I think we need to be careful on such issues as we are all able to confuse
culture with religion.

Arif Sain

-----Original Message-----
From: Virginia Wainwright [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 19 August 2002 11:22
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: For EO network members (except Northern Ireland)from ECU


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I think that this is an important debate to have. Sooner or later some
of us will be put in a position where there is a direct clash of
ideology which affects our and our institutions' abilities to promote
equality and diversity. This is likely to be in the areas of
religion and sexuality and gender equality. At the risk of
oversimplifying, it seems that the followers of some religions promote
beliefs, apparently based in some instances on texts held sacred by the
religious group in question, that women are inferior and that
homosexuality is socially and morally unacceptable.

Virginia


On Thu, 15 Aug 2002 11:57:41 +0100 Berry Dicker <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> The positions Ged describes may be very different  but they can be
> equally
> strongly held. It can be as dismissive to insist to a secularist that
> our
> lives are supernaturally guided  as to tell someone from a faith
> position
> that as their views are based on belief and not evidence they can be
> disregarded.  Actually, one could argue that atheism is a faith position
> only a different kind of faith, in empiricism.
> These are all different life positions and there are many things these
> groups will have in common such as respect for life,  recognition of the
> importance of human relationships, human rights etc. We do not have to
> construct this as a polarisation unless we choose to.
> Our institutions have to accomodate many different beliefs about the
> spiritual aspect of life from Humanism ( the spiritual not seen as a big
> deal) to Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and even religions such a
> Druidism
> where objects in nature are seen as having individual spirits (as I
> understand it and I may be grossly oversimplifying).
> Mutual respect enshrined in a policy (even if policies are generally
> hard
> things to implement) is I think no bad thing. Though faith positions
> enshrined in cults which require submission to a high level of control
> leave me very uneasy and we have, a while back,  had some problems with
> that kind of thing.
>
> Oh dear, this is a debate I really didn't want to have! Still there it
> is.
> Berry
> Berry Dicker
>
> 62-68 Lichfield St.
> Wolverhampton
> WV1 IDJ
>
> Tel 01902 321197

----------------------
Virginia M Wainwright
Equal Opportunities Officer
King's College London
James Clerk Maxwell Building
57 Waterloo Road
London SE1 8WA
020 7848 3399
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