Accomodationists Across The Pond

Cross posted @ the Atheist Oasis

‘A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything’ – Nietzsche

In a world where the faithful are rewarded for their willful ignorance, this is unsurprising news:

Islamic law is adopted by British legal chiefs

Islamic law is to be effectively enshrined in the British legal system for the first time under guidelines for solicitors on drawing up “Sharia compliant” wills.

Under ground-breaking guidance, produced by The Law Society, High Street solicitors will be able to write Islamic wills that deny women an equal share of inheritances and exclude unbelievers altogether.

The documents, which would be recognized by Britain’s courts, will also prevent children born out of wedlock – and even those who have been adopted – from being counted as legitimate heirs.

Anyone married in a church, or in a civil ceremony, could be excluded from succession under Sharia principles, which recognize only Muslim weddings for inheritance purposes.

Nicholas Fluck, president of The Law Society, said the guidance would promote “good practice” in applying Islamic principles in the British legal system.

  And if that wasn’t sufficient to cause a sputter of outrage, likely this will:

Christian beliefs should be 'accommodated' under law – top judge

Christians with traditional beliefs about issues such as homosexuality should be given “reasonable accommodation” in law, Britain’s most senior woman judge has said.

Lady Hale, deputy president of the Supreme Court, said the UK is “less respectful” towards people with religious views than other countries, despite its long Christian traditions.

She questioned whether the current “hard line” approach to discrimination claims, based on EU law, could be sustained in the long term.

Her comments, in a lecture at Yale law School in the US, follow a series of cases in which British Christians claimed to be suffering religious discrimination but lost their cases.

They include Shirley Chaplin, a nurse from Exeter, who was banned from wearing a cross at work as well as Gary McFarlane, a former Relate counsellor, and Lillian Ladele, a marriage registrar, who both lost their jobs after resisted performing tasks they said went against their religious beliefs.

Belief is no commodity: its very ubiquity renders it meaningless. Yet its inflated value has been drummed into us from birth, another legacy of saturation. Should we then respect Aztec worshippers rights to sacrifice virgins? Why give preferential treatment then?

‘That’s the way it is’, by the way, should not be considered a sufficient answer.

As atheist, all I ask for, is that everyone be treated equally. Which dictates something of an ‘in for a penny in for pound’ dictum.

And since it is too much to ask for, apparently we’ll have to fight all the harder for it.

Till the next post, then.