Friday, January 21, 2011

Fashions in Naming.

A local newspaper records the recent death of a lady of 91. It lists the names of her family over four generations.

She was Maisie Ruth, her husband was Leslie; her brother is Ronald.

Her daughter Beryl married Barrie; her son Malcolm married Lilwen.

All good traditional British names, but then:

her grandchildren are Gary, Tracey and Jason;

and her great-grandchildren are Connor, Taylor, Blu, Tyler, Kaya and Zeph.

Maybe there is an Australian flavour about those bizarre fourth generation names?

Times change, and I must change with them, I suppose, but I can't understand why parents would so ignore their childrens' cultural legacy.
Like tattoos, such names are a passing fashion. They will disappear in the next generation.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

A Document to Remember and Respect

I understand that tomorrow, January 16th., is to be Religious Freedom Day in the United States, by presidential decree.
It is to mark the anniversary of the Statute of Religious Freedom, passed by the government of the state of Virginia in 1786. Thomas Jefferson wrote the document, and was justifiably proud of his achievement.
It is a most important contribution to human civilisation, institutional religious authority proving so often the cause of social stagnation, legalised barbarism, and conflict.
It is a document I would commend to all young people, for study and reflection. Here is the text: I have marked in bold the passage I consider fundamental.

>> Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free;


that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy author of our religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as it was in his Almighty power to do;


that the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavouring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world, and through all time;


that to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical;

that even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor, whose morals he would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness, and is withdrawing from the ministry those temporary rewards, which proceeding from an approbation of their personal conduct, are an additional incitement to earnest and unremitting labours for the instruction of mankind;


that our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry;


that therefore the proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages to which in common with his fellow-citizens he has a natural right;


that it tends only to corrupt the principles of that religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing with a monopoly of worldly honours and emoluments, those who will externally profess and conform to it;

that though indeed these are criminal who do not withstand such temptation, yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way;


that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion, and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course judge of that tendency will make his opinions the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own;

that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government, for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order;


and finally, that truth is great and will prevail if left to Herself, that She is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict, unless by human interposition disarmed of Her natural weapons, free argument and debate, errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them:


Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.


And though we well know that this assembly elected by the people for the ordinary purposes of legislation only, have no power to restrain the acts of succeeding assemblies, constituted with powers equal to our own, and that therefore to declare this act to be irrevocable would be of no effect in law; yet we are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present, or to narrow its operation, such act shall be an infringement of natural right.


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Unexpectedly, a similar doctrine appears in the Qur'an, 2:256 -


>> Let there be no compulsion in religion: truth stands out clear from error.


Unfortunately this is contradicted, both in the Qur'an and in the Hadith, by commands to fight and kill unbelievers and jews, and to punish apostasy by death.