The British have a wonderful way with words. The issue is more than political correctness. We are being “daft” by suppressing even the public mention of one’s religion or religious holidays.
My dictionary defines “daft” as “silly, foolish, mad, insane”; but I prefer the old English translation: “simple and stupid.”
To refuse to discuss or recognize religious convictions in the public square is to deny the very nature of our humanity. People are irresistibly religious, always have been, and in my view always will be. Our religious convictions profoundly influence our public behavior whether we talk about it or not; for many like me it is the primary influence on our values, attitudes, and behavior.
To go through life refusing to discuss what is for many people the central question in their lives is simply to cultivate ignorance, not only ignorance about human beings, but ignorance about our own culture.
Anyone who cares to study would see that Christianity was, building on the works of ancient Greece and Rome, the formative influence for western civilization. Capitalism is a product of Christian principles about freedom and market. Our higher education system was pioneered by Christians. The idea of liberal democracy grew out of the monasteries and the nation cities of Northern Italy. Science itself is the product of Christians in the Reformation era who rejected the Aristotelian supposition of an eternal universe, arguing instead that God created everything; therefore everything was free for exploration. The inductive method replaced the deductive and the scientific method was born.
So, we’re not only being politically correct stifling religious expression, we’re being rather stupid, among other things, cutting ourselves off from our own heritage and failing to take advantage of the religious impulse which is responsible for the greatest humanitarian reforms in history.
Yes, Christ is the star of the show at Christmas as is Yahweh at Hanukkah as is Muhammad at Ramadan. Let’s be free to discuss our convictions and faith, even celebrate them—in a civil environment in which no one attempts to impose them on anyone else but listens respectfully.
Once this was called tolerance; to stifle is “daft” indeed.
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