Paying Lip-Service to Religion

Another beautiful day down on our little allotment here in South Gloucestershire in the Dis-United Kingdom.
Our plants are growing so fast now that we spend increasing amounts of time tying them to their bean canes and generally keeping them in good order. And watering them each morning and evening.
But we don't forget our lunchtime chats, and when Nosher gestured me to join him in the shade of his shed to relax on our old deckchairs I didn't need a second invitation.
Chilled fruit juice in hand, I waited for the discussion to kick off. Nosher did not disappoint.
'I hear the Church of England is whingeing again about being marginalised' he announced 'in a new report they are complaining that the Government is neglecting them in favour of Muslims, instead of recognising all the good charitable work they do for needy groups in society. They claim the the Government only pays lip-service to the Anglican Church, and should do more for them. It's the usual special pleading for political influence.'
'Apparently' I said 'Hazel Blears, Minister for Communities and Cohesion, and not one of the brightest fairy lights on the Christmas Tree of life, has responded by saying the the Muslims need special attention because they've got a small number of extremists amongst them. Now there's an incentive for the Christians - grow some extremists of your own and you'll get as much attention as you want!'
'I don't know why more religious people can't be like the Quakers' Nosher continued 'they do lots of charitable work but seek no public recognition, they don't have any doctrine, dogma or liturgy, they have no churches or religious institutions, they simpy rely on inspiration, each from their own personal God, to motivate them to do good in the world. And then you get the other kind of religous groups, the ones who get themselves organised to make a fuss about not getting enough attention, which is another way of saying they're upset about not getting their own way because they want to be able to tell the rest of us how to live our lives.'
'Well, I think religious organisations should have the same status as any other voluntary organisations, such as youth clubs' I said 'why should they get special concessions just because they have convinced themselves they've got a hotline to God and that this makes them the keepers of public morality? So far as I'm aware there's no research to indicate that religious believers are any more likely to be moral than unbelievers. The only reason organised religions get away with their self-deceit is that they can use strength of numbers to bully politicians into letting them have their own way. They already get significant concessions from Government - I think that these should be abolished and organised religion should be excluded from public life completely. No special status, no special pleading. If they want to do good works, they should attract Government funding on the basis of their selfless devotion to the good of others, not because they see themselves as the guardians of public morals.'
Nosher looked at me with a smile playing upon his lips.
'Doesn't take much to set you off, does it?' he chuckled.
'Nope' I replied 'and I'll keep saying these things until the day organised religion is put where it belongs - in the private sphere, where it can't propagate its self-deceits and moral narcissism by being given a free public platform by the idiots who rule over us. I've no objection to religious belief at all - provided it remains as a person's private business. It's when religious believers acquire delusions of moral supremacy and divine right to special status and power over others that the trouble always starts. That's the lesson of history, and if we don't wake up to it, we'll be back to the Wars of Religion in no time at all.'
'Well, you may be right' Nosher said, still smiling 'but I don't think many people are listening to you.'
More from www.overthegardenfence.blogspot.com soon.
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Take care, be happy, and may your very own personal god go with you!