Dishonest to God
On Keeping Religion Out of Politics
Mary Warnock, the moral philosopher who chaired the committee on human fertilisation and embryology, argues here that religion should be kept out of public policy-making. Her case is that religious morality rests on obedience to command rather than on reasoning any citizen can follow, and that the churches’ privileged voice in British public life cannot be justified. She means the bishops in the Lords, the role in education, and the seat at the table in bioethics. Written in a plain, combative style and addressed to believers as much as to unbelievers.
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Richard Harries
I entirely agree with all that, and my view is that we must recognise and celebrate values whoever puts them forward, whether people are believers or not. But where I think Mary Warnock goes badly wrong is the impression she gives that all religious morality is of the command variety – these are God’s commands, these are God’s laws. She seems to suggest that these are God’s laws only for believers.
Interview · September 2010
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