State, religion and humanism

The right constitution

For Kant, in Critique of pure Reason, the just constitution is the one that gives the greatest possible freedom to individuals.

For the partisan of a residual clericalism, would the just constitution be the one that incites individuals to save their souls, with the help of the Church?

Where are the intellectuals of Fribourg?

The queen of science has gone from theology in the Middle Ages to economics today. Like the Fribourg radicals who have changed sides (yesterday's anticlericals now support the residues of clericalism), intellectuals have little criticism to make of the clerical regime. Are they satisfied with a simple attenuation of clericalism or are they usurping their title as intellectuals? For those who are concerned about their careers, the opportunism of those who know where the places of power are is more profitable than the critical spirit. To be recited piously every day: "Religion, Catholicism in particular, is an excellent thing to support. Vote for the church tax and give public funding to the Roman Catholic theological faculty".

The debates of the Great Council of the Canton of Fribourg
remain under the sign of the crucifix [photo 2017].

Why do the many advocates of less state intervention exclude religion from the scope of their principles?

The new generation looks better. In Switzerland, certain sections of the young radicals and young socialists have taken a clear stance in favour of secularism. But their elders are urging them to mute it.

Christian humanism

Christian humanism is a misleading expression: the human side is used as a diversion. It is in fact a theological vision of man in which God is at the centre, a kind of theocracy, draped in democracy, in which the clergy is the guide for the action of the state. That is how I was taught at the teacher training college in the canton of Valais, in the name of the social encyclicals of the Church that we read in class, that the worst enemy of humanity is socialism, and that every true Christian has a moral duty to vote for a Christian party, i.e. for the Christian Democrat party (see Clericalism, never again! - Testimony).

Whereas Christian humanism is a city built around a cathedral and a Catholic theological faculty under the patronage of a clerical state, all surrounded by the rampart of Greek and Latin culture, true humanism places the public square, human rights, democracy and secular culture at the centre.

I am wary of humanisms that have a vision of a tomorrow that sings, whether in this world or in another. True humanism refuses to subordinate itself to any religion, otherwise it loses its quality of humanism. Humanism consists in reinforcing the primacy of man over all ideologies that demand submission to other values.

CONTENTS of the blog



Location: Suisse

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Clericalism, never again! - Testimony

Image
In the canton of Valais (Switzerland), Catholicism was the state religion until 1973, which meant that I spent my childhood and youth in a deeply clerical society. The present text aims to explain, in a particular case, the intimate workings of clericalism, seen from the inside by the teenager I was. The primary school (1955 – 1960, Fully) Boys and girls were separated in two different buildings. Although the school was public and compulsory, the typical day began with the recitation of the catechism. The book, consisting of questions and answers, had to be recited by heart. At the end of the book, we would start from the beginning, and so on for the duration of the primary school. On Sundays, the pupils had an appointment in front of the school to go to mass, in columns of two, under the guidance of the teacher. Attendance was controlled. In addition to the catechism, there were also courses of religious instruction. In preparation for the first confession, I memorized a list of sins
Read more

The menace of hell

Image
Some avatars of the French adage "He who loves well punishes well" are flamboyant. Churches praise God's love without insisting as much as in the past on the intimidation that accompanies it: [Matthew 13:41-42] "The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Believers hold their breath, but find it right that God resorts to eternal torments. One would have expected a justice more concerned with proportionality, for on earth, even inflicted by the worst sadists, every punishment has an end. Moreover, justice that respects human rights does not resort to punitive torture. What a striking contrast with the message of forgiveness: [Matthew 5:44] "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you". Unfortunately, any approach that falls under the principle &q
Read more

Resisting the teaching of the Church: human rights, morals, secular culture

Image
In Western Europe, we see that age-old religions are crumbling while others are infiltrating. Certainly, we are far from finished with the zealots of True Revealed Faith, which has the oddity of being plural. From it emerges the image of a God who hides, delivers contradictory messages and presents a dissociative identity disorder. The diversity of beliefs reveals that they are cultural constructions devoid of objective foundations. It is unreasonable to obey the propagandists of such an ill-defined God. Why does man cling to so-called beliefs about the afterlife that are in fact beyond all plausibility? The answer is to be found between our two ears - O revelation -, that is to say in our brain. To be content with arguments of authority is a capitulation of the mind. Religions work to dramatize existence: the eye of God that observes us, sin, Judgement Day, hell (or reincarnation into an inferior being), eternal life, ... Religion does not provide access to inner peace, as it develops
Read more