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Editor: Duane Bates

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February, 2008

The Voice of Sanity

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE UPSTATE S.C. SECULAR HUMANISTS

                 Visit our web-site for current and back-issues at: www.uscsh.org

                                      e-mail:  secularhmnst@aol.com   

 

 

POLITICAL RELIGIONS

 

Politics has often be referred to as “the art of the possible”, but paralleling the growth of extreme and hard line religious factions in many mainstream religions of the world we are also seeing the same phenomenon in American political parties. By political religions I mean the development of political parties of factions within existing parties that insist their beliefs about how things should be are fixed and unchangeable and not subject to challenge, scrutiny or modification based on evidence or changes in the world we live in. We simply have to accept that they have the only real truth about any given issue and should move immediately to adopt all their conclusions.

 

True religions, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and the many other religions, are based on faith and do not require proof or evidence for their beliefs.  Politics, however, operates in the real world and demands some degree rational proof or evidence for any policy that they are insisting will work if implemented.

 

In the world that our ancestors lived in, a world that was overwhelmingly rural and agricultural, little changed over generations. But with the advent of the industrial revolution the pace of change increased, the ability to change and adapt became real keys to survival and success.  Most humans, however, do not do well with rapid change and the rapid changes taking place in their everyday lives made them look to their religions for a set of beliefs and values that were comforting and constant, unaffected by the increasing velocity of social and economic changes swirling around them.

 

In this sense political philosophy can take on the characteristics of a sacred religious creed or beliefs systems, handed down from by a deity, usually the person or persons who developed the idea to begin with.  The persons of any political party that hold these types of rigid beliefs are referred to as ideologues; those persons who fervently believe that their views on any subject is the right one and that putting it into action will resolve all our current problems and create an almost perfect world. They also believe that our refusal to accept their pronouncements is the root of virtually all our problems that we face today and evidence of our ignorance.  Another key characteristic of the political ideologues is their unwillingness to examine or accept any information that challenges or contradicts their sacred beliefs. They reject, and sometimes even refuse to examine, any data that disproves or challenges their beliefs because they hold the special truths. 

 

Unfortunately, Americans seem to be strongly attracted to political religions, perhaps because they offer simple solutions to complex problems.  Americans need to adopt a very skeptical stance when simple solutions being proposed for complex problems, whether the issue is healthcare, the national debt, or governmental spending and demand evidence and proof.  Missouri is known as the “show me” state.  We all need to be from Missouri when evaluating solutions to the many challenges we face today.  The world we live is a complex, complicated place and it isn’t getting any less complex.  We need to demand better, workable solutions from our political leaders.

CHRISTIANS AND HINDUS CLASH IN INDIA

 

Hindu extremists and Christians have clashed in eastern India over allegations that Christian are trying to convert Hindus from the lowest caste to their religion with the promise of better jobs and higher pay.   Churches and shrines have been burned, a police station attacked and several people have been killed in the battles, with hundreds of Christians fleeing to refugee camps for safety.  A link to the full article is posted below.

 

The majority of Indians are Hindus, a religion that has a complex set of castes that dictate your role in society and define what jobs you can hold.  Hinduism requires that followers accept their defined roles in the caste system in order to move up in the caste hierarchy in their future lives after death.  This results in little or no opportunity for social and economic mobility.  Globalization and urbanization has substantially increased the ability of lower caste Indians to escape their caste constraints by moving into the large cities where they can lose their caste identity and take on new jobs that increase their income. 

 

These responses to the social and economic changes that are sweeping India and most of the third world threaten the privileges of the higher castes in India who see that more opportunities for lower caste Indians, the majority, will reduce the economic and educational advantages they have had for generations.  Several years ago a program announced by the government to increase the number of spots in schools and colleges for lower caste persons resulted in street riots by members of the higher castes who realized that the program would reduce the number of educational spots for members of their caste.

 

Although the lowest caste, referred to as untouchables or Dalits, was officially outlawed by the Indian Constitution in 1950 in reality it still exits and an estimated 100 million Indians still work and live within its constraints.  Many in this caste are virtual slaves, especially at the village level, where they fill the most undesirable jobs and are often the target of discrimination and violence. Moving to a city where no one knows your history and converting to a religion that has no caste system must seem attractive to anyone at the bottom of the social and economic heap who wishes to improve his or her their life.

 

India is often referred to as the “world’s largest democracy”, and that is true in terms of population, but how democratic can a nation of 1.1 billion people be if 100 million of its citizens are treated as serfs?  The continuing growth of the Indian economy will continue to conflict with the centuries old cultural caste system that is intended to keep people locked into a fix role in society for their entire lives regardless of their talents, abilities or work ethic.  A social, economic and political revolution in underway in India and it will continue to come into conflict with the culture as creativity and ability become more valued than an individual’s place in the caste system. 

 

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22433987/

 

 

WHAT COUNTRY’S CITIZENS ARE THE HAPPIEST?

 

ABC’s 20/20 program aired a very interesting program on January 11th that sought to find the happiest country on earth.  The survey that answered the question was based on twenty years of questionnaires given to citizens by sociologists in 147 nations. 

 

The very surprising answer is the Denmark; the nation with the highest tax rates in the world has the happiest people.  Danes can pay up to 63% of their income in taxes, but believe that they are getting good value for the money since they have universal health care and pension benefits.  The reported was able to find one Dane, an elderly woman who was in a wheel chair, that did not feel happy, but even she willingly admitted that she felt well cared for by her fellow Danes and was comforted by the social service system.

 

One result of the high tax rate in Denmark is that since the tax rate “levels” incomes to a great extent, people seek occupations that reflect their real interest.  They do not seek jobs that will maximize their income and social status and are not concerned with consuming.  A Prince of the royal Danish family works as a carpenter’s apprentice and seems quite content with his job.  Ninety two percent of Danes belong to a dancing, singing or other interest group.  The lack of ethnic diversity also plays a role; the population is over ninety percent people of Danish ancestry.  The Danes trust their government and each other, a fundamental requirement for stable and progressive society. 

 

In Asia, the city-state of Singapore ranks as the happiest, but with a very different social structure.  Singapore has very strict laws, including a ban on gum chewing, that many people in Western democracies would not tolerate.  It also uses physical punishments, such as caning, on criminals and is a highly developed consumer economy.  It has been labeled a “nanny state” since it leaders attempt to control aspects of personal behaviors that we take as a basic right.  An American living in Singapore was very happy to be living and working there, willingly giving up rights that American enjoy in return for a very low crime rate and stable environment.  Singapore citizens also express a great confidence in their government and cite the low rate of official corruption.  Of the major reasons there is little official corruption is that government salaries are very high, some higher officials receiving million dollar salaries. 

 

The US ranked twenty-third in happiness, with Asheville NC ranked as the happiest city in the US.  In Europe, Italy ranked as the unhappiest, with citizens expressing concern about the degree of official corruption, a theme that was repeated in many countries where the citizens are unhappy. A link to an article of the subject is posted below.

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061113093726.htm

 

 

THE FUTURE OF ISRAEL’S ARABS

 

Prior to the recent Annapolis peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians Tzipi Livni, Israel’s foreign minister, stated that the creation  “of a Palestinian state would “be the national answer to the Palestinians in the territories and those that live in different refugee camps or in Israel”. (Emphasis added). Apparently Mr. Livni considers Israeli Arabs as Palestinians first and Israeli citizens secondly.

 

The current population is Israel is 6.5 million, including about 1.1 million Arabs and some other small minority populations such as the Druze.  Israel’s Arabs are prohibited from serving in the military and are opposing a new proposal that would require Arabs to perform some type of non-military national service. 

 

Today’s Israeli Arabs citizens are the Arab families that did not flee their homes during the 1948 War of Independence that created the state of Israel.  In spite of being Israeli citizens, they are discriminated against in a number of ways.  According to a Washington Post article by Scott Wilson,  (link below) Israeli Arabs are not free to live where they wish and their separate school system receives less funding than schools in the Jewish school system. The Arab couple featured in the article, the Zubeidtas, are an educated, professional couple that would fit easily into any community in the US, but they are not acceptable to the Israeli community of Rakefet.  They are considered not “socially compatible” with the Jews that live in that community simply because of their ethnic and religious background. 

 

The first home my wife and I purchased was in Cleveland Heights Ohio, a heavily Jewish community.  We lived directly across the street from an Orthodox Jewish Synagogue and had many Orthodox neighbors, along with Catholics, Protestants and non-believers. We all managed to live happily and peacefully together, based on the principals of respect, tolerance and equality, the essentials of any real democracy. 

 

Arab Israeli Arab citizens wishing to buy or rent homes in are required to apply for permission to the local admission committee who will determine if they are “socially compatible” with the existing residents.  Permission is denied to Arabs that wish to live in Jewish communities.  Apparently the goal of the Israeli Land Administration, a government agency that controls 93% of the land in Israel, is to create separate living areas for each religious and ethic group.  The agency spokesperson, Ortal Tzabar, states that he thinks that “Arabs should live in one place, Ultra-Orthodox Jews and one place and secular Jews in one place and so on.  It’s best not to mix too much”.

 

You can read the article and draw your own conclusions, but it appears that Israel is at least trying to claim the right to encourage Israeli Arabs to move to the Palestinian state if it is created.  It sounds like subtle ethnic cleansing to me, a process that no authentic democracy should ever utilize or consider. The statement about separating Ultra-Orthodox and secular Jews is really quite amazing to me. Some of the most fundamental characteristics of a democracy are freedom to live where you wish, freedom of association and equal treatment before the law.

 

If a Palestinian state is created and Israeli Arabs freely choose to moved to that state, that is fine, but any attempt to force or coerce Arab citizens of Israel to give up their homes and businesses would be a serious violation of their rights.  In the wider context, I believe that it would be harmful to the state of Israel because it would clearly signal that only Jews would be acceptable as citizens of that state.  It would communicate the clear message that Israeli Jews can never trust Arabs as neighbors and fellow citizens, no matter how willing they are to live in peace and trust. 

 

The discrimination against Israeli Arabs, the separate but unequal schools, the inability to live where they want and the economic restrictions, all have echoes of how America treated African-Americans.  Surely Israel does not need to repeat our errors to relearn the real essentials of freedom and democracy.

 

 

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22335973/print/displaymode/1098

 

 

 

MEETING SCHEDULE

 

January Monthly Meeting: Sunday, January 27th at 5:30PM at the home of Joe and Elaine Norwood, 16 Oakleaf, Greenville.  The hosts will provide the main course.  Call Joe or Elaine at 268-1889 to coordinate your contribution to the dinner. 

 

February Brunch: Saturday, February 9th at 10:30AM at the home of Duane and Joyce Bates, 231 Rainey Road, Greenville 29609. The hosts will provide eggs, toast and beverage. Bring your choice of other goodies. For directions or other information call 423-0802.