The many or the few?

Let us preface this by saying...Italy and the European Union are not the United States, nor do things that apply here have the same force as there and vice versa.

At the same time, there are certain principles that apply to both.

Here is an interesting news story.

Obviously, I have a few prejudices. One of them is anti-Catholic in the extreme.

Just as obviously, all of us have prejudices, and we do not always take into account the views of other people.

But this is a case I find singularly ridiculous. Certainly the woman is highly unlikely to be the only person there who feels that way.

Just as certainly, there are a great number of people who choose otherwise. Just as she wants to raise her kids without seeing the crucifix on the wall, they want to raise their kids WITH seeing it.

And it is hardly a new thing in Italy. That is the center and heart of the Catholic religion.

What I have never quite understood is why the "I wants" of the minority are somehow given more precedence and importance than the "I wants" of the majority in a legal sense.

Just as those who believe religion in some form of religion have not just the right but I would argue the responsibility to train their children to discern right from wrong, so do those who disbelieve.

I, for example, strongly believe the Bible is right...and that the religious jewelry is borderline blasphemous.

If you truly want to "celebrate the cross", get out an un-sanded piece of wood, cover it in blood and wear that. A gold cross is to the cross of Jesus what Hitler is to responsible leadership.

At the same time, if I had kids, did not want to see a cross on the wall but my kids were being educated there, instead of disallowing the choice most people made that put it there, I would show my kids why I believed it was erroneous.

For that matter, the long-disproved "evolutionary ladder", not believed by even the vast majority of the leading evolutionists, which still hangs on many school walls is for me what the crucifix is for her.

I find it nonsensical, bad science, and something that I wish wasn't there.

So is my best approach to go to court to try and force the schools to remove it...or to sit down with my (non-existent) kid, show them what things like Darwin's Black Box or a host of other books have done to show that it is an error-filled document with no credibility?

Most people are not going to A) do the research and/or B) believe what I believe.

So why should I, in the minority, be allowed to force what I want on everyone else?

I am not a huge Berlusconi fan, but on this, at least, I must say...kudos to you. Well done, hold your ground.










2 comments:

Riot Kitty said...

I think religion should be a personal private choice, period. I think the government should stay out of it - not encourage or discourage, because I don't want government involvement in my personal beliefs. I mean, imagine we had a Catholic government!

listen for azure said...

What if we had a govenment run by the people that were native to the Pacific NW. Pass the peace pipe, please?