Don't adopt that, Tone!

Well, he didn't as it turns out. It was a close call though, apparently. If his authority wasn't waning would the revolting cabinet have had their way?

The whole row about same-sex couples adopting was just like old times!

As Boris Johnson said on This Week last night in his take on the week, "it isn't about er...er..babies or er...er..adoption, really"- its about the state arbitrating between two different groups.

Though myself firmly against organised religion having any special influence over the state -no more than anyone else, I did have a tiny, tiny sliver of sympathy with the 'conscience' argument but that sympathy is squandered on account of their conscience minding them to discriminate rather than being used in the service of liberation, emancipation and the humane treatment of people.

But since the morality of holy texts are so susceptible to contradictory interpretations we should leave god out of it. Religion had by turns been used to both justify and abolish slavery.

The back cover blurb on the book 'Godless Morality: keeping religion out of ethics' by Richard Holloway (he was amongst other things, Bishop of Edinburgh and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church until 2000)reads:

"The use of God in any moral debate is so problematic as to be almost worthless. We can argue with one another as to whether this or that alleged claim genuinely emanated from God, but surely it is better to leave God out of the argument and find strong human reasons for supporting the systems we advocate."

Holloway rightly points out that we don't follow every injunction in the Bible. That would undoubtedly lead to a violent and bloody life. As he says "We judge scripture by our own best moral standards, not the other way round."

Paul Vallely, writing in the Independent some years ago, also said in the title of his article "When the scriptures are violent, it's time to argue with God."

This capacity to think for ourselves, to be moral on our own initiative, Harvard Professor Marc Hauser thinks is down to an innate "universal moral grammar."

How is it then that it can be thought moral to kill women for being teachers. As Nobel Prize Winner Steven Weinberg, a physicist observed "With or without it [Religion], you'd have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, it takes religion." There are however reformist movements within Islam too.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali has come to a similar conclusion as Richard Holloway -"she slowly came to understand that a moral framework was possible without religion".

Perhaps there is hope that we aren't all going to go to hell in a handcart after all.

The Catholic Church have 21 months to prepare for the Sexual Orientation Regulations coming into force, when discrimination against gay people will be outlawed.

Read all about it....
Gay couple have child in Bible
Gay adoption row Q&A
For and Against: Angela Eagle MP vs Lord Mackay of Clashfern