politics and religion

Figured I'd use this post to kind of summarize a couple of my views. This can be used to give an idea of where my ideologies are and will hopefully provide some insight into my view of the world.

Broadly speaking, I try to take an objective approach to issues. I generally don't form opinions of much strength until I've at the very least had an opportunity to hear what the opposing arguments are. For example, I have absolutely no idea who I think is right in the Israeli / Palestinian conflict, despite the fact that it is a commonly discussed global issue here in North America. I just haven't paid attention to it yet.

In contrast, I do maintain a strong opinion with respect to the Atlantic Accord issue, as I demonstrated in my last post. However, I try to remain as objective as possible and have done my best to digest opposing views. Unfortunately a lot of the commentary surrounding this particular issue comes from people who seem to miss / misreport facts and are not aware of the history. Or at least, that's the way it seems.

So. What are the views I hold today? Let's start with the doozies: Politics and Religion.

Politics

I am liberal-leaning. I base my choice in governing party at any level on how 'well-rounded' their approach to governance is. I am a strong believer that a healthy and happy society requires a solid foundation in many areas, and that these components are all inter-connected in some way. It is frustrating when a political party puts its primary focus on one major theme like social welfare or economic prosperity. Money does not breed happiness, but I'll tell ya, bein' poor sucks.

Right now I am a huge supporter of my current provincial Progressive Conservatives under Danny Williams, and have decided I will vote for Stephane Dion's Liberals in the next federal election. Williams has proven himself to be a convincing leader who can be trusted, and Dion is showing signs that he could do very good things for the country.

I do not support Stephen Harper's Conservatives, and while I am surely biased thanks to Danny Williams' vocal opposition to Harper, I have several other reasons to wish him out of power. First, Harper has shown strong indications that he functions only to win; his moves are clearly strategic and he is extremely vague with respect to his vision for Canada.

Second, he has blatently broken several high-profile election promises, has contradicted himself openly many times, and maintains tight control over the information that leaves the PMO. He simply cannot be trusted and has demonstrated this very, very clearly.

Vote Liberal!

Religion

This one is touchy. Not for me, but for many, many others. Religious views are so important to individuals, and I suppose part of the reason for this is that religion is such a strong identifier. For many people it is a source of moral and emotional guidance, and having their views challenged can be threatening.

I went to a Roman Catholic church and school in my formative years. However, my community is largely secular, and many, if not most of my friends either don't believe in God or have serious doubts. Most of these same people are extremely kind and intelligent and are highly involved in the community. Now, does this mean that you don't need religion to be moral? I personally believe this is true, however most of the people I know are still involved in the church in one way or another. Perhaps, then, religion is still an important communicator of moral values. This has yet to be seen.

So what do I believe? I have sometimes considered myself an agnostic, which basically means I "don't know" if there's a God or not. But I'm re-evaluating that position. It is definitely true that I don't know if there's a god or gods, however based on the evidence I think it's highly unlikely that there is some supreme ruler of the universe.

One might say 'Ah ha! So you admit there could be a God!' And they'd be right. But that does not mean it's equally likely that there is a god as no god. I think the odds are stacked heavily against the God hypothesis.

I have many, many reasons why I don't believe in God. I am quite willing to debate someone on the topic. However I'm more interested in focusing my newly energized fascination with the universe on learning more about what we know for sure. Why spend weeks, months, and years worshiping someone who threatens to damn me to eternal suffering if i don't play by His rules, especially if He's probably not even there?

Going Forward

So where am I without God? I'm in the real world. I'm prepared to accept all beliefs as important to our global culture. I'm excited about the rapid progress we're making despite bickering over who's God is real. I see secularism as an important movement in human evolution because it will be those who do not subscribe to a discriminatory religion that will help to bring all of humanity together to tackle very real global threats.

To vote based on religious beliefs is to vote as a naval-gazer.

My next blog post will probably be about animal welfare and global climate change.