness?
Should the increase in secular thought worry those with faith? Can people of faith and secular folks live in harmony? Can a society void of faith exist sensibly? Some of these questions have been asked by superb writers like Dan Gardner and the editorial board recently in the Citizen. Worthwhile questions, to be sure.
What concerns me however, is not whether it's possible to be "good without God." As Mr. Gardner has pointed out, it would appear that people in the world indeed seem to behave ethically and responsibly in the absence of a belief in God.
I have recently become more concerned with the concept of "religion without faith." In the Muslim faith, this concept is known as taqwa or "God consciousness" -- believing in God as though we see Him -- but the concept is not unique to Islam of course, it applies to all religious doctrine.
How is it that Canadian Christopher Paul Neil, a man who is suspected of being a pedophile (by raping six-year-old Asian boys) and was the subject of an international police hunt last week, was once a chaplain at an air cadet camp in Cornwallis Park and taught a course on morality in Greenwood, Nova Scotia?
How is it that people claiming to be of Islamic faith can kill innocent bystanders using suicide bomb attacks?
How is it that Wikipedia has a page dedicated to Christian evangelist scandals? The list goes on.
How was it that the Vatican could suspend a high-ranking priest after he was secretly filmed making advances to a young man and asserting that gay sex was not sinful during a program broadcast on a private Italian television network last week?
Perhaps the answer to these questions lies in the statement issued by the priest in question, Msgr. Tommaso Stenico. "I pretended to be gay in order to gather information about those who damage the image of the church with homosexual activity," he insists in his letter posted on Petrus, a Catholic website. More importantly perhaps, he states, "I was caught on hidden camera; otherwise I would have never said those words in the first place."
Isn't the whole point of faith a "big brother" concept? One may not be watched physically, but one feels the presence of God in all one does and one relies on that ever-watchful presence to know what is right from wrong. Is there an emerging lack of faith in religion itself? Are hidden cameras replacing God in society today?
People are human beings. As far as I am concerned, when temptation lies in our way, sometimes we are strong, at other times we are weak. We have the right tools to be able to overcome temptations. Some have a higher inner strength than others. Some rely on their fear of God. Others rely on their love of Him.
Is it surprising that anti-religious writers like Christopher Hitchens have received so much attention for their books, such as God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything? Mr. Hitchens rightly points out his on-the-ground glimpses of religion's worst face in various war zones and isolated despotic regimes. But can we take evil deeds and lack of faith in man, and then attribute those failures to God? I find this to be a fundamental flaw in the writings of many well-known atheist writers such as Mr. Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris.
Given the apparent hypocrisy, is it any wonder that the masses are turning toward atheism and moving away from organized religion altogether? And where will that leave society?
People who appear outwardly religious and yet devoid of faith appear to be undeterred by God in their wrong doings, and yet have little interest in doing "the right moral thing" either.
Aisha Sherazi, former principal of Abraar Elementary School in Ottawa, is a freelance writer.
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