By Edmund Bush
Just over two centuries ago, Thomas Paine published his Age of Reason. In it he launched a frontal attack on Christianity containing what were then, and surely still now, regarded as inflammatory statements, including the following: “Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half he bible is filled, it would be more consistent if we called it the word of a demon than the word of god, and one which has served to corrupt and brutalise mankind”.
In his time, the crown brought an action against the publisher, charging that he had published a blasphemous work. Now, two centuries later, things have not changed a lot, with the government having tried to introduce new legislation, which could equate criticism of religion with incitement to religious hatred.
Our own British Humanist Association has steered well clear of criticising religion, and even engages in advising the government on how to teach it, via the Standing Advisory Committee on Religious Education. This is presumably done on the basis that we should not disturb our fellow humans’ deeply held beliefs, since these would in any case be better than none.
It is, however, difficult to go along with this where religious beliefs and practices contravene the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (also based on an idea of Thomas Paine, incidentally) adopted by the United Nations in 1948. This certainly applies to Article 5 pertaining to inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment. Furthermore, according to Article 19, we should have the right to freedom of opinion and expression, which presumably includes the right to ridicule. If the government decides this is the same as incitement to religious hatred, we should be prepared to become humanist martyrs!
But, as humanists, we believe in reason, so can we stand by passively whilst children the world over are brainwashed with fantasies ranging from the last judgement to the promise of 7000 virgins to those who perish by blowing themselves up together with non-believers? And, as I am saying this, there are millions of our fellow humans all over the globe crossing themselves, genuflecting, kneeling, bowing, chanting and praising their respective gods or gurus, when not engaged in pilgrimages by plane, ship, car, horse, camel, bicycle, on foot, in wheelchair or just crawling to holy places where they will kiss, touch or pray to various pieces of carved wood, bone, skin, elephants, cows or any other object or graven image remotely connected with the object of their devotion.
They all deserve our sympathy, though maybe tainted with a slight snigger. But, wait, it gets worse. We now have mass-tourism, which thrives on us non-believers visiting these holy places and witnessing these mass delusions at first hand, which we do in our thousands, in wonderment and awe.
Fear would be more appropriate, however. We know well what religious fervour can do armed with machetes, quite apart from the millions of Kalashnikovs liberally sprinkled around the globe by an industry that helps to keep us Westerners in the style we are accustomed to. And what is going to happen when these mere toys escalate to guided missiles carrying nuclear weapons? As my namesake George W. Bush has already demonstrated, if you have god on your side, you need not be too particular about how you spread his message.
So should we ridicule religion? Well, yes. If only to help save our planet! So watch out you Jesus freaks and Islamic Jihad’s ts, here come the Humanist activists to laugh you away! And thank you, Thomas Paine, we haven’t forgotten you.
Eddie Bush, a retired engineer and company director. is a member of the TPS and has been researching into Thomas Paine’s possible connection with the design of the Blackfriars Bridge in London. He has contributed to various Humanist publications over the past few years.