When sectarian ideas become law, countries lose momentum. Economic, and intellectual leadership in the world depend on progress and a country’s progress slows when religion effects policy too much.
There are examples of this throughout history. Centuries ago the middle east was a leader in the world -- scientifically, artistically and militarily. Two of the sectarian ideas which caused them to lose their momentum, are the idea that it is immoral to collect interest on loans and the idea that women are not entitled to equal rights.
Because Arabs could not collect interest on loans, they were effectively shut out of the banking business. Their religious laws sealed their doom, because we know that money is power and banks are where the money is. The Jews, who had no such laws against collecting interest on loans, became the bankers and the powerful. It wasn’t because Jews were such brilliant financial wizards, or that they were evil or overly conniving. It was because the Arab’s own religious law put them at a total and absurd disadvantage.
Because they gave women no opportunities to become educated the Arabs lost considerably more than half their intellectual pool. If you measure physically, they lost exactly half. But consider the contributions and competition that were lost – intellectual contributions and competition which would have made their male academics better. It’s been well proven that countries where women have equal (or nearly equal) opportunities progress better economically, scientifically and socially.
The Arab leaders truly believed their religion which said collecting interest was immoral and women were not equal. They legislated those beliefs and those were among the main reasons that Europe gradually took over as the world’s leader. If it wasn’t for the value of their oil, the middle east countries likely wouldn’t have yet regained a significant role in the world.
Today we have the some thing trying to happen in the United States, where the leadership role in the world migrated from Europe partly because of religious oppression. We have people beginning to legislate their sectarian views. If they continue to do so, they will slow our progress and hasten our fall from leadership.
One of the most important and exciting areas of scientific study today is stem cell research. Some religious people believe it’s immoral, not too unlike those Arabs who believed collecting interest on loans was immoral. Because President Bush and his republican congress have legislated against stem cell research, many scientists who want to work on this most promising leading edge of science have moved and are moving out of the country. And so our intellectual pool and our leadership in science has begun to ebb.
Some of our religious people label homosexuality immoral and are trying to legislate against equal rights for gays. If their misguided yet relentless efforts to make gays second class citizens should succeed, many gays might be inclined to leave the country. Losing that portion of the intellectual pool would further accelerate our fall from leadership in the world.
I heard about a southern community of farmers who hired a consultant to come and tell them how to get businesses interested in moving into their county. They wanted to diversify their tax base and provide employment, so that fewer of their children would be moving away to find work. They had a meeting where the consultant talked about tax abatements, roads, water and other infrastructure improvements that were necessary to attract businesses. The farmers were nodding their heads and agreeing with him unanimously until he mentioned homosexuality. The consultant explained that because businesses employed a certain amount of gays, they would have to be tolerant and accepting of gays in the community. The meeting ended right there and that farming community made no attempts to lure business. If and when those farmers make our country into their community, business and power will go elsewhere and we’ll become a third rate country.
Ah ye greatly religious folk who wish to have your morals de jour legislated for us all to “enjoy”. You remind me of a line from Leonard Cohen’s song “Suzanne”. How long will it be till we all sink “beneath your wisdom like a stone”?