Religion taking a back seat…

So the past few days religion has managed to stay mostly out of the headlines. At least, directly. The effect of religion is still there however and therein lies the problem. Even when religion isn’t making an ass out of itself, it’s proponents are.

This week a Canadian cabinet minister has stated that he will back a motion from a backbench conservative MP which seeks to re-examine the issue of when life begins. To the uninitiated, this is exactly the type of subterfuge the pro-life, far-right politicos have been using for years in Canada whenever confronting the issue of abortion. An issue squarely in the eyes of Canadians that has been dealt with but one that the religious minority continues to drag into the political ring.

The biggest problem I have with this type of ‘social conservatism’ is that it almost always amounts to a restriction in freedom for those affected and rarely for those who would enact such legislation. 

Also in the news today was this little sidebar notice about US President Barack Obama addressing the UN regarding the independently produced and youtube distributed film that’s causing all the fuss in the middle east and other Islamic countries right now. It is a genuine shame that a person who has serious, real issues at home and abroad to deal with including a major economic crisis, is wasting his time and the time of every UN ambassador trying to alleviate the problems caused when an independent filmaker produced a really bad movie that insulted some one’s religion.

We really need to take notice of how pervasive religion is in our daily lives and how it affects us and those around us, even when it may not be immediately obvious.