25 signatures reached
To: To all Members of Parliament
Keep Politics and Religion Separate!
Prevent Bishops from being in the House of Lords and taking part in political decision making. Reform the House of Lords to prevent ANY religious influence on parliament.
Why is this important?
In the UK we have bishops in the House of Lords making decisions that could affect each and every one of us, these bishops are being influenced, not by us, not by society as a whole but by religion; the same ideology which influenced a group of religious men to fly planes into the world trade center killing thousands of innocent lives, the same ideology that for thousands of years has caused unnecessary death and suffering of innocent human beings. The only thing religion is very good at is conferring a sense of moral superiority on its followers and I will take no part in it; nor should anyone else that has any sort of individual morality; nor should our 21st century parliament, get religion out of the political decision making processes and as far away from the governing of the country as possible.
If I created a religion right now and put in writing what I thought was right and wrong; I could even write a great load of mumbo jumbo proclaiming that I know all the answers, or I add some fiction in there about resurrection and healing powers. Well first people would probably say I’m crazy and I’d be sectioned; but what if over time people actually started believing it? And hundreds, even thousands of years into the future people start sacrificing their lives over it, wars break out because of it, governments changing their laws because of it and the entire sociological ideology of the world’s populous would have changed all because of a religion I could make up on the spot right now. Well, I needn't go on, I’m sure you get the point.
We can listen and chose to abide by the rules of society but we don’t have to listen and chose to abide by the rules and fundamentals of anything else. Each and every one of us has our own morality and that is okay! If our own individual morality tells us that something is right or wrong then who is tell us otherwise? The government? The police? The church? A 2000 year old book written by a group of men with their own morals; I ask who influenced them? Who influenced their moral standpoint on things and why should we be dictated to by a group of men who aren't even alive anymore? Let’s say that the authors of the bible thought that murder was right, does that mean that through the ages our morality would in-fact change and not only would we believe this to be the case, it would be instilled into us, into who we are and our individual conscious would know no different. Just because a majority believe something to be right or wrong does not make it so.
There’re people in the world that will look to others to influence them morally, the church is the biggest example of this, praying on the weak and feeble telling each and every one of them how to live their lives and they pay the price for it, every single religious person in some way pays a price; be it monetary or non-financial. Whether that be sacrificing their lives or donating ten percent of their hard earnings, they pay a price.
If I created a religion right now and put in writing what I thought was right and wrong; I could even write a great load of mumbo jumbo proclaiming that I know all the answers, or I add some fiction in there about resurrection and healing powers. Well first people would probably say I’m crazy and I’d be sectioned; but what if over time people actually started believing it? And hundreds, even thousands of years into the future people start sacrificing their lives over it, wars break out because of it, governments changing their laws because of it and the entire sociological ideology of the world’s populous would have changed all because of a religion I could make up on the spot right now. Well, I needn't go on, I’m sure you get the point.
We can listen and chose to abide by the rules of society but we don’t have to listen and chose to abide by the rules and fundamentals of anything else. Each and every one of us has our own morality and that is okay! If our own individual morality tells us that something is right or wrong then who is tell us otherwise? The government? The police? The church? A 2000 year old book written by a group of men with their own morals; I ask who influenced them? Who influenced their moral standpoint on things and why should we be dictated to by a group of men who aren't even alive anymore? Let’s say that the authors of the bible thought that murder was right, does that mean that through the ages our morality would in-fact change and not only would we believe this to be the case, it would be instilled into us, into who we are and our individual conscious would know no different. Just because a majority believe something to be right or wrong does not make it so.
There’re people in the world that will look to others to influence them morally, the church is the biggest example of this, praying on the weak and feeble telling each and every one of them how to live their lives and they pay the price for it, every single religious person in some way pays a price; be it monetary or non-financial. Whether that be sacrificing their lives or donating ten percent of their hard earnings, they pay a price.
