A rational respect for religion

This article appeared on the ABC website and was written by Scott Bridges.

A few weeks ago I read that a long-dead Australian was set to be promoted to the rank of Saint by the Catholic Church. This news registered about as strongly on my give-a-shit meter as the AFL Grand Final(s) and the latest Guy Sebastian album.

I am an atheist, you see - not that this informs my personal identity any more than the fact I love asparagus or that I think George Lazenby was the best James Bond. It’s just that Mary MacKillop and the Pope and stuff are not really my thing, just like Australian Rules football and FM pop. No harm done. Some of my best friends are Catholic, Fox FM listeners, or Collingwood supporters etc.

But as yesterday’s canonisation ceremony drew closer, the militant atheist pack-hate directed towards Catholics and believers of any religion in general reached a crescendo so intense that I almost took communion myself just to spite other atheists. Piss-taking and joking is one thing but outright hatred is another.

The way I see it, if you think the whole concept of religion is wrong then you should feel free to say so - vocally and passionately if the mood takes you. If some aspect of religion deserves criticism (for example, stoning “criminals”, abusing children, or over-commercialisation of faith) then you should feel free to criticise - vocally and passionately if the mood takes you. But if your opposition to religion begins to manifest itself in the form of personal abuse or blind hatred on the basis of belief then maybe it’s time to remind yourself of that rationality you wear so proudly as a badge.

Is it rational to smear all those who hold religious beliefs as being stupid, unthinking, or sheep? Isn’t it possible that some believers have put a lot of thought into their faith and have simply come to a different, although equally critical decision than your own, or that there may be other reasons unrelated to philosophical thought for faith to exist? For millions around the world religion is all in life that is constant and safe; religion motivates, encourages, consoles and gives hope. Is it rational to hate people who hold onto these things in their lives?

Is it rational to ignore and diminish the positive aspects of religion just because there are negative aspects? Sure, the Catholic Church, as an organisation and a collection of individuals, has been responsible for many terrible crimes through the years (as have most, if not all, organised religions), but churches and their non-Christian counterparts also do an awful lot of good for people and communities around the world. For every paedophile there are thousands of hard-working clergy whose only mission is to improve others’ lives. Is it rational to hate this?

Perhaps the problem these past weeks has been the inescapable media build-up to the moment Our Mary would burst onto the Heavenly stage and prove that Australia can do God just as well as it can cricket and faux-American accents in Hollywood films. For your average atheist it was probably a tad galling that our newspapers and TV bulletins fawned over the internal goings-on of a religion in which relatively few Australians actively participate. The whole thing is a bit surreal when you think about it.

And be honest - would you even have batted an eyelid in surprise if the commercial TV coverage suddenly cut away to a corner of the studio where a clutch of Mary supporters were dressed in green and gold, holding Vatican flags, and chanting some sort of horrible “Oi! Oi! Oi!” iteration? It was really looking like it would get that ridiculous at times.

But obviously enough people are interested in Mary MacKillop’s canonisation or the media would’ve dropped it like a bag of week-old prawns. People might’ve been interested because they are Catholic, or Christian, or nothing at all and they just like the pomp and ceremony, but it was clearly a story of some national significance.

Over the past week, as the canonisation ceremony drew nearer, I’d noted the increasing media chatter about Australia’s first Saint-in-waiting and, duly noted, I ignored it. Then last night I flicked through the television channels around dinner time and struggled to find Mary MacKillop-free broadcasting so I turned the TV off. Same as I do during that last week in September.

Actually, I lie - I didn’t totally ignore it. Over the past week I’ve discussed the MacKillop circus with others whose ideas are similar to mine, and I’ve made and heard some great jokes and gentle piss-taking about the canonisation. But whenever I saw the jokes turning into aggressive and compassionless attacks on those to whom religion is real and important, I’ve felt uncomfortable. Surely two of the most rational behaviours we could exhibit as humans are tolerance and respect, so perhaps us atheist beacons of rationality should lead by example.